[June 29, 2008]

Museum will have a touch of home: Kitchen products made locally will be focus of exhibits

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 29--WEST BEND -- A 20th-century history of American kitchenware manufactured in Washington County -- from the introduction of lightweight aluminum pots and pans to the convenience of waterless cookers, electric corn poppers, hot dog steamers and salad spinners -- will be displayed at a new museum to open in November.

The world's first whistling tea kettle as well as the Flavo-matic automatic coffee percolator -- with a then-innovative thermostat that earned it a showing at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium -- will be among the housewares exhibited at the West Bend Company/Regal Ware Historic Museum, 18 E. Washington St.

Products made by the West Bend Company and Regal Ware were distributed throughout the world, but the main story of this museum is the impact they had on American consumers, especially women seeking time-saving appliances for the home, said Lisa Rogers, director of marketing and development for the Washington County Historical Society.

There will be a few product failures, too, with a display of prototype housewares -- such as an electric pizza cutter -- that were created by engineers but never manufactured for sale.

The historical society bought the building last year from the Glacier Hills Credit Union at a cost of $800,000. The museum's 2,000-square-foot main gallery is being designed by Tony Spolar, owner of Spolar Studio in Milwaukee.

The building is linked to local kitchenware history since it had been the site of the former West Bend Company's employees credit union, Rogers said.

The West Bend Aluminum Co. was started in 1911 by Bernhard C. Ziegler and Andrew and Edwin Pick in a former button factory on the Milwaukee River.

The brand became nationally prominent in the 1920s with the marketing of waterless cookware. The company introduced Teflon-coated pots and pans and Thermo-Serve insulated plastic dishware in the 1960s.

By the time West Bend Aluminum offered families the first American-made electric bread maker in the 1990s, the company was merged into Dart Industries and later sold to Illinois Tool Works.

Regal Ware got its start in 1919 as Kewaskum Aluminum Co. in Kewaskum.

The company's name was changed to Regal Ware in the early 1950s. By the 1970s, Regal's Polyperk coffee maker was the largest-selling percolator in the United States.

In 2002, Regal Ware acquired the West Bend Company. Production of cookware for Regal Ware's direct sales business continues at a plant in West Bend.

West Bend Company's collection of more than 4,500 products and marketing documents will be stored at the museum. The inventory includes the West Bend brand outboard motors and Elgin brand outboard motors made for Sears & Roebuck.

Regal Ware has agreed to loan permanently hundreds of additional products and documents.

Historical society curator of collections Chris Borchert has been cleaning products and remodeling the gallery space with the help of volunteers, including Bernie and Helen Kiefer.

Bernie Kiefer and volunteers Ken Norskog, Curt Forester and David Hunsicker are former West Bend Company employees.

To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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