The Pend Oreille County Historical Society and Museum

The Pend Oreille County Museum is located in Newport, Washington, along both the Pend Oreille River and the Washington/Idaho border. The museum and society is dedicated to the preservation of the county’s rich mining, logging, railroad and agricultural histories. Run and maintained entirely by the volunteer efforts of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society, the museum opened in 1967 and has been telling the story of Pend Oreille County to all who care to listen, ever since.

Comprised of several buildings, patrons enter the museum through the I & W. N. train depot which was built in 1908 and now contains interpretive exhibits on the first and second floors.  The depot also contains a gift shop that sells handmade craft items, t-shirts, and stuffed toys, among other things.

The Stuart B. Bradley Memorial Building was added in 1994 and houses military exhibits, the research department, library, conference room and offices.  The grounds are also home to three historic log cabins; the Clair Howe Schoolhouse, the Settler’s Cabin and the Hunter’s Cabin.  All three were dismantled and moved, log-by-log, from their original locations and have been refitted with period furniture, fixtures, clothes, and tools.

The museum is also home to a replica fire lookout station, at ground level, and the Clark Family Sawmill that was dedicated in 2014.  The sawmill’s equipment shed displays logging tools, farm equipment and a recreated logging camp bunkhouse.  Also, a bright red Burlington Northern metal caboose is on display and represents the county’s lengthy railroad history.  Finally, there are numerous vintage pieces of large farm equipment scattered across the museum’s property.