Willamette Heritage Center
Early settlement buildings take visitors back to the 1840s, when Euro-American missionaries and immigrants settled in the Mid-Willamette Valley, home of the Kalapuya. The 1841 Jason Lee House and Methodist Parsonage are the oldest standing wooden frame houses in the Pacific Northwest, featured along with the John D. Boon House (1847) and Pleasant Grove Church (1854), built by Oregon Trail immigrants. The 1896 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, a National Park Service-designated American Treasure, vividly tells the story of industrialization in the Mid-Willamette Valley.
Experience work and life in what was once a leading textile factory in Oregon. Changing exhibitions at the Willamette Heritage Center explore and highlight the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Mid-Willamette Valley.
Changing Exhibits
The Willamette Heritage Center hosts multiple temporary exhibits ever year in our dedicated changing exhibit gallery on the second floor of the mill building and in pop up galleries on site. Changing exhibits allow the museum to partner with other organizations to tell bigger stories than we could tell alone and showcase our deep and interesting collections. Click the link below to see what is on display now and what is coming up next!
Permanent Exhibits
Houses Tour
The Willamette Heritage Center cares for three of the oldest frame houses still standing in the Pacific Northwest. The Lee House and the Methodist Parsonage were built in 1841 to house members of the Methodist Mission to Oregon (1834-1844).
The Boon House was the residence built by Oregon Trail travelers John D. and Martha Hawkins Boon and family in 1847. Today the houses host a variety of exhibits from period rooms to hands-on galleries that look at the lives and livelihoods of Mid-Willamette Valley residents of the past.
Thomas Kay Woolen Mill
The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, founded in 1889 by Thomas Lister Kay, was one of numerous textile mills that operated throughout the Valley. These textile mills were critical components in Oregon’s economic stability. The Mill produced fine woolen blankets and fabric for more than seventy years and was managed by four generations of the Kay family – a legacy still perpetuated at the world-renowned Pendleton Woolen Mills, owned and operated by Kay’s descendants.
Rail Heritage Exhibit
The west half of the museum’s parking lot used to belong to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and contained Section Housing for railroad workers and track maintenance sheds for equipment. The Rail heritage exhibit looks at the history of the railroad on this site and the industry it supported.
Travelling Exhibits
Do you want to host an exhibit?
The Willamette Heritage Center has a number of stand alone exhibits available for loan to local organizations.