Transcript Burton Cotton Gin Museum

Burton Cotton Gin Museum
The Oldest Operating Cotton Gin in
America
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
The
A
group
Gin was
of local
constructed
farmers established
as a two story
thebuilding
Burton Farmers
using cypress
Gin wood
Association
and
tin. Theon
machinery
December
was
2, 1913
powered
withby
thea goal
steam
ofengine
constructing
with aa gin
in Burton,
wood
fueled
Texas
boiler. In 1919 coal replaced cordwood as the main fuel
source.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
In 1925, the steam engine
was replaced by a
Bessemer 125 HP crude oil
engine.
The engine arrived by
railroad from Grove City,
PA.
A wooden platform had to be built to move the 16 ton Bessemer from
the rail car to the gin. Using jacks, crowbars, mule teams, and most of
the able bodied men in Burton, it took 1 ½ days to move the engine into
position.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
The
originalGin
ginStands
standsformed
at the gin
Five
Lummus
the
contained
saw blades.
1923
battery
of the60
Burton
FarmersInGin.
these
blades.
Each
gin were
standupgraded
containedto8070saw
The current
80separating
blades was
blades
spinningbattery
at 250 of
rpm
in 1932.
theinstalled
cotton lint
from the seed.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
Robert
Munger’s
double press
box systembywas
Baling time
was shortened
considerably
thisalso
asystem.
feature A
ofbale
the Burton
Gin.atWhen
the
could beFarmers
produced
the Burton
first
box was
was rotated to allow
Farmers
Gin filled,
in onlythe
12 press
minutes.
the empty box to be filled while the full box was
baled.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
ANew
protecting
shed
toin
house
the
Bessemer
The
configuration
ducts,was
and
ofadded
the
a stick
gin
removing
changed
several
machine
Thedryers,
Seed House
was
added
1923 when
the
Engine
along
with
office
the
gin changed
manager
Was
times
added
overin
its
the
60an
early
years
1960’s
offor
operation.
which
the
additional
uses
for
cotton
seed
became
known.
located
.
roof lineupstairs
and extended
it.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
With
the decline
of cotton
farming
in the
Burton
In
produced
bales
cotton.
In 1974
1975 the
the gin
gin only
closed
its doors7for
theoflast
time.
area in the 1970’s the Burton Farmers Gin found it
difficult to Or
staysoinitbusiness.
was thought. . . . .
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
In 1987 a group of
citizens organized
Operation Restoration
to save the Burton
Farmers’ Gin
Various private, state,
and national groups lent
their support for the
project
The National Trust for Historical Preservation
The Texas Historical Commission
The Smithsonian Institution
Lummus Industry and Cooper Lufkin Company
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
The
Gin
has beenPreservation
recognized by
the Texas
The Burton
NationalFarmers
Trust for
Historical
states,
Historical
Commission,
theclear
National
forisHistorical
“It has been
unmistakably
that Trust
the gin
a
Preservation,
and designated
as aalmost
National
Historic
resource of astounding
integrity
unheralded
Engineering
in its field.” Landmark by the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers.
Burton Cotton Gin Museum
The
museum
Burton
Cotton
and gin
Gin
isMuseum
Museum
visited
by
seeks
some
to10,000
bring
The
With
Burton
your Cotton
support
Gin
you
can help
continues
us
keep
this
to tell the
people
about
betterfor
understanding
from
every
state
andand
appreciation
from
37 at the
story
history
ofaannually
cotton
alive
and
future
cotton
generations.
processing
as
it was
different
of
the
heritage of the cotton industry
turn
of history
thecountries.
20thand
century.
in Texas and the United States.