Local History Department
FAVORITE STOVE AND RANGE COMPANY
1889
– 1958
William King Boal purchased the W.C. Davis Company of Cincinnati in 1872, renamed it Favorite Stove, and in February 25, 1889, the company began production in Piqua. A newspaper article in 1896 reported that the Favorite Stove Company employed 350 men and produced over 50,000 stoves and ranges per year. Stanhope Boal took over the company after the death of his father on January 2, 1916. He remained chief executive until his death on December 18, 1933 when the firm reorganized as the Favorite Stove Company under the presidency of William C. Katker. The firm remained in business until Katker’s retirement in 1957.
