Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Grant is third of its kind disbursed in Davenport/Reardan area by Register
Brian Graham points out the bell structure of the roof of his family barn on Gravelle Road Monday, Jan. 31. The Grahams received a $20,000 grant to repair their roof from the Heritage Barn Register.
DAVENPORT—Brian and Stacy Graham purchased six acres of farmland in 2017 with the goal of turning the largely run-down structures on the property into usable buildings for family and livestock use. That goal took another step toward reality when the Heritage Barn Register awarded the Grahams a $20,000 grant to fix the roof of the main barn on the property, which has been damaged over the years due to age and weather deterioration.
Brian Graham said the barn was constructed in the 1930s and was owned by the Michael family, who moved out of the property on Gravelle Road south of Highway 2 and west of Highway 231 in the early 1990s. Previous owners then converted the main barn’s milking parlor into a pig stall, but the barn became overrun, and the Grahams have been using it as storage while storing their pigs in a makeshift outdoor pen.
“We first applied for the grant two years ago, and didn’t get it,” Brian Graham said. “We only asked for a replacement roof this time and got it.”
The previous grant would’ve funded more barn repairs, but a roof replacement is a first step. The bell-shaped roof is presently made of aluminum with much wind damage and eroding wood underneath. The barn loft is meant for hay, but presently is home to a makeshift basketball hoop (Graham is the head Reardan boys coach) and a barn owl that flies in through the holes presently near the rooftop.
“It has to be completed by June of 2023. This summer we’ll get started with the materials,” Graham said.
Graham added his barn is the third to receive a roofing grant in the area, along with the Guhlke farm off Highway 2 east of Davenport and the Carstens farm on Coulee-Hite Road. He plans to eventually remodel the whole barn for cows, goats and pigs to use with storage for hay in the loft. He hopes his son, who is presently an elementary student, can continue to use the barn when he is grown.
The Heritage Barn Register, the disbursers of the grant, is the result of a state House bill passed in 2007 that marks approved barns as historically significant structures representing agricultural and economic development in the state. The Grahams registered their barn four years ago.
A full list of Lincoln County barns registered with Heritage Barn is available online.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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