Edgingtons convert church/barn into offices

Tom A. Throne/The Weekly Vista Jim Edgington, owner of Jim’s Old Fashioned Services, a heating and air conditioning business, stands in near his office that started as a church but was turned into a barn. He and his wife, Cheri, have operated their business near the intersection of Dartmoor and Spanker drives since 2002. The church windows can be seen in the background.
Tom A. Throne/The Weekly Vista Jim Edgington, owner of Jim’s Old Fashioned Services, a heating and air conditioning business, stands in near his office that started as a church but was turned into a barn. He and his wife, Cheri, have operated their business near the intersection of Dartmoor and Spanker drives since 2002. The church windows can be seen in the background.

Jim and Cheri Edgington walk into a little bit of Bella Vista history every morning when they come to work.

The Edgingtons, owner of Jim's Old Fashioned Services, a heating and air conditioning business, run their five-employee shop from an old barn that got its start as a church at the intersection of Spanker and Dartmoor roads.

"It's kind of cool," Jim Edgington said. "No one else has anything like it. It's nice to have it restored rather than demolished."

Edgington believes that if he hadn't purchased the dilapidated barn in 2002 it would not be here today.

The building started as a church in the 1930s in the area known as the Summit community. Construction was started, but church members abandoned the partially constructed church during the Great Depression when the bank financing the project went under. The rock walls stood unfinished for 17 years, until CA Linebarger Sr. bought the old building in 1947.

Declaring that Bella Vista needed a barn more than another church, he finished the building and made it into a stable, said Edgington, who has been in the heating and cooling business for more than 42 years and in Bella Vista for the past 22.

Linebarger's needs outgrew the barn and he built a much larger one on the site of the current Cooper Elementary School on Dartmoor Road.

The old barn on Dartmoor changed hands several times, including being owned by John A. Cooper Sr. who founded Bella Vista Village, before it was purchased by the Edgingtons in 2002.

After the purchase, the couple used some of the materials from the old barn in their remodeling.

The tin from the barn roof was used for parts of the ceiling, he said. The walls in some of the offices were finished with the wood planks from the floor of the hay loft.

From his second-floor office window, he can see the water tower near downtown Bentonville, he pointed out.

"I like it," he said of his office. "It's pretty cool."

Xyta Lucas, a docent at the Bella Vista Historical Museum, said Bella Vista has a number of historic structures that survive today. They include:

n WISHING SPRING DAIRY BARN -- The old dairy barn that houses the current Wishing Spring Gallery was built in 1930. CA Linebarger, who owned the Lake Bella Vista resort bought it in 1941.

n WISHING SPRING RANCH -- The barn from the ranch can be seen high on the bluff overlooking McDonald's Restaurant and Lowe's. Looking down one can see the Wishing Spring Gallery. The property is currently owned by D.A. Davis, Lucas said. However, it was once owned by Linebarger, who willed the land to Andy Davis. Davis was the nephew of E.L. Keith's wife. Keith purchased the Lake Bella Vista resort from Linebarger in the early 1950s.

Andy Davis came to work for Keith after he purchased the resort, but then went to work for Linebarger, she said.

n LOG HOUSE -- The current home of the Artist Retreat Center in Old Bella Vista across from Lake Bella Vista was built in 1853 by Jabez Hale, who is buried in a cemetery in Pea Ridge. Linebarger purchased the cabin in 1917 and later started a winery behind the cabin that operated between 1935-38, Lucas said.

n WATER TANK -- Built in 1927 by Linebarger, the 55,000-gallon water tank still stands at the corner of Cunningham Drive and Cedar Crest Road. The Bella Vista Historical Society currently owns the property, which is also on the National Register of Historical Places, Lucas said.

She said the society is currently in the process of finding a roofing company to reroof the old water tank. However, she pointed out that it takes a special contractor to tackle the preservation project.

n WONDERLAND CAVE -- The cave was opened in March 1930 as an underground nightclub by the Linebarger brothers. Later it served as a fallout shelter. Cooper Communities Inc. leased the cave for events from 1965 to 1985 but didn't renew the lease. It reopened in 1988 for a few years as a night club. The Linebarger granddaughters sold the cave in 1995 to Larry Wilson of Bella Vista, who is not any relation to Alderman Larry Wilson, but it never reopened. Jan Edwards got control of the cave from Wilson. She and Mary Miller, now co-owners of the cave, are putting a development plan together to turn it into an entertainment area.

n OLD COTTAGES -- There are 12-15 summer cottages from the original Lake Bella Vista Resort still in existence near U.S. 71 and Suits-Us Drive. At one time, there were more than 400 cabins in the area, many owned by bankers, lawyers and doctors from surrounding states. They brought their families to Bella Vista to enjoy the Plunge, the large, spring-fed swimming pool located near the current Veterans Wall of Honor; the Dance Pavilion located near the pool on the shore of Lake Bella Vista; and many stayed at the Sunset Hotel, which sat on the hill at the top of Sunset Drive. The hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1999. There was a nine-hole golf course on the east shore of the lake near the current Artist Retreat Center near U.S. 71. Many of the cottages are still standing on Lookout and Suits-Us drives.

General News on 06/24/2015