| SUBJECT PROPERTY
According to county records, William Barlow and his wife, the original owners, sold the property in 1896 to Mary S. Barlow. Mary Barlow sold the property in 1905 to S.B. Berg and his wife. The Bergs sold the property to the County in 1919, but are recorded as the sellers in 1927, when the property was sold to George S. Berg and others. The property remained in the Berg family ownership until 1956, when it was sold by Bernard J. and Emma Berg to Charles Page. Virginia Miller purchased the house and 1.53 acres (without the adjacent barns) from the Pages in 1973 and spent the next 30 years restoring the home to it's original condition. Ms. Miller placed an Historic Preservation League of Oregon "Preservation Easement" on the façade and property in 2003 and sold the property to Jeffrey and Amy Falconer in 2004. Virginia Miller died of breast cancer in December 2004.
According to the National Register Nomination form: "In 1850, Sam Barlow purchased the land on which the present house is located from Thomas McKay, a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. There was probably a house on the property when Barlow purchased the land, and part of the 1,450 acres was cultivated.
"William Barlow first settled on a farm on the Clackamas River near Oregon City. In his memoirs, William referred to Oregon Trail travelers stopping at his farm, so it must have been either on or near the actual route of the trail. He sold this Clackamas River farm in 1848 to an Oregon Trail traveler and engaged in several enterprises in the Oregon City area. Sometime during the 1850s, William bought his father's farm. Sam Barlow moved from his farm to Canemah, near Oregon City, where he died in 1867.
"Under William Barlow, the farm developed into a small community. In 1859, William planted the first black walnut trees in Oregon. They were planted in two rows from the house to the main road through Barlow, about 300 yards from the house. In 1870, the railroad was built through the Willamette Valley and the route went through the Barlow property. A station was built and named for William Barlow. Barlow and his brother-in-law, Hodges, built and financed one of the first river steamboats on the upper Willamette River - the Canemah. On his farm and in the community of Barlow, William Barlow started a sawmill, a grist mill, the first post office, and the Barlow Bank and Land Development Company.
"The William Barlow House was constructed in 1885 soon after the first Barlow house burned (probably in 1883). The new house was constructed on the same site as the original house, maintaining the same orientation to the outbuildings. It is not know whether Barlow hired an architect to prepare the plans for his house, but the evidence suggests he did not. The records do, however, show that Barlow hired Mr. Kidd, master carpenter, to supervise the construction of his house. Some of the construction materials for the house were no doubt prepared in Barlow's sawmill."
The Barlow House is an example of the Italianate style of architecture. Composed of two rectangular volumes, the house was built in 1885. Architectural evidence supports this date of construction. The Italianate style was popular during the 1860s through the 1880s. The buildings were generally formal and symmetrical with hipped roofs, wide projecting cornices with brackets, and sash windows often with arched and curved window tops. Small entry porches were most common and were usually restrained in decoration and of single-story height. In keeping with the style, the Barlow house contains all of these elements and other decorative features such as the chamfered posts, the turned balustrade, jigsawn brackets and a paneled frieze. The Barlow House has had few exterior alterations since the historic period. The original front porch was removed by the second owners and an encircling porch was added. The encircling porch was removed and the original porch was restored by the fourth owner, Virginia Miller.
In addition to the house, there are three outbuildings which are believed to date from the historic period. The wash house/coal shed is a two-story building clad with wide drop siding with cornerboards and rake boards with the wash room on the first floor, the coal shed attached to the back and the upstairs was used for drying clothes. The carriage house is a one-story building clad with narrow drop siding with cornerboards and rake boards, and the well house is a small one-story rectangular building clad with cast stone. There is one other building on the property, a shed, which is believed to post-date the historic period.
Originally, there was a circular drive and fountain in front of the house, two barns, a carriage house, an orchard, a smokehouse, a large machine shed, a chicken house, a four-bedroom tenant house, hog sheds, and a sawmill on the property. The tenant house was used as living quarters for the Barlow's negro servants, Rosa and John. It was later used as a granary when it was moved to the fields after 1906 and burned down circa 1982. The sawmill was located on the original donation land claim on the back part of the property near the Molalla River. The two rows of black walnut trees, planted in 1859, extend from the house to the highway. The rows were shortened due to the construction of the railroad and the highway, however, they remain a prominent feature and add to the character of the historic buildings.
The Barlow House is significant as an example of the Italianate style and for its association with William Barlow. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is additionally significant as a singular example of an Italianate style dwelling, dating from the Progressive Era (1884-1913), listed on the Clackamas County Cultural Resource Inventory for the Canby/Barlow study area. |
