In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the commissary was the hub of the plantation community. Before the Civil War, it was the place where the plantation owner distributed food and clothing to enslaved people. After slavery ended, freed African American workers were required to buy these items there, and the commissary operated as a country store offering food, clothing, and dry goods to the isolated community. The plantation owner extended credit for these purchases, creating a kind of debt peonage that kept workers dependent on the owner. With the decline of rice culture and improved transportation, the building later came to be used as a barn during the Hofwyl Dairy days. The plantation pay shed, built after the Civil War, reflected the changing status of African American workers, as those who had once labored in the rice fields now received payment for their work there, though deductions were likely also made for goods bought at the commissary.