Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The stone walls are all that survived the Babb Road fire in 2020.
PINE CITY - The Babb Road Fire in 2020 destroyed the Pine City rock church so completely, even the rocks are unusable.
Spokane-based Belsby Horrocks Engineering volunteered a structural engineer to evaluate what's left of the building.
"The fire burned so hot that it compromised the strength of the stones and (the engineer) deemed it unsafe to hold a new structure. The only choice left was to take the building down," stated Louise Belsby, president of Pine City Historical Society.
Last year the historical society hoped to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to restore the historic church.
"We are planning on saving enough stones to build a monument on the site and any left-over stones will be available for members of the Pine City Historical Society for a donation," stated Belsby.
The St. John Rural Relief put a safety fence around the building until the remnants of the building are dismantled and the basement filled in.
The fire burned everything but the stone walls. Pews, benches, bell tower, and pulpit were destroyed along with everything else burnable, stated Belsby.
"The bell fell to the ground where members of the Pine City Historical Society were able to gather the broken pieces and save them," she stated. "The bell was a number four bell made in Michigan."
A lot of books, documents, and memorabilia survived the fire by being stored in homes and the Kenova Grange Hall.
The stone-walled building was constructed in 1902 as the Smith Mercantile Store next to the railroad tracks by Andrew Jackson Smith. Because the trains spooked customers' horses he built another store further away from the tracks and the store became the Church of Christ in 1914.
Smith was deaf and helping remodel the building when he stepped on the tracks and was hit by a train, killing him.
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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