In the early 1900s, in Atlanta and other big cities around the South, gas ranges came to the rescue of cooks weary from the sooty drudgery of coal- and wood-fired stoves. The sleek, clean enameled surfaces and graceful legs of these new gas ranges brought a change to kitchen design, as well as recipes. And compared to the behemoth wood-fired stoves, the smaller, faster-to-heat gas ranges fit well into new bungalow homes.

But gas was a misunderstood fuel. While it was popular in England, it took a little getting used to in America. Especially in the South.

"When gas first came out," says Mary Frances, "women were afraid of it." Early gas ranges came without pilot lights — you lit them with a match or a long, rolled-up piece of newspaper. And if you accidentally left the gas on after cooking, the gas could fill the oven and the kitchen, and the slightest spark, even from turning on a room light, might cause an explosion. The ranges got safer, of course, with electronic ignition on burners and concealed pilot lights, but fear remained.

Atlanta Gas Light, a company founded to fuel the city's streetlights and make Atlanta a safer place to travel at night, had a public-relations challenge on its hands with the new gas stoves in 1910. The gas company’s bulletins advised salespeople how to overcome the "superstitious" customer. No one was really comfortable cooking with gas until Mrs. Dull, a caterer and cooking teacher, went into homes and baked angel food cakes and all the Southern delicacies using gas heat.

“A cookstove is like a new husband,” Mrs. Dull told the young ladies. “You have to live with it and learn to get the best out of it.”

The voice of reason, a quiet and stern assurance, Mrs. Dull was the South's Fannie Farmer.



"And the gas company gave her a new stove for years and years," Mary Frances adds, with a smile. "I got her used ovens after I got married."