Cotton Gin “Cotton Museum of the South” 1910

Cotton gins were the heart of many rural towns from the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s. Farmers took their freshly picked cotton to the gin to remove the seeds, which they kept for planting, and bale up their cotton for sale. This gin produced 500-pound bales. A pond was always located nearby in case of fire, which was common due to the amount of line produced in the gin, but also to water horses and mules that transported the cotton.
 
Mr. Irvin Eatman of Mantua, Alabama offered the gin to Green Frog Farm on one condition, and that is when we come to get it, we get it all. The machinery was of 1910 vintage and in perfect shape.
 
An experienced house mover was found but we had to take the roof off as well as take the walls down so it could pass under several overpasses in the three-day voyage to Green Frog. Some of the gin equipment also had to be disassembled. A motorcycle escort was required since the gin floor was twenty-two feet wide, taking up two traffic lanes.
 
The gin sat in Green Frog covered with tarps protecting the antique wooden equipment waiting to find someone to reconstruct the edifice. Fortunately, Thomas Van Evans and his son were available and we set to work. It was important to get a roof on so the gin equipment was safe from rains. Getting the gin machinery reorganized was the next problem. Today the gin stands ready to gin cotton but it is too old for the task and would take too much money to replace all the flat belts and get the 100-year-old diesel engine started. The gin was originally powered by a steam engine which had gone its own way many years before.