13. 1876 Post Bakery

The building designated as the 1876 Bakery on the map was one of four bakeries in use at various times at Fort Laramie. Bakeries were important because bread was a staple of a soldier’s diet while he was in garrison. A loaf of bread was baked for every soldier at the Fort every day.

The baker was usually an ordinary soldier from the garrison detailed to bakery duty for ten days. At the end of his ten-day stint, he would be moved on to other duties and someone else would be rotated into the baker role. It was probable that most of the bakers had no previous baking experience and even possible that some would be illiterate and unable to read the bread recipe. The baker’s job would have been relatively easy when the number of soldiers at the Fort was small, but challenging during the brief periods when the garrison was above 700.

This bakery was in use from 1876 to 1883 when its two ovens became faulty and it had to be replaced by another structure. The building has been restored to this time period and has been refurnished with a replica of one of the original ovens and with period utensils that the baker would have used.