After 110+ years historic Farmers Exchange site on foreclosure auction block
Kennewick’s iconic but distressed Farmers Exchange building has been added to the state and national Registers of Historic Places just weeks before it’s to be sold to the highest bidder for missed loan payments.
The Washington State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted unanimously Thursday to add the 1912-built structure at 215 W. Canal Drive to the registers.
The dual listings honor its significant role in Kennewick’s early development as a hub for agriculture and later as a source for lawnmowers and garden supplies for the growing suburbs of the Tri-Cities.
“This was the place to go when you were a farmer,” observed Michael Houser, an architectural historian for the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
The nomination comes at a key moment for the building, officially known as the Kennewick Fruit & Produce Co. Building. It has long been identified for its 100-year run as home to Farmers Exchange, before the family-owned business abruptly closed in 2024.
The latest owner of Farmers Exchange subsequently failed to make payments to its lender, Banner Bank, which foreclosed, according to a legal notice published this week in the Tri-City Herald.
Banner said it would take nearly $364,000 to bring the account to current status as of the end of April. The outstanding loan balance is nearly $2.2 million.
The property is to be sold to the highest bidder at a trustee sale at 10 a.m., May 9, at the entrance to the Benton County Justice Center, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, Kennewick.
100+ year history
It may be empty and facing an uncertain future, but Kennewick’s oldest commercial building has a storied history worthy of saving, according to the nomination by Rincon Consultants Inc., a Sacramento, Calif., architectural consultant.
The city of Kennewick commissioned the nomination with support from a Benton County Historical Preservation Grant. The East Benton Historical Society and the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership supported the effort.
The building was initially built to support fruit sales along what was then Front Avenue, now Canal Drive. The Nutt school occupied the spot before it was developed.
The fruit and produce business gave way to a creamery, historical records show. Then came Farmers Exchange, as it has long been known.
Alfred Amon and Carl Williams founded Farmers Exchange in 1924 and sold it to Emerald Silliman in 1939. It would remain in the family for four generations.
In its early years, Farmers Exchange catered to area farms. Its rise mirrored downtown Kennewick, then taking shape as a network of irrigation canals brought water and farmers to the region.
Emerald Silliman sold the family business to sons Ken and Clinton in 1957. The brothers shifted their mission from agriculture to the growing residential neighborhoods of Kennewick and the surrounding areas.
Purina-inspired decor
In the 1970s, the Sillimans gave the two-story structure its present-day look — white paint punctuated by the red and white checkerboard pattern of Purina, one of the major brands it carried.
Until it closed in 2024, Tri-Cities homeowners relied on Farmers Exchange for lawn mowers, chainsaws, tractors, snow gear, garden supplies, Christmas trees and animal feed, including dog and cat food.
Winter lawnmower maintenance and storage was a popular service. In the fall, Farmers Exchange rounded up lawnmowers and brought them to downtown Kennewick.
It stored them for the winter, then tuned them up before returning them to customers in the spring. The service hearkened to an earlier era and inspired jokes about spending winters at the lawnmower spa.
Ken Silliman sold the business to his son, Keith, who in turn sold it to his nephew, Chris Ingersoll — great-grandson of Emerald Silliman — in 2021.
Last summer, Ingersoll said it was with great reluctance that he was forced to close the business, citing the economics of modern retail.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 3:42 PM.