George A. Stephen, the inventor of the Weber Kettle, a domed grill that came to be widely used by American barbecue-lovers, settled in Mount Prospect after World War II with his wife, Margaret — first in a home within Mount Prospect’s “triangle” and later in the Mount Prospect Country Club area. They had six boys and six girls.
George, who developed a love for outdoor cooking while in the Army, worked for Weber Brothers Metal Works in Arlington Heights. In the early 1950s, Weber Brothers manufactured metal buoys for the Coast Guard and the Chicago Yacht Club.
At the time, George was frustrated with the open brazier grilling technique available at the time which was characterized by uneven cooking and little-to-no protection from the elements. Somehow, it occurred to George to try something new and revolutionary. He crafted a barbecue grill by cutting one of the Weber buoys in half, adding three legs to the bottom, a handle to the top and a cooking grate inside. His Mount Prospect neighbors laughingly nicknamed his experimental grill “Sputnik” for its similarity to the Russian spacecraft.
Based on the popularity of the grill in his Mount Prospect neighborhood, Stephen hit the street with his invention. He targeted his marketing directly to the public, starting with cooking demonstrations outside of local businesses and at Lions Park, and eventually, on local Chicago television stations.
“Dad would literally load the grill into a station wagon, go to a hardware store and set up a demonstration…” Jim Stephen, his son, recalled in an Associated Press interview. “He would cook a turkey or a pig or something, and people would be in awe.”
At that time, a non-Weber portable grill retailed for about $7 and a Weber Grill retailed for about $50.
The demonstrations were used to justify the expense, selling the grill as a device that would be easy to use, and would be used often. It was not portrayed as a necessity, but as an enhancement to one’s quality of life, as were so many other products in this period. The growth of the Weber was very much a grassroots phenomenon, first encompassing Chicagoland, then the Midwest and eventually the entire United States and the world.
The newfound popularity of outdoor cooking during this period contributed to the success of the Weber. The notion of “men’s work” and “women’s work” was cracking in the late 1950s. Men were now encouraged to take a more active role within the family, but it was imperative that outdoor cooking be marketed in a way that preserved the cook’s masculinity.
The consensus that grilling was a perfectly acceptable and a time-honored way for a male to prepare food allowed outdoor cooking and the sales of products associated with it to flourish. The newfound American attraction to outdoor cooking and the very down-to-earth, yet brilliant, marketing tactics of George Stephen would make the Weber Grill an intricate part of this up-and-coming American institution.
Today, the Weber Grill enjoys a prominent place in the American lexicon. It is one of those lucky few products, such as Coca-Cola, Tabasco and Kleenex, whose brand name is synonymous with the product. Headquartered in Palatine, Weber-Stephen Products Co. is the world’s leading manufacturer of both charcoal and gas barbecue grills, smokers, grilling accessories, and other outdoor room products.
George Stephen died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 71. By that time, he had left Mount Prospect for Kildeer.