BACK IN TIME CORN SHELLING

By Appointment Only - Saturday and Sunday from April 1 - December 3, 2024
Email info.ruralheritagemuseum.org 

The Black Hawk Cast Iron Corn Sheller Circa 1900 was used to remove corn kernels from the cob. It was invented and patented by  Asahel Huntington Patch in 1886. Corn shellers were manufactured in iron foundrys because they were made from a iron cast. Foundrys once made civil war munitions, coffee grinders, cast iron stoves, fireplace tools and manhole covers.  This corn sheller  was named after Black Hawk, Chief of the Sauk Tribe in Illinois.
Further research on the Black Hawk name tells us that a war ensued briefly in 1832 between Chief Black Hawk and his tribe against the United States as Black Hawk sought to reclaim land that the tribal spokesman had surrended to the U.S. in 1804  (known as the Treaty of St. Louis). A quiet piece of trivia is that Abaham Lincoln served as a volunteer in the Illinois militia April 21, 1832 - July 10, 1832 during the Black Hawk war but never saw combat.