What Is A Hoosier Cabinet?

Yesterday I happened to mention my

Hoosier cabinet on a facebook post.

My friend, Olivia, in Germany, asked,

"What is a Hoosier cabinet?"

Oh, Olivia!  Not only do I have a

Hoosier cabinet but, it comes with

a great story.

First, let's address what a Hoosier

cabinet is.  The Hoosier Manufacturing

Company in New Castle, Indiana made

furniture for the kitchen.  Years ago,

kitchens did not have built-in cabinets

so you had furniture made specifically

for the kitchen.  Hoosier cabinets were

a one stop cabinet, they had storage, a flour

 sifter, a bread drawer, and a work surface.

So, now we'll get to MY Hoosier

cabinet.  Years ago when my Aunt

Jane & Uncle Bob bought an older home

on Grove Street in Rahway, NJ there was

a Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen.  I first

remember this cabinet as the dress-up

cabinet that was in the garage.  As you can

see in the above photo, we all loved to

dress-up!  Yeah, that's me, front row right.

So, years go by and I grow up and

my aunt and uncle were down-sizing

and having a garage sale.  Someone

came to the sale and happened to spot

the cabinet and made an offer to buy it.

My Aunt Jane called me and asked if

I knew what a Hoosier cabinet was?

I said, of course!  They are great old

cabinets, etc. etc....

To make a long story short, my aunt

gave me the cabinet.  Rob & I scraped

off all the paint and restored it and it

has been one of our prized possessions

ever since.  At that time we would never

have dreamed that one day we would

live in Indiana.  But now, we live a half

an hour away from where the cabinet

was made.  Aunt Jane said, we brought

it home.

I have seen other Hoosier cabinets

that are much more decked out than

ours but to me they can't compared.

And it just so happens that today is

my Aunt Jane's birthday.  So please

join me in wishing Aunt Jane

A Very Happy Birthday!

I also have a Sellers cabinet

but that's another story...