The
Bake Shop at Fort Scott received little attention in the surviving correspondence
of the post. Built of stone, it was approximately 37 x 18 feet and was
completed before 1848. It had two rooms, one for the baking and making
of bread and the other probably to store the loaves in as they cooled
and before issue to the company cooks. The outline of a single oven
remained, although later conversion to a house destroyed much original
evidence. When the restoration of the building was begun, nailing boards
were found along the south wall, but their use has not been established.
The refurnished Bake House shows visitors how an important element in
the rations was provided to large numbers of men at Army posts and explains
the role bread played in the diet of the soldier of the 1840's.
