Mission Mill Museum Showcases Salem’s Key Role in Oregon’s Origins
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As Oregon celebrates its 150th birthday this year, the state’s heritage shines brightest in Salem, where the foundation was laid for its modern successes in agriculture, industry and education.
Residents have a rich resource in exploring that history at Mission Mill Museum, which both interprets and preserves the history of the Willamette Valley and the state’s textile industry.
“Cultural institutions are the caretakers of an area’s heritage,” says Peter Booth, the museum’s executive director. “A community’s present health depends on a strong understanding of its past.”
Mission Mill Museum takes great care to safeguard Salem’s heritage and connect the community to its past with buildings, exhibits and year-round programming that tell two central stories: that of Jason Lee and his Methodist mission to Oregon in 1834; and the history of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which was a working wool production facility from 1889 to 1962 and has been designated an American Treasure by the U.S. National Park Service.
Jason Lee’s Methodist Mission was the first successful American settlement in the Willamette Valley. Built in the 1840s and 1850s, the Jason Lee House, Parsonage, John D. Boon House and Pleasant Grove Church stand on the museum’s five-acre grounds.
“These are wonderful, restored buildings. The Lee House and Parsonage are the oldest wooden buildings that we know of in the state of Oregon,” Booth says.
Lee and his band of settlers are credited with introducing formal education, major agriculture and industry to the area. Furthermore, when he returned to the East Coast, Lee’s enthusiasm for his new home contributed to “Oregon Fever” – the growing desire to claim the territory for the United States that ultimately led settlers to forge the Oregon Trail.
The centerpiece of the Mission Mill Museum grounds is the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which is complete with the original water-powered turbine and equipment used to produce wool until 1962, when the mill shut down and Kay’s descendants locked the doors and left it as a sort of time capsule.
“This Industrial Revolution-era mill is unbelievably well-preserved,” Booth says. “It stands as an important example of industrial history in the American West.
“We also focus on individuals and stories that helped build the Willamette Valley,” Booth continues.
In 2009 and 2010, that effort includes a major exhibit honoring Oregon’s sesquicentennial, called “Facing Statehood.”
“‘Facing Statehood’ reflects on the events, people and political intrigue leading up to Oregon becoming the 33rd state in the Union. It begins with a look at the Kalapuya people and what the land looked like under their stewardship. Next, it examines the changes that came with the Europeans and Americans – the missionaries, explorers, trappers and farmers,” he says.
The exhibit continues with an exploration of how those diverse groups influenced the political landscape of the territory, as well as the disputes, machinations and agreements that led to Oregon’s statehood.
“The exhibit ends by asking viewers to offer their own hopes and dreams for Oregon’s future,” Booth adds. The Facing Statehood exhibition runs through May 23, 2010.
Additional programming includes living history camps for school-age children and the annual Sheep to Shawl Festival each spring, which brings live sheep to the museum grounds for demonstrations on every aspect of wool production, from shearing to fabric development.
Visit www.missionmill.org for more information.
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