The Methow community now has, if you will, a clubhouse to call their own. The formal dedication of the Methow Community Club took place recently at the 102-year-old building owned until recently by the Pateros School District.
Our friends at the Methow Valley News reports that the community purchased the building last year from the school district, a one-room schoolhouse that hasn't seen a lesson taught there in more than 75 years. That doesn't mean the building has gone unused; the community has gathered there for weekly coffees, family reunions, weddings and funerals since the schoolhouse was closed in 1947.
Community member Joe Kitzman said when the school district considered selling the old schoolhouse, in his words, “some angels landed.”
Most of the money to purchase the building came from the estate of Dena Lyn Lee Meadows, whose family has lived in the area for generations, and she moved there some years ago. Before she died in 2020, Meadows talked with her daughter about donating money so the club could buy the building. Other family and community members also contributed. A plaque in memory of Meadows is hung in the community club.
But the sale of the property not only benefits the community club; the transaction also transferred 1/10 acre from the school’s 1-acre parcel to Douglas/Okanogan Fire District 15 to expand the fire station, which is on the adjoining parcel.
There's more to this story, and you can find it at methowvalleynews-dot-com.