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Southwest Dairy Center and Museum

Introduction

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The Southwest Dairy Museum and Education Center is located in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and serves as the headquarters for the many activities sponsored by the Southwest Dairy Farmers. The objective of the Museum is to preserve the history of the Southwestern dairy industry. This 10,000-square-foot facility is a typical dairy-farm style building featuring a five-story silo that houses a conference room. One of the main exhibits is a series of historical vignettes that show the life of a dairy farm family before electricity came to rural America. At the Southwest Dairy Museum, docents offer scheduled guided tours and can answer questions about the milk and the dairy industry. With scheduled tours, visitors, including school children and tourists, can participate in demonstrations such as separating cream, which is the first step in the production of most dairy products. Another experience for visitors is the making of dairy products into butter, cheese, whipped cream or ice cream.

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Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Southwest Dairy Museum and Education Center, founded in 1991, talks about the dairy industry and its past, present, and future. The museum's exhibits depict every facet of milk production, from an early farm kitchen to the present-day production of milk and milk products. It also houses an old-fashioned soda bar, where visitors can enjoy ice cream and light lunches. There's also a souvenir shop.

The museum is funded by the dairy checkoff program, so its programs are made possible by dairy farmers. The museum also serves as the headquarters for the many activities that Southwest Dairy Farmers sponsor. The idea for the museum came about in 1982. The dairy industry wanted to preserve artifacts and historical documents related to the history of the dairy industry. It was opened nine years later. Today, the museum sponsors all kinds of educational activities.

Sources

Southwest Dairy Museum and Learning Center, Accessed July 3rd 2020. http://www.sulphurspringstx.org/visitors/southwest_dairy_museum.php.

About the Museum, Southwest Dairy Farmers. Accessed July 3rd 2020. https://southwestdairyfarmers.com/pages/museum.

Additional Information