Norths Harrison & Chase Philadelphia Cast Iron Waffle Iron Circa 1800s

This has to be the oldest waffle iron I’ve ever seen in my life. The Philadelphia stove-maker Norths Harrison & Chase underwent several name changes during the 1800s. Luckily that makes it easier to put a date on this one. According to my research, this iron was made sometime around the year 1852 which is just incredible. That means this iron is about 170 years old. This iron was cooking up waffles for almost a decade before Abraham Lincoln was even in office. A rare find and a fantastic piece of Philadelphia history.

Simeon Harrison and Gibson North set up as stovemakers with premises at 390 High (Market) Street in 1845, and as North, Harrison & Co. remained there until 1851. They are reported to have owned a foundry in Wilmington, Delaware, which was said to be the source of their castings, but I can find no trace of it in city directories and local histories, so I assume that they may simply have had a stake in or contracts with one of the smaller local foundries, most likely James Rice’s. (The other three, Betts & Seal, Bush & Lobdell, later the Lobdell Car Wheel Co., and Evan Stotsenburg’s have left records and/or descriptions of their business which are silent about any such contract, and their reported products did not include stoves. Betts & Seal and Stotsenburg were jobbing or semi-specialized machinery foundries; Bush & Lobdell were already specialist chilled iron car wheel manufacturers).

In 1848 they gained a third partner, Pliny Earle Chase, a Harvard-trained mathematician, scientist, and private-school teacher, and friend of Edward Everett Hale, William Ellery Channing, and other Yankee luminaries, who had been advised by his doctors to find a new field of employment better for his diseased lungs, and allowing “more outdoor air and exercise.” Curiously, he chose stove-making. Friends wondered at this, but he explained that he had to make a living.

Gibson’s brother Asa joined them in the partnership, briefly renamed Norths, Harrison and Chase in 1851. (Stovehistory.blogspot)

This waffle iron has been stripped clean of rust and seasoned using food grade materials. A lot of extra time went into restoring this one and I think it shows. It’s ready for a new home and ready to start making waffles again. The same waffles it pressed 170 years ago.

Measures 13” X 8” and 2” in height. The diameter of the cooking surface measures approx. 7” and in total weighs 5 lbs.

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