Pink House might be torn down

For nearly a century the Pink House that sits in the lot between Ace Hardware and Super One Foods housed a family.

Now empty, the dilapidated structure might disappear.

First built in the late 1920s or early 1930s, the Pink House began its existence as a garage, said Gene Watne, long-time Polson resident, former tenant and owner of the property.

Watne sold the house to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes this fall. His escrow closed at the beginning of October, he said.

Though Watne suspects that the Tribes will raze the house he knew and inhabited for more than 50 years, he is not sure.

All he knows for sure is what happened to the house while he was its resident.

Watne and his family, which included both parents and five children, moved into the home in 1965.

Before his family moved in, the house was renovated and added onto a few times, he said.

The living room, also the original garage, got two bedrooms on one side of the house and a kitchen on the other side. Eventually a small add-on and tiny bathroom was put on the back and the front of the house, he said.

Watne was about 16 years old when the family moved into the rental home. He attended and graduated from Polson High School and served our county during the Vietnam War.

“We rented it from Mrs. Howard Price in Avon, Montana,” Watne said. 

Watne said his two sisters got one bedroom, his parents got one bedroom, his brother got a pull-out couch in the living room and he slept on the back porch.

When Watne returned from the service, his parents were building a home on the south shore. He, however, wanted to stay put. So he paid the $75 monthly rental fee and around 1980, Mrs. Price sold the property to Watne, he said.

Watne spent most of his occupational career at a saw mill, he said.

Always located on the postage-stamp square at the end of the Ace Hardware parking lot, Watne said the house at the corner of Scenic Lane and Highway 93 always had a view of the traffic, and the lake.

Watne loved Montana living.

“The post office called me one day and said ‘Gene, come in here.’ I went in there and got a letter from my little cousins in Boise, Idaho that was addressed: Gene Watne, Pink House, Polson Montana,” he said.

Postal employees were so tickled at the beauty of the childrens’ simple address label they wanted to keep it as a memory.

Through the years, Watne said he’s heard the house called a few things; among them are the Pink House and the Pink Palace.

Watne said he painted the eaves and trim pink because at the time the siding was already painted pink.

Though Watne no longer lives at the Pink House, he did stay in Polson.

He stayed in the Pink House so long, he said, because he wanted to renovate it again. But, as time passed his health decreased and he became unable to complete the physical work.

A few original residents of Scenic Lane remain, he said.

Watne said he finally gave up and then sold it to the Tribes.

Rob McDonald, Tribal spokesperson said the Tribal leaders are in the process of exploring what to do with the house and land.