Malott Improvement Club building collapses from heavy snow

MALOTT – Last month’s snowstorm labelled by the weather service as a “once-in-a-generation”  event was more like once in a century for one landmark structure in the county. The nearly 100-year-old Malott Improvement Club building constructed in 1926 will not celebrate its centennial after collapsing under a heavy snow load last week.

The old veteran was a familiar sight to those who passed through Malott and saw the distinctive white façade of the club headquarters that stood proud but abandoned for decades as if waiting for someone to restore it to its former glory. If buildings could talk it would have many a story of times past.

Various newspaper accounts and a piece from the spring issue of the Okanogan County Heritage magazine published by the Okanogan County Historical Society (OCHS) provide some details about the Malott Improvement Club building that boasted its inaugural year above its name.

It was not the original headquarters of the Malott Community Club formed in 1919. That distinction belonged to a store built by August Reimers and later purchased by the club. That building referred to as the “Old Hall” was destroyed by fire in June 1926. The community rallied and built the present Malott Community Club which was ready for occupancy in October of that same year.

The club was the incubator of many improvement projects including the community park and the cemetery. Public dances were a popular draw at the club as was an annual crab feed that began around 1949 and continued for several decades.

Malott resident Ken Sumner recalls the old building’s deteriorating state during an inspection in the early 1970’s. Sumner was featured in The Quad’s August 29, 2021, issue (see: Malott craftsman builds houses for the upper-crust bird set) for the many birdhouses he has built as mini reproductions of local buildings including Malott’s Wagon Wheel Bar & Grill.

Sumner said an exploration of the club building’s attic found rotting rafters and other structural weaknesses. Volunteers installed support cables as a temporary measure to help stabilize the aging roof supports which would have probably given way before now without that intervention.