Weber Backofen

The Weber Backofen comes from the Ludwig Weber farm, which was established by his great grandfather Conrad, in 1845. Conrad was among the group of 15 settlers that came from Germany in that year to establish Frankenmuth. He lived on this farm with his wife Kunigunda Bernthal Weber and had 9 children, of which 7 reached adulthood.

The Weber Backofen was built around 1928 by Ludwig's father, Johann Georg Leonard Weber. He was married to Johanna Eischer Weber and they raised 4 children on the farm, Elsie, Ludwig, Edwin and Frieda. Ludwig married Emilie Margaret Grueber in 1938 and they were the last Weber family to make their living from the farm.

The idea of a baking oven outside of the house came from Germany. It was usually placed inside of a building near the house and was used to bake bread, especially during the summer when it would get too hot to bake in the house.

In a Backofen the bread is baked by the heat of the bricks. You build a wood fire in the Backofen until the brick are heated to a certain temperature. A good housewife always knew when this would occur. Then the coals are raked out, the bricks brushed clean and the bread dough placed on the hot bricks. After about 50 to 60 minutes, the bread was finished baking and taken out. Freshly baked bread was one of the delights that everybody enjoyed years ago. Usually the housewife made enough to last for a week.

In the fall of 2002, Wm. "Tiny" Zehnder, Jr. moved it to its present location where it will get used on special occasions.