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| 1921 Hoosier cabinet |
My husband Chris just completed the restoration of a 1921 Hoosier cabinet. This cabinet was in the Bloomington, IL house my parents bought in April 1950 when they were married. The cabinet was in use in their kitchen until the mid 1950's when they built a new kitchen addition to their house and installed wall cabinets. The Hoosier was relegated to the basement for storage where it stayed until the early 90's when my mom sold the house after my father's death. I took the cabinet to my home in Cedar Rapids, IA where it was placed in our walk up attic. It was used for storage. We then moved to San Jose, CA in 1999 where it was placed in the garage for several years and then finally moved to my sewing room in the late 2000's. We moved to Georgetown, TX in 2016 and at that time I asked my husband to restore the cabinet. Since it had been in the basement for many years, the panels had deteriorated. It took about 2 years of intermittent work. Chris replaced the bottom, side, and back panels on the base unit and the back panels on the top unit. The doors, drawers, and frame are original. He also replaced all the hardware except for the metal brackets that hold the top to the bottom. We purchased the replacement hardware from Kennedy Hardware in Indiana (about $200 for nickel plated). The legs were also replaced as they had been missing the whole time it was in my possession. I still have the original stickers that identify the model and that it is indeed a Hoosier cabinet. These were replaced onto the back panels as they originally were placed.
My mother would be thrilled to see the restored cabinet. It looks almost like new.
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| The tambour doors are missing as is the interior flour sifter, etc. |
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| Close up of new hardware |
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| Me as a baby in 1954 with the Hoosier in the background. |
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