| KITCHEN The only original piece of furniture in this room is the table. It was found in the smokehouse. The only other piece of furniture found on the premises was a table in the Acquisition Room. All the rest of the furniture had been auctioned off. The kitchen table is a very valuable piece. It was made with only two boards in the top which is very unusual because it takes very large trees to get a board of this size. It is made of Early American Hepplewhite. Notice the tapered legs. The more tapered the leg, the more valuable the piece. It is beginning to split as it had hard usage while it was in the smokehouse. People in this area have donated the chairs around the table. They were refinished by one of our members. The stove, purchased in St. Louis, has a double oven door which is the reason the stove sits out in the room, so it can accessible from both sides. On the stove are a dutch oven, old irons and a little match box. A Graniteware coffeepot is on a movable stand which can swing away from the heat. The dry sink was purchased from an antique shop in Collinsville. It is copper lined. Another unique feature is the board that goes all the way through and comes out the other side of the cabinet. One side was used for making breads and the other for preparing meats. On the back is the same wainscoting as is found in the room. Wainscoting dates from the 1880’s. It is believed that Mr. Emmert put in the closets on the wall. The dry sink has many interesting things on it. Among them we see a matchbox, salt box, butter molds (oblong and fancy) and a marshmallow toaster with three tongs, one is missing. There is a toaster, two potato mashers, ice cream scoop and a pitcher this is valuable because it was George Washington’s picture on it. There is also a coffee grinder. There is a cake box, Victorian design. The Pie Safe was used to store pies to keep the flies off. Although the doors now have screen wire on them we have a sample of the inserts that were formerly panels in the door, made of perforated metal. There is an antique Westclox made in LaSalle, IL, in the cabinet. About the pie safe is a display shelf for china. The basement door was added when additional rooms were built. The original basement entrance was through the cellar doors on the side of the house. A part of the basement has a dirt floor where the Emmerts and Zippels stored potatoes and turnips. The buffet has beautifully carved doors and displays various pieces. The drawers hold our table linens. The Hoover cabinet was donated by the Stallings family. It has a flour bin above and a bin in the bottom for cornmeal. A work table pulls out. An apple press sits on it. We have a hand cranked telephone from 1909 by a 1917 calendar. And the rounded front cabinet displays some special pieces. |