Cracker Barrel (1874, 1875)

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   OED has 1877 for "cracker barrel."  Merriam-Webster has it as in "cracker barrel philosopher," from 1916.

1874--In the Making of America-Mich. Journals for this year, but I looked several times and didn't see "cracker barrel."  Time to go to sleep.

14 February 1875, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 9.  "Cracker barrel" is mentioned several times.

February 1901, CURRENT LITERATURE, pg. 219:  "He grew to be familiar with the gossips of the wood stove and the cracker barrel..."

30 March 1927, NEW YORK TIMES (Theatre review by J. Brokks Atkinson which mentions a sordid little play called CHICAGO), pg. 22:  "In the words of the cracker-barrel-philosopher: 'It makes a man think.'"

September/October 1927, THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, pg. 457.  First of several pieces by Burges Johnson titled "The Cracker Barrel Philosopher."