An exhibit celebrating Hinton Mills 100th anniversary will open at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center on June 9.
Currently, the exhibit is in a preview week, meaning guests can tour the exhibit, though more items will added throughout the coming week.
“We’re allowing people to come in and view it, but during all of next week the Hinton family will be bringing in more items for viewing and the exhibit will officially open on June 9,” KYGMC Director CJ Hunter said.
The exhibit is on the first and second floors of the Wormald building. The center piece is a post office that was a part of the Plumbers Landing store since the 1800s. The last postmark was made in 2014.
Hinton Mills owner Adam Hinton said the post office was a part of the location before his great-grandfather purchased it in 1923.
“We know the post office was there in the 1870s, but we believe it could have been there as early as 1850,” Hinton said.
Tom Coe, president of the KYGMC Board of Trustees, and a former retired assistant post master general of facilities for the U.S., shared some importance of post offices in rural stores.
“These kind of family enterprises were so interwoven with rural post offices,” Coe said. “Those business people who started those kind of businesses were typically the ones who would step up and run a post office. It was a sense of community that the stores that serve agriculture and general store needs served the post office as well. It’s the only part of the federal government that touches everyone six days a week.”
Other items in the exhibit include a device that was used to bag feed, photographs, a ledger where customer account information and receipts were kept, signs and an old register engraved with the name O.L. Hinton. In the atrium is also a case of tractor-themed sewing machines used in the business. Large signs from the stores will hang in the atrium once the exhibit opens.
There are also books stationed around the exhibit that shows the history of the business and family.
“We have three of these upstairs and one downstairs,” Hunter said. “One tells the history of the business, another has photos and stories about the family. We have one that shows events held at the business over the years.”
Hunter said he wanted the exhibit at the museum to show support of a business that has been in the area for more than a century.
“The Hinton family has been very helpful to many community and school organizations over the years in our entire region. They’ve been able to support special projects and education needs, along with their helping of the farm communities,” Hunter said. “It’s a business that has been a part of the agriculture business for over 100 years.”
According to Hinton, the family business officially opened in 1918, but it started long before that.
“My great-grandfather was orphaned at age 9,” Hinton said. “Someone, we believe a neighbor, gave him a calf-which is represented in our logo today. He raised the calf and sold it. He raised a second one and sold that one. Then, he started raising two at a time and so on. In 1918, he purchased the location in Goddard.”
In 1923, Hinton’s great-grandfather purchased the Plummer’s Landing location from a relative.
“That’s our location today,” he said.
Hinton said his family is excited about the exhibit and learned a lot about their own history while pulling together items for it.
“We’re really excited,” he said. “It forced us to go through our personal, family archives and pull together items we each had. We’re proud of not just our family, but our employees and all of the customers we’ve had over the years.”
The Hinton Mills exhibit reception will be held on Saturday, June 9 from 4:30-7 p.m. at the museum. At 5 p.m., U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie will speak.
The KYGMC is open everyday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $10 for adults and $2 for students.
