Landmarks: Pleasant Prairie barn a monument to farm life

The tall red barn out on Pleasant Prairie can easily be seen from a distance, not just because of its sharp contrast to the snow on the ground but also because it stands atop a rise and serves as a visible landmark for those driving along Bigelow Gulch Road.

The Koch Barn, on the Spokane County Heritage Barn Register, was constructed in 1892, two years after the large farm house just north of it was built. The 400-acre property on which the barn sits was originally railroad property.

The gable-roofed barn was erected by original property owner George H. Collin, who arrived in the area in 1887. Originally from Yorkshire, England, he emigrated with his parents, settling in Minnesota, where he grew up and married Sarah Harrison. When they moved west, he purchased what was then a 320-acre piece of land on Pleasant Prairie, according to an account in “An Illustrated History of Spokane County, Spokane, Washington” by Jonathan Edwards, written in 1900. There he put most of the land into hay, but also had an orchard, and, of course, built the house and barn.

Collin went on to serve in the Washington Legislature and was a county commissioner. His son, Alvin Collin, also served in the Legislature, was a township assessor and 18-year member of the school board for the Pleasant Prairie district. The senior Collin lived on the Pleasant Prairie property until 1902, when he moved into Spokane and Alvin took over the farm, living there until 1932. There have been several owners since.

It was purchased by Orville Koch in 1973, and he rented it and the land out for farming. In 1985, Koch’s son, Jim, and his wife, Sheri, took it over. They raised their three children there, leasing out about 300 acres to a neighbor for farming. “I grew up in Spokane Valley and wasn’t sure I wanted to live on a farm, but I really came to love it,” Sheri Koch said.

They have paid careful attention to maintaining the vintage home and barn. Recently a metal roof was placed on the barn. “The life of a barn is its roof,” she said. And they replaced some siding on the south and west sides due to weathering and aging, but notes that otherwise the barn has held up well.

Inside the barn Jim Koch, who works in maintenance for Hollister-Stier Laboratories, has put in a staircase to the upper loft, done a few repairs and put up some rough-hewn walls, using barn wood, for Sheri’s vintage sales business, Homestead Vintage. On the walls she displays the items she sells, some gathered and some created by Jim from vintage wood and other recovered items. She also holds a large annual sale in which about 20 vendors set up booths on the property.

“But mostly I’m a stay-at-home wife and mother,” she said. “But before we could do any work inside the barn, we had to deal with 100 years of accumulation. Not an easy task.”

Now the Kochs are hoping to preserve another part of the property: two cut-basalt stone pillars with concrete coping on top that guard the driveway. Plans to widen Bigelow Gulch Road are putting them at risk.

“We’d hate to see them go, as they are a part of this old property, and I hope we can find a way to save them,” she said.