Thompson Barn Construction Update

After many years of delays and false starts the reconstruction of the historic Thompson barn will begin this summer. For those of you not up to date on this long-anticipated project, the Ivan Thompson family was mostly raised on a farm in Weston, Idaho. The only remaining structure from that time is the barn, almost a hundred years old, where animals lived and grain was stored. And where the Thompson kids worked and played.

In 2005 during a family reunion trip Doug decided to try and purchase the wood from the barn and to re-build the barn on their family's land up Hobble Creek Canyon outside of Springville, UT. This turned out to be a timely decision, as the farm land was sold for development soon afterwards.

In 2006 the Doug Thompson family and Barry and Ellen traveled to Weston and removed the outer wood from the barn. The larger beams were too heavy to handle and remained - a skeleton of a barn!

Since that time the barn construction has been delayed, mostly because of a lack of funds. The wood, which was stored on the land in Hobble Creek Canyon, deteriorated until it was placed in a storage shed, but was still at risk of pests. The fire prevention regulations in the canyon did not allow untreated old wood to be used on the outside of a new building, so a few years ago most of the barn wood was milled into flooring, which will be used on the floor of a new barn building, constructed to exact measurements from the original.

Given the improving real estate market in Phoenix, and a recent refinancing which included paying down the mortgage, the AZ Thompsons have enough equity and savings to finance the beginning of the barn construction this coming summer. The plan is to build the foundation and lower floor this summer, and complete the building the following summer.

More to follow.