I’ve driven by the little gray home at the corner of Stacy Rd and Old Stacy Rd in Fairview thousands of times and always wondered about it. It’s memorable for a few reasons …
- There used to be a couple of wonderful murals painted on the side of the home. One was a cowboy with “Fairview, Keep it Country” and the other was an American flag with “Love it or Leave it”
- It’s also home to Fairview’s famous “Beer Tree” adorned with beer cans.
- And finally, it survived both the Stacy Rd expansion which comes almost right up to its back door and now there are new homes in front too (one is not shown on the Google aerial)
The home and beer tree are still there, but sadly, at least IMHO, the murals are all gone because I love seeing the old reminders of both Fairview and Lucas. I had to wonder if the owner was simply holding out from selling, was someone leasing, or something else was going on.
Being the curious cat that I am, I decided to knock on the door and try to find out. Luckily, the owners were both there and nice enough to spend some time answering my questions.
The owners told me they’d been living on the property (home and 1.2 acres for 7 years) but had been watching and waiting for it to sell long before that. They wanted to be in Fairview and build their own home. They had even knocked on the door long ago and asked the owner if he’d be interested in selling. He replied “no thanks”, then invited them in for a beer.
Finally, 7 years ago, the current owner found out the home was for sale. The wife was in the hospital recovering from having a child and called her husband and told him to go right out and talk to the homeowner.
The seller remembered their last visit and told him people ask him all the time about wanting to buy it. He had always said no because he didn’t want to sell to a builder who would just tear it down. He wanted to sell to a family who would use it.
He seller then asked if they had kids. When he was told the wife had just had a baby and they wanted to live in the home not tear it down, he said “Let’s do it”. They agreed to a sale and closed, but that’s not the end of the story.
It seems the town of Fairview wasn’t crazy about the home, the murals, and the chicken coop. The owners said it took three meetings with the city of Fairview to finally get approval to keep the chicken coop. I don’t know if they asked them to lose the murals, but as I said, they’re gone now.
They went on to tell me they’ve been saving their pennies for years to build their dream home on the lot, and they finally did, right behind the little gray home. Coincidentally, this week they’re finally getting their permit to move in. They invited me to walk through their new home and they did a great job of designing and built it themselves.
This is just a feel good story in many ways. I can’t even imagine how excited they must be to finally be moving out of that tiny home and have some space around them.
And what about the little home? They’re going to repaint the exterior and keep it so it lives on
