Established 1975 (1975) Curator Liza Schade (2016) Founded 1956 | Type private: history Phone +1 503-645-5353 Director Mark S. Harmon (2016) | |
Location Hillsboro, Oregon, United States Owner Washington County Historical Society Website washingtoncountymuseum.org Address 120 E Main St, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA Hours Closed now Saturday10AM–5PMSundayClosedMondayClosedTuesdayClosedWednesday10AM–5PMThursday10AM–5PMFriday10AM–5PMSuggest an edit Nearest car park Up to 2 hour free parking in lot adjacent to Civic Center corner First and Washington Public transit access Hillsboro Central Transit Center Similar Hillsboro Civic Center, Rice Northwest Museum, Glenn & Viola Walters C, Portland Children's Museum, Shute Park | ||
Gaston exhibit at the washington county museum
Washington County Museum is a history museum located in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1975, the museum is operated by the Washington County Historical Society with a mission of preserving the history of the area. The museum moved the main exhibit space to downtown Hillsboro at the Civic Center in November 2012. The prior museum space remains as a research library at Portland Community College's Rock Creek Campus and as home to the original Washington County Jail built in 1853.
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History
In the 1930s, local historian Albert E. Tozier donated his collection of artifacts, books, maps, and other items to the county historical society. Beginning in 1939, the artifacts were displayed at Hillsboro's Carnegie Library. In 1956, the Washington County Historical Society was incorporated.
In 1962, the society looked at using Shute Park as a possible home for their museum, temporarily moved their collections to the park's pavilion. Then in 1975 the county decided to start a formal history museum. From 1975 to 1987, Washington County owned and operated the museum. During that time the museum was in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, at the Heidel Home.
In 1982 a new museum was built at the Portland Community College (PCC) campus at Rock Creek, and it opened in January 1983. Then in September 1987 the Washington County Historical Society took over operations at the museum. In 2007, the museum began a $1.7 million expansion of the facility to more than double the size of the museum. The museums annual fundraiser featured Oregon State Beavers basketball coach Craig Robinson as the master of ceremonies in 2009 and raised around $90,000 for the museum.
The museum moved into a space at the Hillsboro Civic Center in a return to downtown Hillsboro, opening in November 2012. The new space covers 12,400 square feet (1,150 m2) on the second floor in the commercial portion of the center. After signing a fifteen-year lease, the museum was set to complete $1.5 million in improvements to both the new space and the former location at PCC. The former museum building at PCC underwent renovations in 2015, and remains a repository for the county archives and an historical research facility.
After securing a traveling NASA exhibit of the Hubble Space Telescope, the museum opened the new exhibit space in November 2012. Renovations of the former exhibit space at Rock Creek and additional improvements at the Civic Center are planned to be completed at a later time. After the departure of the exhibit Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe in May 2013, a new featured exhibit on the history of the development of the Silicon Forest in Washington County was installed, opening in April 2014. An exhibit exploring the history of the Bracero Program is also a featured exhibit. To coincide with the inaugural season of the Hillsboro Hops minor league baseball team, the museum opened an exhibit in June 2013 spotlighting the history of baseball in the county.
The museum fired director Sam Shogren in June 2014; the director in 2016 is Mark S. Harmon. The museum closed for several weeks in February 2015 to retrofit exhibit walls for seismic upgrades.
Details
The museum received 5,000 visitors annually at the PCC Rock Creek campus location's 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) facility. The downtown Civic Center location, Mobile Museum Program, and the Research library now serve about 11,000 visitors annually. The museum operates a small store in the Civic Center location selling books about local history, historical toys, and an assortment of other small gift items. The PCC Rock Creek location is the Robert L. Benson Research Library with over 25,000 images, more than 1,400 maps, and over 500 books along with other historical records and newspapers. The Rock Creek location also serves as the collection storage facility housing over 40,000 artifacts and items of historical significance to the County's history, and is open by appointment only.
Collections, exhibits, programs
On exhibit at the research library is the original Washington County Jail built in 1853. This structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places from 1986 until 2008. Previously located at the county fairgrounds, the structure was rehabilitated and moved to the museum in 2004. The 10-foot (3.0 m) by 16-foot (4.9 m) jailhouse was originally located inside the museum, but was moved outside when the museum was expanded in 2007.
Other artifacts in the collections range from everyday items such as sewing machines, to a wedding dress of a local prominent family. The museum's other exhibits include This Kalapuya Land that focuses on the Native Americans of the area, Washington County in a Nutshell that features artifacts from throughout the county's history, and a changing exhibit along with visiting collections. Visiting exhibits have included Oregon is Indian Country from the Oregon Historical Society, among others.
Formerly, the museum hosted an annual plowing event named the Draft Horse Plowing Exhibition to demonstrate farming before mechanized agriculture. However, the event has moved to Champoeg State Park. Washington County Museum also educates the local community on the history of the county including use of a mobile museum.