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.

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.

The Mill closed in 1962 and was subsequently purchased by the Mission Mill Museum Association, a private, non-profit organization formed in 1964. It is the only woolen mill museum west of Missouri and has one of the few water powered turbines in the Pacific Northwest that is still capable of generating electricity from the millrace. Displays of the original 19th and 20th century machinery illustrate industrial wool processing, and images throughout the Mill capture the stories of the lives of the individuals and families who worked at the Mill since its founding.

The first two floors of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill building are devoted to telling the story of woolen processing, on its journey from fleece to fabric.  Visitors can view machinery used for carding, spinning and weaving wool on the 2nd Floor.  The Finishing Room tells the story of burling and mending, fulling, napping, shearing and final inspections.

The PGE Waterpower Exhibit tells the story of early power generation in Salem.  The history of waterpower dates to the 1840s and the Oregon Methodist Mission.  Missionaries harnessed the energy from Mill Creek for a saw mill and grist mill.  As the community grew and the need for power expanded, the Salem Ditch, a canal which increased water flow into Mill Creek from the Santiam River, was surveyed and dug near Stayton. Increased water flow powered many industries and made possible the man-made mill race which powered the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill and its predecessors.  A turbine turned drive shafts, belts, pulleys and gears to operate the machines the mill needed.  In later years a generator was added, also powered by the turbine.  The generator converted water power into electricity to provide lighting for the Woolen Mill.  Later electricity was used to enhance mechanical power during times of high production.

Wayne Mentzer on the grounds of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, WHC M3 1992-109-0001.

Wayne Mentzer worked as Millwright at the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, even after the mill closed and turned into a museum.  As Millwright, Metnzer was in charge of keeping everything running and in order. In the Machine Shop, you can see belts driving woodworking equipment that would have been used to make repairs around the mill, a blacksmithing forge, and the chair and ledge Wayne used to eat lunch everyday with his trained pet mice.

Tom Kay Walking Tour

Tour the mill with 4th generation owner Tom Kay (1923-2018)

Aerial Photograph taken after 1955 showing rail line and supporting structures (now gone) in what is now the museum’s parking lot. WHC Collections 1998.016.0001 detail.

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 forthcoming Rail heritage exhibit will look at the history of the railroad on this site and the industry it supported.

After a yearlong process of getting a building permit, we are in the final stages of constructing an ADA accessible ramp to provide safe entrance to Caboose 507.  Other features of the exhibit will be interpretive signage along Mill Street, an SP Railroad phone booth, a wig wag and signals.