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By Ken Graham
The Waits Mill, also known as the Preston-Shaffer Mill, is a sprawling wooden structure that sits directly across the Touchet River from downtown Waitsburg. The original mill was built in 1865 and was added on to several times. It operated continuously until it closed in 1957.
The city of Waitsburg acquired the mill and in the 1990s and has been working on a plan since to raise funds to restore it. The City's Waitsburg Commercial Revitalization Committee is now in charge of planning and fund raising for renovation of the mill.
An engineering study, completed in 2007, estimated that the cost of needed structural repairs to the building would be roughly $1.4 million. "That's just structural," says Waitsburg City Councilman Leroy Cunningham. "It doesn't include any build-out or cosmetics."
According to Cunningham, the condition of the roof on the mill is so dire that immediate repairs are needed this year to preserve the structure until funds can be raised to begin structural repairs. A $19,500 grant was received from the Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic Development to perform emergency roof repairs. $7,500 in local matching funds was also raised. Local contractor Bart Baxter has agreed to work with volunteers to replace the mansard roof in the center section of the building. Some of the valleys on the lower roof sections will also be repaired. "The grant money won't begin to cover all the cost," says Cunningham. "Bart Baxter is very generously donating part of his labor in order to save this wonderful building."
Cunningham says that revitalization committee members have many ideas for uses for the space in the mill, which includes more that 98,000 square feet. "We hope that part of it can be a public meeting space," he says. There are also plans for four museums, including a farm equipment museum, a military memorial museum, a Waitsburg historical museum and a museum to house many of the artifacts left in the mill. Other ideas for part of the space include retail shops, business offices and perhaps a youth center and senior center.
The Waitsburg Community Revitalization Committee is inviting anyone who would like to help with fund raising, or in any other way, to contact them. "This is a huge project and it will take many years to complete," says Cunningham, "but it will be Waitsburg's crown jewel when it's done."
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