Bake House
The foundation before you marks the stone bake house, where all the fort's bread was baked. The inner rectangular foundation at the east (right) end marks the oven, while the foundation of the pantry is in the west (left) end. The original wooden bake house burned down in December 1875. The post quartermaster reported that the bakery had been "a miserable affair: a stockade building with the interstices [crevices] plastered. The oven was old and needed constant repairing."
The idea of having freshly baked bread may sound appealing, but the belief at the time of the fort was that bread should sit in the open air for 48 hours before being eaten. There were reports that the bread at Fort Hays was often "sour" and "doughy." Soldiers were detailed as bakers regardless of their baking skills.
Courtesy hmdb.org
