The Ingleside Seed Farm was founded in the early 1900s by John Willis McKinley and his wife, Virga Mae Pridy.
They both began as schoolteacher and then, as the farm developed, they improved seeds that would grow well in the dry Kansas climate with the help of a primitive irrigation system and a greenhouse.
They built a garage for the seed business, complete with scales where bulk seeds were measured out on the spot for buyers. The trees on the farm were planted by the McKinleys and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s to keep the winds from blowing dirt. Seven rows of trees were planted to surround the farm—one row of Russian Olives, one of Long-needle pines, two rows of locusts, two rows of cottonwood, and one of a flowering shrub.
This is the sign still on the side of the old garage used for storing, weighing, and storing seeds.
