Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The former Cohn Motor Company building in Tekoa with a partially collapsed roof was up for discussion Monday night at the city council meeting.
At issue is what to do with the aftermath.
Because of concern about the building's back wall falling in, the back alley has been closed off – which is used by cars, pedestrians and the city garbage truck.
On the south end, bricks lay on the sidewalk.
“Those are two quick things that need to be done,” said Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger.
The city is looking to owner Keith Anderson for a plan on how to clean it up and when.
Representatives from the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation visited on March 15.
“I wanted to leave it so the guys from the state could see it exactly as it was,” said Anderson, who will now file paperwork applying for state historic status.
Cleanup will start soon, he said.
“Starting, like, tomorrow,” he said Monday.
The red-brick building on the corner of Crosby and Main Street is known as the former Cohn Motor Co. location and later Redfern & Sons Motor Company.
Anderson has owned the building since 2006.
Built before 1902, the building had not operated as a business since Redfern & Sons went out in the 1950s.
Tekoa Building Inspector Zach Lanham estimates 1,200 square feet of roof came down onto the second floor, along with part of the brick wall on both sides.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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