Broom Shop, Barn, & Blacksmith Shop

Barns could be found on most farms in Rusk County. Their primary use was storing farming equipment and everyday tools. Many had work­shop rooms as well as covered areas for livestock and feed. The barn on the grounds of the Depot Museum depicts what a typical barn may have looked like after settlers migrated to the county.

Under the covered area, a small blacksmith shop has been assembled to show the simple tools a farmer would use to make or repair farming equipment. They could also prepare metal shoes for the horses and mules used for farming, transportation, and other tasks to make life easier for the farming family.

In the middle and large portion of the barn, many tools used back in the early days on the farm, such as saws, planters, plows, and equipment used by the animals for farm and wagon use, are on display. Also inside are everyday items like a pea sheller, hay baler, cutting tools, and various smaller items.

The smaller enclosed room of the barn contains broom-making equipment used by Rusk County native Jesse Rogers. Jesse, a descendant of enslaved people, was born in the southern part of the county in 1913. An accident when he was just five years old took the sight in one of his eyes. Three to four years later, Jesse lost the sight in his remaining eye, ren­dering him blind. At ten years of age, he attended the Texas State School for the Blind and Deaf in Austin, where he learned the trade of making brooms.

Jesse moved back to Henderson in 1940, setting up his own business. People came from far away to purchase a first-rate broom made by the blind man. Although his dream of establishing a broom-making factory for disabled people never happened, Jesse made brooms for forty years in the little shop at his home, to the delight of many admiring customers.

This building has a Rusk County Agriculture, Texas Historical Com­ mission Marker.