Iconic prairie barn collapses

A piece of North Idaho history has fallen.

An iconic Rathdrum Prairie barn — adjacent a silo and stand of trees on the west side of Highway 41 south of Lancaster Road and next to OK Corral Road — finally caved in after years of use and inevitable decay.

Wanda McLean, whose grandfather's sister Hattie and her husband Fred Irvin built the farmstead, said the old barn housed farming equipment until just this spring.

"I remember playing in it in the hay," said McLean, who runs Satchwell Farms on Greensferry Road with husband Wade. "We'd go over there for celebrations and things. I’m sure they had livestock in there. It was a farm barn."

Wanda McLean's family has farmed the Rathdrum Prairie for generations. She estimates her aunt and uncle built the barn when they made the homestead in the early 1900s.

"After the house was gone, the barn still stood," she said.

Community members have adored the barn from afar for years, snapping photos and some even taking pieces of it home with them.

“It makes me sad to even think about it, but we knew it was going down," McLean said. "It seems funny, people would take souvenirs. There’s little pieces of it missing."

The barn has appeared in wedding photos, senior portraits and gorgeous prairie sunset images. One such photo is the November image in the Kootenai Health employee calendar and hangs in a hospital hallway.

"These pioneers that settled out here, they were tough stock," McLean said. "They had no water. They had to dig wells. Those men and women worked.

"They had no electricity for a long time," she said. "That’s just how it was, but wow could they cook on a wood stove.”

Locals who enjoyed the barn took to social media to share memories when they discovered the structure collapsed.

"Only know the barn as a passerby, but it's definitely in my memories and will be missed along with all the others that have gone," said Pam Grytness of Post Falls, who was born and raised in North Idaho and whose family has ties to the area dating back to the 1930s.

"Heard the rumors, so I had to check it out for myself," posted Niki LaPuzza Kompelien, who shared images of the now-toppled structure. "I guess it was bound to happen. Still sad, though."

Hundreds of people reacted to the photos and the news of the barn finally giving out.

"Such an old beautiful treasure," JanaLyn Southard of Rathdrum posted.

"Happened last night," Torey Redfern posted Sunday evening. "We saw it this morning and it was standing yesterday afternoon."

The barn is owned by an out-of-state investor, said Wanda McLean. The McLeans farmed the land for him and communicate through his attorney. Wanda McLean said she was unsure what will happen to the barn now.

"He can do whatever he wants with the barn wood, that’s worth something," she said.

McLean said it is sad to see the old barn go.

"But it had a good long life and a lot of fans," she said.