Germantown Then & Now: Dairy Legacy Endures at the MOOseum

Nestled in the center of the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown is a large dairy barn with twin silos. This barn was preserved after a long and difficult battle between residents and Montgomery County, which owned the property and wanted to demolish the house and all of the farm buildings to make way for the future park and soccer fields. Most of the buildings had deteriorated over the 30-year stewardship of the county, and, in 1999, the county was only able to save the solidly built dairy barn.

The farm had been purchased by James and Macie King in 1913 and consisted of 350 acres. Dairy farming had become a prosperous business in Montgomery County in the early part of the 20th century because the train that ran through the countryside could take the milk quickly to the processing centers. Prior to then, cows only produced milk for local consumption because unrefrigerated milk spoiled quickly and farms grew mostly wheat and corn.

In 1926 there was a fire that destroyed the 19th century farmhouse, an 18th century barn, three tenant houses, and eight other buildings on the farmstead. High winds can spread a fire very quickly, and with the nearest fire station more than 10 miles away, there was no way to control the fire and keep it from leaping from one building to another. But the house and barns were soon rebuilt, and the new state-of-the-art dairy barn, designed for mechanical milking, was completed in 1930. It had two tall silos that could be seen from many miles away and became community landmarks. It also had an attached milk shed to hold the tanks for partially processing the milk and keeping it cool until the milk truck arrived.

The King Farm Preservation Committee first formed under the umbrella of the Germantown Historical Society. It became an independent non-profit, the King Farm Dairy MOOseum, in June 2003.  The exterior renovation of the barn, including replacement of the two silos, was done by the County. Over the next ten years the King Farm Dairy MOOseum negotiated a contract with the County, made modifications to the building to allow public access, researched the county’s dairy farming history, planned educational programming and amassed donations of dairy and farming equipment for a future museum.

In June 2010, the King Barn Dairy MOOseum finally opened its doors to the public. It is now open every Saturday and every fourth Sunday April through October. It is located at 18028 Central Park Drive, Boyds. For more information go to : www.mooseum.com.

For Heritage Days, June 25 & 26, the MOOseum will feature models of life-sized dairy cows, an exhibit of milking equipment, Civil War era milking practice, and a model of the King Farm family home. Family activities include crafts for children and milking lessons.

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Montgomery County Heritages Days are on Saturday and Sunday June 25 & 26. Four of the 36 sites are in the Germantown area: The King Barn Dairy MOOseum, the Button Farm Living History Center, the Boyds Negro School, and the Historic Germantown Bank (open Saturday only). For more information on Montgomery County Heritage Days go to: www.montgomeryheritage.org. For the month of June this column will describe each of these 4 sites.