Oregon City Museums In Danger!

[micaila]

If this is in the wrong place please feel free to move or delete it.


The announcement went out today.
Clackamas Heritage Partners is "suspending operations" due to lack of funds. This includes the Museum of the Oregon Territories, the Stevens-Crawford House and the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. This has been a popular field trip for students studying the Oregon Trail and our buildings have become the icon of Oregon City. If Clackamas Heritage Partners suspends operations permanently all three sites would come under the control of the city and they may quite possibly stand empty and people would have 3 fewer places to learn about Oregon's history.

March 6 is the last day of operations. There will be a meeting about whether this suspension will be permanent or not on March 10.

If you would like to express your opinion on this, please contact the Clackamas County chair, Lynn Peterson at 503-655-8581 or by e-mail at bcc@co.clackamas.or.us

Or contact Oregon City Mayor Alice Norris. Her phone number is 503-496-1586. Her email is anorris@ci.oregon-city.or.us

There is still a chance to save Clackamas Heritage Partners! Please help us out! Tell them how much we need our history!


Please, I know most of you aren't from Oregon, and may never even visit, but these sites are integral to the history education of our students. They work hard to make history accessible to everyone and their loss will be felt by many.

Thank you,
Micaila

[micaila]

I just wanted to let you all know that thanks to the support of reenactors, historians and concerned citizens The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center has received a stipend from the city which has allowed it to reopen. There is an ongoing battle to receive regular funding, but we have the rest of the year to prove the importance of the site to the local community and things are looking good.

The city received calls from as far away as Germany and France and had tourists from both countries write letters of disappointment over finding the site closed when they came to visit. You can bet that this caught the attention of city officials.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you for your calls, emails, and letters. They really made a difference.

Micaila