Barn Exhibit Hall - Troutdale Historical Society
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Troutdale Historical Society barn exhibit hall In Harlow House Park houses an exhibit on the Historic Columbia River Highway. (Pandemic terminology) It began as the dream of John Nasmyth who remembered that the Harlow farm originally had a barn on the north side of the property “which burned when the still inside caught fire.”
Begun in 1988, the new barn, modeled after a historic Troutdale barn, was originally intended to store farm equipment, but by the time it was finished a decade later builders knew it would be a site for changing exhibits. It was all-volunteer effort, by then led by Dick Jones, with work done as money was raised. Jones died before the building was complete and it was finished by Robert Strebin. The barn opened in 1998 with an exhibit on Troutdale smelt runs. And then offered displays on Lewis and Clark, the Oregon Trail and the Troutdale Centennial.