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Franke Summer Kitchen

 

The Herman Franke farm was located at the corner of 27th Street and Drexel Avenue.  The summer kitchen was built in 1890 and moved to the complex in 1974. The purpose of a summer kitchen was to keep the main house cooler by putting the cooking and cleaning duties in a separate building.

 

In our summer kitchen, we've collected several washing machines and equipment that depicts all the different ways women washed clothes throughout history. You will find a wash board and wooden bucket, a rocker type washer (c.1900), a plunger type (c.1920), and spinning washers from the 1930's 1940's and 1950's. Also, butchering, sausage making equipment and wine presses round out the artifact collection in this building.

 

A look around here will make everyone appreciate what our grandmothers and great grandmothers went through to get the family clothes clean!

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