Microwave Oven

Microwave Oven

1954

You've got a microwave. If you're over 40, you may even remember your family's first microwave oven showing up in your kitchen.

But when did the term microwave oven come into being?

The First Mention that I came across goes back to an article in the Wall Street Journal from June 2, 1954.

The microwave oven described in the article was one of the items still in the experimental stage, but was just nearing its first commercial production.

A scant two years later, the oven was on the market -- mostly for commercial kitchens -- but was seen as the wave of the future, as this image from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times of January 22, 1956 so ably demonstrates.

For a larger version of this picture, click here.

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Our FirstMention research is carried out in many sources, including historical newspaper archives, online family history records, state archives, and old books.

Know of an earlier First Mention? Drop me a line at david@firstmention.com

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