If This House Could Talk - Post #18
My summer kitchen was a beehive of activity from May to October each year as the housekeeping chores of cooking, baking, and laundry were moved there to keep me cooler during the heat of the Kansas summers. The Koester House Museum displays some of the utensils that were used in day-to-day work. Their display reminds me of what it looked like when Charles was alive.
The woodburning cookstove was the main stay of the operation. It was used for heating water to do the laundry. Bread, pies, and cakes were baked in its oven. Meals were cooked and fruits were boiled down to make jams and jellies.
The cast iron stove in the bottom left picture above also was used to heat water for the regular Saturday baths. The children and Charles bathed in the galvanized tubs which are to the right of the cookstove.
The cast iron cake mixer (bottom center right photo) is interesting. It was a labor-saving device that the hired girls used. It had a hand crank with a rotating paddle that mixed the cake batter more efficiently than manual stirring.
The ice cutter (bottom right photo) was everybody’s favorite device in the summer. Charles had an icehouse where blocks of ice from Spring Creek were harvested in the winter and stored for use into the summer. He added an icebox to my summer kitchen so that ice would be close and to keep foods cool.
Made of cast iron, the ice cutter was designed to slice through blocks of ice. It had a crank operated blade. It was great to have ice to make ice cream or for cold drinks.
Charles was smart by having a hutch in the summer kitchen that was like the one in my kitchen. That way, when the hired help moved the utensils and supplies to the summer kitchen each spring, they knew exactly where to put things. Similarly, in the fall when it was time to move back to my kitchen, everything was easily placed where it belonged.
A sentimental favorite of mine is in the corner near the window. Charles’ oldest, Tinnie, was married to Guy Helvering. When Guy was Commissioner of the IRS during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, they lived in an apartment at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. Her storage chest is there. It has the Mayflower Hotel tag on its handle.
