The switch from open hearth to stove cooking changed the way Americans ate, cooked, and entertained. The elaborate meals, with complex French food, that came in fashion during the mid-nineteenth century could only be created using a stove like this one. Coal cookstoves could cook foods at different temperatures at the same time–a change from the open-hearth style that was customary in years past. In order to continue to be a major player in her social circle, a wealthy woman was expected to host regularly, making a coal cookstove (along with a competent cook) indispensable. Cookstoves like this were also significantly safer than open-hearth cooking where a cook’s dress or sleeves were constantly at risk of catching fire. By the time the Tredwell family moved into the Merchant’s House, in 1835, the manufacture of cast-iron cookstoves was well underway. During the 1840s and 1850s, their popularity increased as stove technology improved. The Tredwell family installed a cookstove in their basement kitchen by 1857, in place of the original open hearth. This Abendroth Brothers cookstove was manufactured in New York; its eight burner plates and two ovens (with two racks each) allowed different dishes to be prepared at different times and at different temperatures. The port covers, like the stove’s dampers and spacers, are divided into rings and allow for the more precise regulation of heat, the number of rings affecting how much warmth is radiated. An additional feature of the cookstove is its central firebox, which was fueled by anthracite coal. The firebox’s heat circulated behind the stove, cutting meal preparation time. The Tredwells’ kitchen was primarily the domain of the family’s Irish servants, with meal preparation shared between a cook and her helper. While having a cookstove like this one made some things easier, the work of the servants was likely to be no less long and tiring.