Johnnie Jaeger
Catalog Number: 1989.013.01
This wood-burning barrel-shaped stove measures 49 inches tall and is made of four stacking sections of cast iron.
It was manufactured in La Crosse by the Iron Products Corporation between 1920 and 1940. During the mid-1800s and early 1900s, wood-burning stoves, such as this one, were popular for heating rooms. Their popularity waned with the use of central heating that used natural gas or electricity.
Iron Products Corp. was founded around 1920 in La Crosse by Chester R. Pieper and Harry Dahl. Its factory stood at 518 S. 2nd St. They were foundrymen and machinists.
Pieper was a career inventor and business leader. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886 to German immigrants, he arrived in La Crosse around 1909.
Here, he first worked as an assembler and then as a sales manager for the Vote-Berger Corp., a telephone manufacturing company.
By 1915, Pieper had moved up to working as treasurer of Gund Manufacturing Co., owned by the same family as Gund Brewery.
Chester Pieper had been patenting inventions since 1913. His inventions included multiple devices related to guy wires (large wires used for stabilizing free-standing structures such as utility poles), a pulley mechanism, an automatic ratchet, a hairnet and other items related to heating.
During his career, he patented 31 inventions from 1913 to 1963. Some of these inventions were used at Gund Manufacturing Co. and his own Iron Products Corp.
Harry Dahl, Chester Pieper’s business partner, was prominent in the La Crosse area as a business leader and as an owner of many car dealerships across the Midwest. He was the son of Andrew Dahl, who started one of the early automobile dealerships in Vernon County.
It seems that Dahl’s involvement in the Iron Products Corp. was short-lived. By the 1924 La Crosse City Directory, he was no longer listed as being involved with the company. He continued to be deeply involved in La Crosse businesses when he served as president of G. Heileman Brewing Co. and Trane Co.
In 1939, Chester Pieper decided to move his family to St. Louis and took Iron Products Corp. with him in 1941.
During his time in St. Louis and La Crosse, Chester was also involved in painting. He worked on commissions from the Works Progress Administration between 1935-1943.
In 1952, his art was showcased in an exhibition in Clayton, Missouri.
Chester R. Pieper died in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1977.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on September 12, 2020.
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