MOOseum Exhibits

Many exhibits about dairy history and the dairy industry of Montgomery County are housed in the MOOseum.

Life size replicas of different breeds of dairy cows
The history of Astronaut and life size replica of one of the most significant dairy bulls in the USA.
Hand milking of replica cow
Map and Information Management System for historical dairy farms in Montgomery County
Model of King Farm House and 1940's kitchen gadgets
Milk Bottle Collection
Restored Milk Truck
Dairy Nutrition
Milk Transportation - Farm to Table
Robotic Milking Machine
Dairy milking and cream separation equipment

As you walk up to the MOOseum from the parking lot, you will see the double doors open and welcoming you into the 1930’s dairy long barn that houses the King Barn Dairy MOOseum.

As you enter the “foyer” of the barn, a docent will greet you and tell you why this dairy barn is sitting among soccer fields, tennis courts, a splash park, and a pool. The docent will give you an overview of the history of this barn and offer to give you a guided tour or just let you wander on your own to read, learn, and enjoy the MOOseum.

This side of Schaeffer Road, used to get to South Germantown Recreational Park, was once a dairy farm, one of over 500 hundred dairy farms that existed in Montgomery County in the middle of the 20^th Century. The MOOseum highlights James and Macie King who bought this 350-acre vegetable farm in 1913 and turned it into a dairy farm. They owned and worked this farm for about 50 years, before selling it to owners who rented the farm out. At some point in the 1980s, Montgomery Parks bought the farm, also renting it out, until the late 1990s when Parks began the construction of South Germantown Recreation Park and Maryland SoccerPlex.

This long barn, built in the early 1930s, milked 72 cows, twice a day, for over 60 years. When it was built, it was built to the latest and greatest standards of the day, so dairy farmers throughout Montgomery County would come to see these new standards. As an example, one of those new standards was a cement floor. The King’s other barn had a dirt floor. Today many of the stanchions – the “stalls” that separated the cows as they were milked – remain with a variety of exhibits that highlight the dairy industry artifacts, different breeds of cows milked in Montgomery County, information on how milked was mooved and family life on the farm.

James and Macie's King Farm in the 1960s

Above the welcome desk is an ariel view of the James and Macie King Farm taken in the early 1960s. The MOOseum is in the long barn on the left of the picture. Nearby towards the right is a bank barn where another 50 cows were milked twice a day. To the right of the picture with the trees around it, is the King home. The large tree in the backyard still survives – it is at the end of the Tot Lot that now occupies the space that was once the King’s backyard. In the background between the bank barn and the King home, are several other buildings that included homes of farmers and their families who were hired to work on this farm, and a blacksmith shop. Between the long barn and the bank barn is the bull pen. Behind the long barn is a corn crib that was moved to Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville in the late 1990s as Parks was taking down buildings.

As Montgomery Parks prepared to convert the dairy farm into South Germantown Recreation Park, they worked collaboratively with community groups to save this 1930s long barn. The barn is owned by Montgomery Parks but all the exhibits found inside belong to the non-profit King Barn Dairy MOOseum whose mission is to interpret and keep alive the rich history of dairy farms, families, related organizations and businesses of Montgomery County for current and future residents.