About Us

We believe that the museum complex is unequaled in the nation as the best remaining example of an early, automated systems gin still in its original historic setting. The gin and and artifacts in the collection are largely in their last-used condition and comprise one of only a few such intact rural industrial sites in the country. The archival records of the gin offer an unparalleled case study of the construction, modification and continual operation of a cotton gin over a sixty-year period. The significance of the site has been recognized by numerous governmental and professional organizations.

Over 4,000 gins operated in Texas in 1925 when the Bessemer engine was installed in the Burton Farmers' Gin. Now the Burton gin stands as the lone remaining, fully operational example of the once ubiquitous cotton gin. Gins served as the hub of community life in thousands of cotton towns across the nation's then leading cotton-producing state. We believe preserving the gin and surrounding historic town setting provides an authentic experience for present and future generations to learn about the great changes that took place as cotton farming was mechanized.

The museum collections can provide an active and vital setting in which to explore the vernacular mechanical achievements of typical local users and adapters of mass-produced machines, engines, tools, and vehicles during the first two thirds of the twentieth century.