Willamette Heritage Center

The Willamette Heritage Center connects generations through gathering, preserving, and sharing Mid-Willamette Valley history. A visit to our site is a step back in time. Our five-acre property is home to fourteen historic structures that vividly weave together the story of the Mid-Willamette Valley and the development of today’s diverse communities through permanent and changing exhibits, a research library and archive, a textile learning center, and rentable event spaces. Our site is also home to retail shops, cooperative artist studios, and offices for our partner organizations. Explore the history and culture of the Kalapuya people, who have called this place home since time immemorial. Follow the immigration of 19th-century missionaries and Oregon Trail travelers. The 1841 Jason Lee House and Methodist Parsonage are the oldest standing wooden frame houses in the Pacific Northwest, featured along with the John D. Boon House (1847) and Pleasant Grove Church (1858), built by Oregon Trail immigrants. Discover Salem’s industrial past through wool, waterpower, and rails. The 1896 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, a National Park Service-designated American Treasure, tells the story of industrialization in the Mid-Willamette Valley through two floors of exhibits. Experience work and life in what was once a leading textile factory in Oregon, the legacy of which is continued today by Pendleton Woolen Mills. Changing exhibits at the Willamette Heritage Center explore and highlight the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Mid-Willamette Valley. The Willamette Heritage Center (WHC) is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed from the merger of the Mission Mill Museum and the Marion County Historical Society. It continues their legacies through a mission to connect generations through gathering, preserving, and sharing Mid-Willamette Valley history.