If there is a groove in the outside of the pulley it was most likely for pulling water from a well.I use to think my name was get water when i was a kid.Wish i could go back and do it again.
My parents were from Osage county. My granddad carried rural mail, out of Fairfax for 54 years. I spent a lot of young summers there. Wish I could go back and do it again.
You are right about the pulley. I took a look at an old sewing machine in my storage building and it has the exact same pulley on it! Thanks! Still wondering what the brass bar is though.