Clio Logo

This entry is saved as a draft, but has not been submitted for review.

Barn Exhibit Hall - Troutdale Historical Society

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Barn Exhibit Hall is the location of a museum with changing exhibits of Troutdale history. It shares the building with the office of the Troutdale Historical Society where artifacts are recorded, photographed, and stored for research and future exhibits. Barnyard concerts have been enjoyed during the summer months on the lawn between the Barn Exhibit Hall and the Harlow House Museum.

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. 

Additional Information