Dr. Pierce Barn

10/30/2012

The Cottage Grove Community Development Department carved this pumpkin in memory of the barn. No one wanted to see the barn go.

09/27/2012

Almost gone, but never forgotten.

09/27/2012

The last of Cottage Grove's Dr. Pierce Barn.

09/20/2012

Sign and flowers in memory of the Dr. Pierce Barn which stood here for 100 years.

09/19/2012

Here's the story from the Cottage Grove Sentinel.
http://www.cgsentinel.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=5647&page=72

The end came quietly for Cottage Grove’s Dr. Pierce Barn last week. On Monday, Doug Stout, the owner of the barn—which has advertised Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets for the last century and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places—began dismantling the barn board-by-board, startin...

09/15/2012

For those interested in contacting the owner to find out his plans for the boards, his phone number is here:
http://eugene.craigslist.org/for/3182679923.html

09/15/2012

Here's a link to the story on KVAL.
http://www.kval.com/news/local/Tearing-down-Dr-Pierces-barn-Its-a-local-landmark-169854116.html

A piece of Cottage Grove's history is being torn down as one resident removes Dr. Pierce's barn from his land, and people in the town have mixed feelings about the property owners decision.

09/15/2012

The article from today's Eugene Register Guard:

The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/

Century-old Dr. Pierce’s ad on Cottage Grove barn is coming down

BY CHRISTIAN WIHTOL
The Register-Guard
Published: Today

COTTAGE GROVE — After several years of trying to sell the well-known Dr. Pierce Barn to someone — anyone — the barn’s owner, Doug Stout, is dismantling the place.

On Thursday, Stout was prying the boards off the noteworthy Highway 99 building one by one.

And people who have long advocated for somehow preserving the place — or at least the wall of the barn that has the well-known painted slogan “FOR YOUR LIVER Dr. PIERCE’S PLEASANT PELLETS” — hope the signage can be resurrected elsewhere in town.

Stout said he’ll store the boards in case anyone wants to buy them.

Preservation advocate Cathy Bellavita of Cottage Grove said there may be a way to incorporate the signage into a mural at another spot in town.

“I like to think (the boards) are sitting there waiting for an opportunity,” she said.

Stout has been trying to sell the north Cottage Grove property, or parts thereof, for several years.

He recently listed the property on craigslist, asking $35,000 for the barn and sign, provided the buyer moved the building off the property by Oct. 1; $25,000 for the sign portion of the building only, provided it was removed by Oct. 1; or $135,000 for the barn and the 1.3 acres it sits on.

In the online ad, Stout noted that he has a valid demolition permit issued by the city.

Stout said it took him a year to get his demolition permit, which is valid for 30 days.

And given that nobody made an offer that he liked, he decided to take the place down, he said.

The barn was built in 1900. The Dr. Pierce’s ad was originally painted in 1912, and has been repeatedly repainted and touched up. The barn is on the National Register of Historic Places, but that does not prevent the owner from demolishing it.

Bellavita said she is one of a number of people in the Cottage Grove area who care about the barn.

“It’s a piece of history. It’s also a little kitsch,” she said. “It’s one of the last of its kind, an advertising barn. They were prevalent throughout the landscape from the beginning of the motor age, and there are very few of them left.”

People have talked about using the sign in a large mural somewhere in town, Bellavita said.

It would need to a big mural. The signage is 28 feet wide and 12 feet high, according to Stout’s ad.

Stout for years has threatened to demolish the barn, saying it’s rotting, leaking and unsafe.

He said he’d like to sell the land to a housing developer.

Cottage Grove community activists have tried to rustle up money to buy and restore the barn, and have made Stout offers, but to no avail.

The barn was included in a 1.7-acre parcel that Stout bought in 2008 for $105,000 from a bank that had taken ownership through foreclosure, according to a deed filed with Lane County. There was also a small two-bedroom single-family house on the property as part of Stout’s purchase.

Demolition of the barn will take a few days, he said. He expects the sign to be completely removed today.

Copyright © 2012 — The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

The Register-Guard, the main daily newspaper for Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, Oregon.

09/15/2012

09/15/2012

Close up.

09/15/2012

What's left of the barn at the end of today. All the sign boards are gone.

09/14/2012

The view when today's work was done.