Our History
Glen Crownover was born on August 28, 1926, in Clement, Oklahoma. During the Dust Bowl, his family began moving west, working on farms as they traveled, eventually reaching Southern California. It was there that a relative invited them to join him at an encampment in Windsor.
Glen Crownover worked for Malm Metal Products in Santa Rosa as a bookkeeper for approximately a decade, before taking up drafting and conjuring up bigger ideas.
It was 1960 when Glen Crownover opened the doors for business as Malm Fireplace Center in Santa Rosa, CA.
Ken and his brother as seen with the "Queen" fireplace. The Queen was a slightly different variation of the King - the very first fireplace manufactured by Malm Fireplace Company. The Baron, Duke, Prince and Duchess came to be known as the Royal Family of Fireplaces throughout the 1960s.
When Harold Hannebaum presented Glen Crownover with his design concept for a new fireplace - he loved it and began producing it - the Carousel fireplace was born!
Hip hop and POP rose to mainstream popularity during the 1980s and 90s, perhaps inspiring the name for this fireplace - "MC Hammer."
Ken and his father, Glen Crownover, not only worked together in the family business but also enjoyed spending time together outside of work, as shown in this photo taken at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
Ask just about any of our employees, and they'll tell you they’re treated like family. At Malm Fireplace, hard work and dedication are recognized and rewarded.
A Long History In Sonoma County
Glen Crownover, founder at Malm Fireplaces, Inc., was born on August 28, 1926, in Clement, Oklahoma. During the Dust Bowl, his family began moving west, working on farms as they traveled, eventually reaching Southern California. It was there that a relative invited them to join him at an encampment in Windsor.
Glen hadn’t had much formal education, but Bob Heald from the state education department had been assigned to locate children affected by the Dust Bowl migration. At 18, Glen enrolled in an accounting class. When he graduated, he received a business card from Guss Malm, the owner of Malm Metal Products, a sheet metal shop located on Second Street in Santa Rosa. Glen interviewed on December 23, 1946, and was hired the very next day.
After about ten years, Glen took up drafting and came up with the idea for a freestanding metal wood-burning fireplace. The shop built a prototype, and Glen drove one of the company trucks south to pitch it to a hardware store. They liked it, bought it, and quickly ordered another.
By then, Guss had passed away, and his son, Ken Malm, was running the shop. It was the late 1950s, and fireplace orders were coming in so steadily that a swing crew had to be added just to keep up with demand. That’s when Ken told my dad he had no interest in running a swing shift. If Glen wanted to pursue the fireplace line, Ken would loan him the necessary machines. The terms were that Ken would retain 75% of the stock and keep the name Malm Metal Products.
My dad, Glen, and his brother-in-law, Grant Bowman – a builder – became partners. They constructed a building, and in 1960, the machines arrived. We began building fireplaces at that location, and we’ve continued to do so to this day.
Sincerely,
Ken Crownover