Scale House - 3 steps

The Grain Elevator and Scale House located in the Industrial Area of Old Cowtown Museum represents the role of agriculture in Sedgwick County and agribusiness in Wichita. As farming moved from subsistence to industrial production farmers needed an offsite place to store large quantities of grain until they could be sold.

The wagons full of grain were weighed on the wooden platform at the scale house before unloading at the elevator. The wagon would be weighed on the platform scale and the clerk would note the weight. After emptying the grain in the elevator the wagon was weighed again. Grains are sold by weight/ bushel and the difference between the first and second weights was the crop weight for which the farmer would be paid. A farmer could also store his grain to sell at a later time, though he did have to pay a storage fee.