The Frank Malcolm White family lived and worked on a 175-acre dairy farm near Dickerson (Montgomery County) MD for nearly a century. Their descendants will gather on Sunday afternoon, July 28, at the unique King Barn Dairy MOOseum (www.MOOseum.org) near Germantown to tell their story of farming with horses, raising corn, wheat, oats, and hay, and shipping milk for more than 50 years in the suburban Maryland county. They’ll meet the public from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM.
Mansfield (Max) and Ella White’s parents originally owned the farm from the 19th century. Max and Ella moved to the farm in 1913, and bought it in 1923. The historic farm was located west of rural Dickerson, and provided their growing family with a comfortable and memorable livelihood for the next five decades. The family farm was one of the county’s nearly 450 dairy farms that shipped milk and dairy products throughout the area and to the Nation’s Capital.
The White family milked their 75 cows by hand in a 30-stanchion bank barn, transitioning to vacuum milking, from ten-gallon cans to a refrigerated bulk milk tank, and from work horses to tractors by the 1950’s. Milk was shipped to Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Association, a dairy cooperative. At 175 acres, the White farm was considered one of Montgomery County’s largest farms.
A special family gathering will take place, with the White family explaining their exhibit in the MOOseum’s 1930’s dairy barn in the South Germantown Regional Park, off I-270 and Md. Rt. #118. Family members will be on hand to discuss their dairy farming heritage that has seen Montgomery County’s dairy farm industry dwindle to only two dairy farms still operating in the county. The MOOseum opened for the season on May 4 and is open on Saturdays from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM through October.
The White family farm is posted prominently on the MOOseum’s unique electronic map board of Montgomery County dairy farms. Educational exhibits at the MOOseum have been designed to be of interest for all ages, and include samples of dairy equipment used in the county for the past 100 years. Admission is free, although contributions are welcome. Come meet the Frank Malcolm White family.
