History
The World Forestry Center has its roots in the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair for which an enormous log cabin was built of huge native trees and advertised as the world's largest. Public interest in the Forestry Building, which was turned over to the State of Oregon, lasted long after the exposition ended, right up until it was destroyed by fire on August 17, 1964.
The day after the fire, a group of civic and industry leaders conceived The Western Forestry Center. A new, more fire-resistant forestry building designed by Oregon architect John Storrs was built in Washington Park. It opened to the public on June 5, 1971. The name was changed to "World Forestry Center" in 1986 to reflect the center's revised focus on forestry on a global scale.
On June 30, 2005, after a $7 million, 6-month renovation, the 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) museum reopened with new interactive exhibits about the sustainability of forests and trees of the Pacific Northwest and the world.
Read more about this topic: World Forestry Center
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