​My Mother's Hoosier Cabinet

Hoosier Cabinet photo posted by Joan Soude on "We Love Farmhouse!" Facebook Page.
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​My Mother's Hoosier Cabinet
 
Our West Virginia cousin, Tom Wagner, a Lester descendant, suggested that I write a blog about my mother’s Hoosier Cabinet so here goes.
 
I don’t know when, where or how we got the Hoosier Cabinet, but I never remember a time when it was not in our kitchen. After my Grandmother “Frances” Fyffe Skaggs died in 1937, my Grandfather Isaac Skaggs decided to leave his home in Kentucky and move to Ohio, probably hoping to live with one of his children. Our house was small, and he ended up staying with daughter Pauline Gordon in Columbus. While there, he went to movies in the LeVeque Tower. Naturally, living in the city was not his forte, so he went back to Cordell, Kentucky and lived there until he died. However, when he came, he drove a truck to my mother’s house and brought some chests and very possibly the Hoosier Cabinet.
 
Our cabinet was caramel colored wood. The top had four windows with a frosted glass design. The table tray was white with black trim with a cutting board underneath that pulled out. The flour bin was on the left. It had an oval glass so one could see how much flour it contained and a sifter which worked. I think it may have had a sugar jar on the right, but I am not sure. The middle section was a roll top that pulled down and closed. I think my mother kept recipes there. Behind the glass windows, my mother always kept a tea pot, sugar bowl and creamer that belonged to my dad’s mother. They had roses on them and are now considered shabby chic. She also had a gold trimmed round butter dish and lid stored there.  In the middle section, she stored plates on the bottom shelf and glasses and pitcher on the top one.
 
Underneath the table tray, the bottom cabinet had a drawer where we kept kitchen utensils. Below that it had one large storage door on the left with a latch handle. The inside was lined with white painted tin. My mother always kept her groceries such as canned and dry goods there. I know because it was my job to put them away. I believe the right bottom was also lined with tin and was the bread box. There were two drawers above that. My mother kept dish towels and cakes of soap in the middle one and silverware in the top drawer.
 
When my family got running water, which was after I was gone from home, the new sink-cabinet combo was put in its place. One of my nephews requested and received the top part of the cabinet. I don’t know what happened to the bottom part but for years there was a landfill leading to the creek behind some of our houses, so when anyone asks me what happened to the bottom part, I tell them, “It was probably thrown over the hill.” 

I love Hoosier Cabinets because they bring back good memories. Today, I realize the Hoosier Cabinet was the ultimate cabinet to own. It held all of the essentials needed to have an organized and well-run kitchen in the 1940s.

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2023
Graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck