Last year, the McHenry County Historical Society & Museum celebrated 60 years of collecting, preserving, and sharing its county's history with the public. To commemorate this anniversary, our featured exhibit, "60 Years, 60 Objects: Stories from McHenry County," remains on display through October 2024. This exhibit highlights sixty objects from the historical society's collection. Object 60 is a Grecian-style decorative cast-iron urn manufactured by Collins & Burgie Stove Company in Marengo circa 1900. The company is said to have made numerous attempts to produce these urns, without total success, because the bases cracked.
The Collins and Burgie Stove Works of Chicago was established in 1857 by James L. Collins and Henry C. Burgie. In 1891, the company considered expansion, but wanted to relocate outside of Chicago. The company purchased 7 acres of land in Marengo to build the stove factory. The factory was built on East Street across from the Marengo City Cemetery. Additional land was purchased north of Marengo to be subdivided into lots and offered for sale to handle the influx of factory workers moving to town. This subdivided part of town became known as the Syndicate Addition.
The Collins and Burgie Stove Works
was one of the largest stove factories west of Chicago. The factory made and
sold the Leader line of stoves and ranges. It employed around 200 workers and
could produce 100 stoves a day. The departments that made up the stove factory
were the molding room (foundry), the stove assembling room, the polishing room,
and the storage warehouse. The stove factory was in operation for 15 years
before it burned on October 5, 1907. The loss of the factory and contents
reached about $75,000 with only $31,000 of the loss covered by insurance. The
cause of the fire was never fully determined, and the venture was aborted,
causing severe financial and unemployment problems for Marengo.
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