OKANOGAN, Wash. — A renovation project on a 115-year-old building in Okanogan has revealed some unique history.
Lisa Timm and her husband Nick moved four hours east of Seattle to care for Nick’s father, who was battling cancer and ultimately passed away in September. They had the opportunity to purchase a historic building and decided to renovate it into a modern event space.
“Part of our goal was to make the town a better place to live so that people don’t just run away after high school," said Nick Timm.
The building was constructed in 1907 and, according to the Timms, has had many personalities, including a movie theater, pool hall, fabric store and was even home to rooster fighting.
“We found a whole room full of wooden cages in the basement and assumed they were for chickens but we spoke to a local who was 92 recently and discovered it was actually cold storage for the kinds of foods we might keep in our fridges. People could rent space here in the basement,” Nick Timm said.
These were just one of several discoveries that had been lost to time.
The renovation project took a twist when the couple started to demo the 3,000-square-foot building. Nick said a quick wall tear-down job suddenly turned to a four-hour reveal.
“We were taking plaster off the walls when I noticed a small hole exposed some sort of painting,” said Nick Timm.
Foot by foot the team removed layers until they uncovered a massive 60-foot-long by 12-foot-tall, hand-painted canvas.
“That’s when one of my other guys thought maybe it would be the same on the other side of the room.”
Instincts paid off and the Okanogan Historical Society was able to confirm from newspaper clippings dating back to 1917 that the murals were indeed hand-painted by a local artist named W.J. McConnon from Wenatchee. “120 feet of panorama landscape scenery in light tans” is described in print and had been miraculously preserved for more than 100 years.
As their renovation turned into a restoration and preservation project, the Timms turned to the internet for support. Preservation proved to be very expensive and, fortunately, they’ve been receiving donations from around the world.
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“We even got a donation from someone in Spain,” said Lisa Timm, who has raised almost all of the $50,000 goal in just 7 days.
“To our knowledge, it’s the largest, oldest, and most intact of its kind," said Nick Timms.
The newly inspired concept will pay tribute to local history and already has a name. “The Red Light Bar” will salute the town’s lone red light.
The original timeline of a spring opening has been pushed and construction will be halted until preservation specialists can assess the project.
Until then you can see the historical bar project along 2nd Avenue in Okanogan. Just look for the stoplight!