LaCrosse rock houses listed as endangered

The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation April 25 released its annual list of the Most Endangered Historic Properties in Washington, and the LaCrosse rock houses made the list. Seven historic sites across the state made this year's list.

Peggy Bryan with LaCrosse Community Pride, the group that owns the structures, said she was pleased with the designation.

“LaCrosse Community Pride is very honored to get to have the rock houses and the station on the most endangered list,” she said.

Bryan told the Gazette in December 2015 that she was in the process of applying to have the structures listed in order to increase the awareness surrounding them.

“Being on a statewide list shows the value of historic buildings and what it means and the difference it can make to the community, and that it's worth the effort in saving these structures,” she said.

Jennifer Mortensen with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation said the group was excited to receive the application to name the rock houses to the endangered list and is excited to be working with LaCrosse Community Pride moving forward.

“We thought these were really neat and interesting historical pieces,” she said. “We'd love to see them revived and contributing to the community.”

She added the group will be a promotion tool for the houses in the future.

“We will definitely continue to try to promote them and raise awareness about them,” Mortensen said.

The rock houses and service station were gifted to LaCrosse Community Pride in 2015, and plans have been underway to convert the old service station to an Ice Age floods museum and visitor's center.

“That's still our goal,” Bryan told the Gazette Tuesday. “We'll see what happens with that.”

In December last year, LaCrosse Community Pride was awarded a $750 Valerie Sivinski Washington Preserves Fund Grant from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation to help stabilize the structures.

“The buildings are in need of repair,” Bryan told the Gazette in December. “We are going to use this grant to preserve and secure the structures as they are. We want it to be safe.”

Bryan said Tuesday the process of stabilizing the structures would be starting shortly, now that warmer and more consistent weather has arrived.

“We're going to be stabilizing the buildings as much as we can with that grant funding now that spring is here,” she said.

The rock houses and service station were constructed between 1934 and 1936 by Clint Dobson, a local businessman. He constructed three houses, three cabins and the service station with basalt stones all collected from the surrounding fields. The basalt stones were brought to the area by the Ice Age floods, and the three bunkhouses were used for railroad workers and other travelers and the three larger structures were used as homes.

Bryan said the spot on the most endangered list will allow LaCrosse Community Pride to work more closely with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve the buildings and convert them for future use.

“It's a piece of our history and LaCrosse heritage. We're excited about this opportunity and the opportunity for LaCrosse,” she said. “We may not be able to save all the structures, but in good faith we'll try to save most of them.”

Other Whitman County structures have previously made the most endangered list. St. Ignatius Hospital in Colfax made the list last year, and other structures include the 1992 listing of the Leonard Round Barn on the Old Pullman-Moscow Road (which was ultimately saved in 1996), and the 1993 listings of the Endicott school (demolished in 1994) and the Powers Opera House in Palouse (partially demolished in 1995).