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, which was not built at that time or at that location. However, the society temporarily moved their collections to the park's pavilion that year. 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 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 announced plans to move into a space at the Hillsboro Civic Center in a return to downtown Hillsboro, originally set for January 2013. The new space would cover 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, as well as the former location at PCC. The former museum building at PCC is to be converted to a public library and historical research facility. The new downtown location plans to have increased hours to attract more visitors.
After securing a traveling NASA exhibit of the Hubble Space Telescope, the museum opened the new exhibit space early in November 2012. Renovations of the former exhibit space at Rock Creek and additional improvements at the Civic Center were planned to be completed at a later time. The exhibit Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe was planned to run through the end of May 2013. An exhibit exploring the history of the Bracero Program in the county also opened at that time.
Read more about this topic: Washington County Museum
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All history and art are against us, but we still expect happiness in love.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
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“The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.”
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