It's a Monarch from the Malleable Iron Range Company in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. I'm trying to do some research on it but I'm not finding a lot. It appears to be very well cared for, and is in good condition. It can use wood or coal for fuel, and seems to have all the little pieces and parts still stashed up in the warming boxes. The old cook book it came with dates it to pre-1930's - as the cookbook covers by then featured an image of a woman, and this one is plain. Since the house was built in 1905, I would venture to guess this may be original to the house. I'd have to ask the previous owners if that's the case. It's entirely possible that it was brought in later because it was the same age as the house. Either way, it's beautiful and I love it.
Unfortunately we cannot actually use it. Our home insurance is automatically negated if we use any fire burning apparatus indoors. Besides, the home inspector said the chimney was cracked and the heat from the range would be enough to crumble it. We would have to rebuild the chimney if we wanted to use it. So really, we'd have to build a secondary open-air structure, haul the range out to said structure, and then use it... and that would defeat the idea of leaving it in the house where it really seems to belong. So decorative dust collector it shall be.
I really didn't want to leave. This house just draws you in, envelopes you in the feeling of safety and contentment.
Tonight i found yet another "happy place" when the trains went by across the lake, you can hear the clack-clack of the rails, but it also echoes back across the lake in a weird out-of-sync reverberation. It's a beautiful sound. It lulls me into a relaxation that is sure to put me to sleep at night. I can imagine hot summer nights, windows open, listening to the clack-clack-clack and the disjointed echo over the lake as I fall asleep to the lake breeze through the trees.