Landmarks: Barn stands tall, 100 years later

The Painter barn is easy to see from a distance. It stands tall out in the Palouse, some 16 miles southwest of Cheney. It has been there for 100 years and remains today what it has always been, a working barn.

The 36-feet-by-60-feet Dutch gambrel barn was built by Ohio natives Benjamin and Melvina Painter, who purchased the original 160-acre homestead of David and Emma Bonney in 1882 for $12.50 an acre. The old Bonney cabin still stands on the property, and it is for that family that nearby Bonney Lake is named. The property, now 1,500 acres, has the distinction of being held continuously by generations of the Painter family and serves as the center for the extended family’s activities and reunions.

“This place is where the whole family calls home, even if they’ve never lived here,” said Justin Pittman, great-great-grandson of Benjamin and Melvina Painter. Justin’s mother Julie Painter Pittman of Rosalia is still legal owner of the property, but it is Justin who farms the property at 6803 W. Cheney Plaza Road and still uses the barn for hay storage and other farm needs.

Julie’s great-grandparents, Parlan and Mary Painter, who owned the property from 1908 to 1930, were active in the Buckeye community, so named because so many of the area’s settlers were from Ohio, with Mary overseeing Buckeye School eighth grade examinations and Parlan serving as township assessor, training his workhorses and even helping train cavalry horses for World War I. Their sons Jim (Julie’s father) and Clarence continued the family tradition raising Hereford cattle, wheat and barley and maintaining an orchard. Julie and her sister Janice married brothers Charles and Steve Pittman, and together they maintained the family tradition on the land.

When the state of Washington celebrated its centennial in 1989, the farm received centennial recognition at a ceremony attended by 200 people, Julie recalled. And in 2004, artist Nona Hengen created a painting of the farm, including the big red barn, and a large Painter weekend picnic was held celebrating 122 years of continual ownership that drew visitors to tour the farm from across the state.

As is true for most farms, the barn is the center of things. “You put up a barn before you put up anything else,” Julie Pittman said. “At first there was a small log barn, but then when there was enough money, the big barn was built.”

She said wood for the barn “was milled at Ole’s; that’s what the old timers called it – Ole Dybdall’s mill, which is better known as the Chapman Lake Mill.” Wood was hauled back to the farm by horses and in 1916 the barn was put up by a group of barn builders who came through rural areas to work with farmers needing help erecting barns, Julie said.

“When you can build a nice big barn, it’s a major thing,” she added. “That’s when you felt like maybe you’re going to make it.”

The barn, with cupola atop the middle of the roof, contains stalls for horses, grain bins, large stairs to the loft, a tack area and windows. Julie noted that windows were a luxury but her great-grandfather wanted natural light in the barn. Justin said they even have some of the 1916 window glass remaining.

A metal roof was installed in the 1960s and repaired since. Justin recalled a windstorm 10 years ago which simply rolled up the roofing because it was so fierce, but fortunately last November’s severe windstorm, which wreaked such havoc in the region, largely spared their farm. However, Buckeye Creek, which runs near the barn and empties into Bonney Lake, does flood occasionally and causes problems for them.

The barn was last painted in 2003 and is in need of new siding and work on the main door. These are things that will soon be attended to, Justin said, adding that the barn remains strong and solid – good foundation, good beams and strong construction.

Because they value their barn, because they value history and tradition, the descendants of Benjamin and Melvina Painter are working to preserve it. To that end they saw to it that it was listed on the Washington Heritage Barn Register and are pleased that it draws interest and attention, including an annual visit by camera club members from Eastern Washington University who come by each summer to take photos.

“You can tell about barns,” Julie said. “They’re made of wood, and wood is a living thing. You can tell when a barn is dying. It just doesn’t die and fall all at once; it goes slowly. Ours is a good barn, a living and working barn.”