Z - Warrick Interview 03-13-18Interview with Paul Warrick on March 13, 2018
Re: Historic Barn on the Wells Property on Amity Road
By Matt Schultz
Paul Warrick was born in February 1918 to Harry and Cora E Warrick – Paul is 100 years old
Paul was born down the road on the NE corner of Eagle and Amity next to the current roundabout.
According to Pioneer Title, Harry and Cora E Warrick purchased 20 acres from George and May
McKinnis on January 16th, 1919 for $2,500 or $125 per acre.
Paul remembers his father, Harry Warrick, building the barn when he was 5 years old….1923.
Paul remembers getting dressed up in his Sunday best for a family trip to downtown Boise in 1924-
1925 to see the first railroad train to Boise.
I asked Paul what he remembers about Meridian when he was a kid and he said “it was small!”
He remembers he was about 14 when the Meridian Creamery was just starting up on industrial scale.
He remembers when he was a sophomore at Meridian High School he had to milk 10 cows every day
and his dad had recently lost use of one arm due to a hunting/shooting accident.
They would have neighborhood boxing matches in the barn when the barn wasn’t full of hay.
According to Paul, the barn was used for “everything” including milk cows on the east side, horse
stable on the west side, and hay/granary on the south side.
He remembers taking a shotgun his dad had in the barn and pretending to shoot a pigeon in the barn
and the gun “accidentally” went off and blew a hole in the roof.
His dad was killed on Amity Road in 1964 at the age of 76 (born in 1888) by a vehicle driven by a
neighbor while walking along the road.
His mom died at the age of 99 in the mid 1980’s.
Paul currently lives across the street on Amity Road in a house that was under construction on
December 7th, 1941.
Dennis and Dolores Wells purchased the 20-acre property from Cora Warrick on April 13, 1981 and
they built a home between the barn and Amity Road. Subsequently they sold 5 acres north of Ten Mile
Creek to Tuscany Development 12 years ago for a residential subdivision.
Dolores passed away January 2017 and Dennis sold the remaining 14.5 acre property except for 1 acre
around the house to MWT LLC in February of 2018. MWT LLC has applied for annexation into the
City of Meridian with existing sewer trunk line already through the site…for 38 lots including
Mr.Wells house lot.