Montgomery Ward

[retromania]

Good Saturday Morning Everyone: I'm new to this site. I love all sorts of old vintage appliances big and small. I also love old vintage cars. Anyway, I knew MW put their label on a lot of stuff like sewing machines because I have sewing machine fetish. Also blenders, electric fry pans, but you get the drift. I NEVER knew they had a line of washing machines until I was in the gallery on this site called Vintage Neat Stuff. I guess they were marketing like Sears. Does anyone know who came first? Sears or Ward? I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS WEBSITE. I have been stuck on ever since I signed up two days ago. I really need to get some other stuff done, but can't tear myself away!!!!!

 

[retromania]

CORRECTION: 'Vintage Fun Stuff'.

 

[112561]

Welcome Retromania!

I have quite a fetish for the small appliances as well, fry pans, blenders, percolators, toasters, waffle irons here, with a smattering of steam irons thrown in. I love vintage major appliances as well, and aspire to turn my kitchen into GE or Frigidaire, circa 1958 through 1965 someday. I have a thing for vintage stereo consoles and components too.

 

Montgomery Ward was founded in 1872, and Sears Roebuck founded in 1886, just to keep it simple for the moment. One of my prized posessions is the Fall and Winter 1959 Montgomery Wards catalogue. I hope you will enjoy this site as much as the rest of us do!

(kitchen appliances courtesy of Stix, Baer, & Fuller, St. Louis 1959)

 

[countryford]

Don't know too much about mw, but I'm like you in that I love vintage appliances. My kitchen has a 1958 ge wall oven in pink, 1942 o'keefe and merrit gas stove in white, 1949 hotpoint refrigerator that was just recently painted pink, 1955 hotpoint dishwasher that is in pink, 1948 Youngstown Kitchen vent hood(is original to the house) that was just repainted in pink, and then the washer and dryere is a 1963 Lady Kenmore set in turquoise. Also have other appliances that are in storage. Not to mention all the small appliances displayed on the top of the cabinets (stuff like blenders, mixers, roasters, and percoluators). Also have a thing for the tube style radios and televisions. Have about 150 radios and about 50 televisions.

Oh and welcome to the club.

 

[washernoob]

Welcome!

I am a hoover kid, but I have just about everything. Mainly vacuum cleaners, but have 2 mixers, old blender, telephones, fans, and musical instruments.

I have a montgomery Wards vacuum cleaner from the late 50s. Its a Eureka in 2 tone green. Very cool. My profile picture is of it.

 

[retromania]

Country Ford: You are making me soooo jealous. A pinkt wall oven & an O'Keefe gas stove. One of my fantasies!!!!! O'Keefe gas stoves cook as good as they look. They weight a ton. How ever did you get it in your house or were lucky and it was already there?! You are the lucky one. What make is your wall oven??? Is it that wonderful sort of Pepto Bismol shade of pink. I also love vintage turquois appliances and someone on this site and I can't remember who it is has a vintage fully restored matching set wahser and dryer in Lady Kenmore. All of a sudden I can't remember how to spell Kenmore. I think that's right. I know: Thirty licks with the belt, right?! Or expulsion from this website. Anyway, I like 112561 want to put in a vintage kitchen some day from the same time period.

 

[retromania]

Oh. Sorry Country Ford. You just said a '58 GE wall oven. My ADD is really kicking in this morning. Too much bourbon last night and not enough caffein yet this morning!

 

[112561]

My 1961 house we moved into on 11-25-61 (!) started with a brand new '62 I guess white Frigidaire refrigerator, not frost free but had a separate door to the freezer, had it shipped in the crate from Lynchburg, VA and an apartment sized white Norge stove, from probably the mid '50s. Kitchen was white cabinets with white Formica with gold flecks and threads in it. Walls were sandalwood color, just a very lackluster look. So, for the look I want will encompass late '50s to possible mid '60s. Wish I could have grabbed the wall oven the neighbor threw out a few years back.

 

My kitchen appliances are less than twelve years old at present, the floor and counters have been updated within the last thirty years. It needs a complete makeover, and will get one in the near future, at least paintwise. This Ebay picture is not my cooktop.

[this post was last edited: 2/19/2011-15:15]

 

[cornutt]

I was surprised to find, while doing some Googling, that Montgomery Ward was once in the catalog house business!

http://www.historiclandmarks.org/Si...eservationist PDFs/IP 3 04 catalog houses.pdf

 

[cornutt]

Hey 112561, that cooktop looks like the one that we had in our circa-1965 split level. Ours was brown, and IIRC it was mirror reversed from that one -- the controls were on the right. The GE logo lights up red when a burner is on.

