ABAC cotton gin running again

TIFTON — It’s taken a while, but the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village is finally scheduled to fire up its cotton gin on Saturday.

Museum officials say donors from across the U.S. helped get the gin running again.

“The successful completion of this project allowed us to bring an integral part of the Historic Village back into operational status and further our educational and historic preservation missions,” Museum Director Garrett Boone said. “The gin provides an opportunity for kindergarten through 12th grade students, our ABAC students, and the public to learn more about a vital part of the agricultural and textile heritage of this region of the South.”

Director of Advancement Deidre Martin added, “It’s more important than ever before that we educate folks, especially our young people, about the important role of the cotton industry in our daily lives,” Martin said.

Boone said the gin building, constructed at the museum site 40 years ago, was designed from blue prints of several different late 1800s cotton gins. Lummus Industries from Columbus originally restored the gin stand. Equipment was painted in original colors, including the gin stand and boiler. A gin the size of the one at the museum could produce six-eight bales of ginned cotton in a day.

The renovation project, helped along by gifts of $10,000 or more from Bayer and the Montgomery Family Foundation Inc., involved the replacement of wood siding and beams throughout the structure and replacement of belts and piping for the ginning process. The cotton gin boiler was also replaced with an historically accurate representation with an engine size of 90 hp.

“Bayer and the Montgomery Family Foundation went a long way toward making this restoration possible, but we had some other folks who really went the extra mile for this project,” Martin said.

The Georgia Cotton Commission and Monsanto were in the Circle of Excellence giving level with gifts of $5,000-$9,999. The Georgia Agribusiness Council, Georgia Farm Bureau and Staplcotn were in the Producer’s Club with gifts of $2,500-$4,999.

The Ginners Club level of giving (gifts of $1,000-$2,499) included Clover Leaf Gin Inc., Lummus Corporation, PhytoGen Cottonseed, Southeastern Gin and Peanut Company/Kent Fountain, and Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association Inc./Dusty Findley.

The Friends of Cotton giving level with gifts up to $1,000 included The Cotton Gin, Inc./Fred Powell, Dixon Gin Company Inc./Jaclyn Ford, Eidson Gin Co-op Inc., Herzog Family in honor of Dr. Gary Herzog, the Knowlton Family, Robert McLendon Farms, Miller County Gin Company, Pineywood Farms/Louie Perry, Keith and Julie Rucker, and the South Central Georgia Gin Company/Darvin Eason.

“The cotton cin, like many sites within the Historic Village, is mainly volunteer run,” Boone said. “We would enjoy talking with anyone interested in assisting with gin operations.”

The Museum is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Other special attractions Saturday include a Native American Village re-enactment with Creek Indians and the Wiregrass Holiday Market, which will be located behind the Country Store. Contact (229) 391-5205.