This weekend, families across the United States will be firing up their grills for hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn-on-the-cob, whether it's a classic charcoal Weber sphere or a propane-powered, feature-laden modern machine. While the associations with a summer holiday are obvious, the grill has much greater symbolic importance. It's nearly ubiquitous in popular imaginaries of mid-century suburbia and broader ideas of the American dream. Pop culture also treats grilling as exclusively male, with innumerable "grillmaster" t-shirts and jokes about dads, grills, and white New Balance shoes.

What's the origin of the backyard barbecue grill, and when did it take such an oversized in role in depictions of American masculinity?