 

[112561]

This is NOT my kitchen

A house around the corner from here has or had that GE cooktop, and wall oven, and like I say, the pic was ripped from eBay, I am surprised that it seemed to have been offered with left or right pushbuttons. Another configuration I'd like in a GE kitchen would be the buttons on the front of the cabinet under the top, or on the front edge of the vent hood. Where to find such things in my area?

(River Park real estate photo)

[this post was last edited: 2/19/2011-15:11]

 

[whirlcool]

And we had that same cooktop in avacado with a double P7 wall oven. The house that had these was built in 1969. So that GE stuff had a long run.

 

[retromania]

11/25/61: Cool GE cooktop. Love white countertop with gold flecks!

 

[retromania]

Country Ford: would it be possible for me/us to see a picture of your vintage kitchem???

 

[112561]

Hate to have left a wrong impression about my kitchen

My vintage kitchen is in the middle of chaos right now, needs paint and a total makeover, I am sorry to say. The pics I posted in the last posts are Ebay pics, and this house no longer has the gold threaded counters, but here's a shot of some mixers.

 

[retromania]

My aunt up the street had the white mixmaster in the right. What's the one of the left, an Oster?

 

[retromania]

I have a big fine Kitchenaid stand mixer that I love, but when I am beating certain thnigs like certain icings I still use my mother's old chrome early 1960's Sunbeam Mixmaster. It's on it very last leg.

 

[112561]

Sunbeam Vista

The one on the left is a very dead Sunbeam Vista. I didn't try it in the store, and I'm not out much anyway, less than five dollars.

 

A Kitchenaid mixer would go right through my countertop! LOL People here rave about them, never a complaint!

 

[retromania]

I see. Don't remember that one on the left. It must have come out after the white one,right?

 

[112561]

Oh yes, the Vista is at least the early 1960s.

 

[retromania]

Oh. I see now it did. The nase on it and the fact it has stainless steel mixing bowls shows it came out after the white one.

 

[112561]

Actually the mixing bowls came from Goodwill, the same day I bought the mixer, which is from Salvation Army. The stainless bowls will go on the chrome '70s Sunbeam. I have to stop buying mixers etc, ran out of room!

 

[retromania]

That's like me and sewing machines. I am a middle of the road sewer. Certainly not a professional and don't need any more machines!

 

[countryford]

You asked for it, so here it is. Pics of my kitchen. Might be a few. But here goes. The first one is of the O'keefe and merrit gas stove and the Youngstown kitchen hood. The hood was in the house when we bought it and was original to the house. The house was built in 1948. We had the hood stripped down and painted pink. The stove we bought from a lady who's parents had bought it brand new back in 1942. It hadn't been used for sometime, but we cleaned it all up and had the valves rebuilt and it works great. You can also see the wall oven in the background. That I found at a second hand store in their as is yard. It had the matching cooktop. They wanted only $7.00 for the both. I bought them right then and there. They looked like they had hardly been used.

 

[countryford]

This is the 1949 hotpoint fridge. We picked it up and had to rewire it. It works great. Just recently got back from the paint shop. Again we had it painted pink. Just waiting for the new gaskets to come in. As soon as they do we will be putting it back in our kitchen.

 

[countryford]

Ok. Seems like I have misplaced some of the pictures. Well here is an older picture of the kitchen. That refrigerator on the right is the 1949 hotpoint befor it was painted pink. ALso on the left is the hotpoint dishwasher.

 

[countryford]

Last one for now. Again this is an older picture of the laundry room. This is the 1963 Lady Kenmore washer and dryer. The refrigerator in the center is a hotpoint. It is no longer in the laundry room. And we have new cabinets above the set now and all my irons displayed as well. I just cant seem to find the pictures. Anyways gives ya an idea.

 

[countryford]

Ok. Found the pics of the laundry room once we got it redone. Here it is.

 

[washernoob]

That...

kitchen....

is.....

AMAZING! Wow! Each appliance looks very minty. Just incredible. Thanks for sharing!

 

[retromania]

Love the pictures of the kitchen and laundry. All you appliances are to die for. Those Lady Kenmore machines are especially nice. Like the iron collection too. Love anything with a cloth cord.

Thank you for sharing those.