Clackamas County Historical Society

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Clackamas County Historical Society

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Clackamas County Historical Society (CCHS), in Oregon City, Oregon, is a nonprofit regional educational institution. Visit us at: www.clackamashistory.org

Since 1952, CCHS has served as the steward of Oregon's early history. Museum of the Oregon Territory, 211 Tumwater Drive, Oregon City OR 97045

Stevens Crawford Heritage House, 603 6th Street, Oregon City OR 97045

Clackamas County Family History Society Library at Museum
Research Library open Wednesdays and 1st and 3rd Saturday. BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

09/30/2026

This Saturday, October 3rd, we're celebrating Oregon City Fall Fest with free admission at the Stevens-Crawford Heritage House! Learn about what life was like for Oregonians in the Edwardian period while enjoying the festivities. Our crew of history enthusiasts will also be out front quizzing guests on local history trivia for prizes, so come say hi and test your knowledge!

For more information regarding participating organizations and activities, see the City of Oregon City website and the official OC Fall Fest event page (link in bio). For the latest updates on the house and our other museums, visit the event page on our website.

09/29/2026

The Museum of the Oregon Territory is proud to be participating in Blue Star Welcome Week! The Museum of the Oregon Territory has long been a Blue Star Museum, offering free admission to military members and their families through the yearly Blue Star Families program. During Blue Star Welcome Week, this free admission program has been extended from Wednesday, September 30, 2026, through Saturday, October 3, 2026. Additionally, visitors who are admitted through the Blue Star Program during this period will receive a one-time 20% discount on gift shop purchases at the Museum of the Oregon Territory.

Military members receive free admission as well as up to five members of their family. Includes National Guard and Reserve. For more details, visit our website (link in bio).

09/26/2026

Thank you to all who donated to our summer fundraiser! It's because of your support that Clackamas County history has a future.

09/25/2026

On TOMORROW! The historic Ermatinger House and the Stevens-Crawford House are coming together for this fun, early fall indoor/outdoor activity! Enjoy an afternoon playing several Victorian lawn games such as croquet & ring toss that we'll have set-up in the lawns of both the Ermatinger House and the Stevens-Crawford House. Tickets will also get you admission into both the Ermatinger House and the Stevens-Crawford House. Guided tours will be given at the Ermatinger House. Refreshments available. Tickets also include lunch provided by Venue Two Eleven!

List of activities includes...
⭐ Croquet
⭐ Ring Toss
⭐ Co****le
⭐ Bocce Ball
⭐ "Safe" Lawn Darts
🌟 Just added: Hacky Sack demonstrations all day! Learn how to play this "Invented in Oregon City" game!

Check-in anytime between 11am-2pm. Event goes until 4pm but please allow 1.5 to 2 hours to participate.

For more information, including a link to buy tickets, visit the event page on our website (link in bio).

09/24/2026

TONIGHT! Join six-generation Oregonian and West Linn author Dede Montgomery as she explores the history, stories, and family legacies shaped by the Willamette River in our latest Look Back Lecture series, "Where the River Meets the Story." Growing up on its banks in Wilsonville, Dede’s deep regional roots inspire her six books—including "My Music Man" and "A Map of Her Own." Discover how she blends history, memoir, and fiction to bring the Pacific Northwest landscape to life.

About the Speaker

Dede Montgomery is a 6th generation Oregonian, published author and Certified Industrial Hygienist and Safety and Health Professional. Dede Montgomery explores the jumbled paths of forgiveness, grief, gratitude and human connection in all of her writing. She has published six books with the press Bedazzled Ink Publishing, including her March 2024 memoir titled "From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood, and Aging."

Presentation begins at 7:00 PM. Admission is $10 for Members, $20 for Non-Members. For more information and the latest updates, visit our website.

09/23/2026

Author Dede Montgomery is known for weaving together past and present to create throughlines showing the incredible connection Oregon's natural landscape creates between individuals, such as herself, her father, and her great-great uncle, riverboat Captain Sam Gill. In her memoir "My Music Man," she writes, "My favorite Sam Gill story is not about his usual steamer routes on the Columbia or Lower Willamette but about traveling upriver on the Willamette. This trip took place twenty-odd years after his brother’s father-in-law, William Willson, and others formed the early Oregon provincial government. On this trip, Sam’s steamer swept past points on the river where half a century later, Dad would oar his leaking rowboat and, decades after that, I wiped out in a slough of carp. Today I can take a ride on the Canby Ferry, for old times’ sake, and imagine his crossing that stretch of the river."

Join us along these same shores of the Willamette River as Dede Montgomery delivers a presentation for the latest in our Look Back Lecture series: "Where the River Meets the Story," coming to the Museum of the Oregon Territory on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 7PM. Tickets are $10 for CCHS Members, $20 for non-members. For more information, visit the event page on our website at clackamashistory.org.

09/22/2026

Today's the final day! Help us close out our Summer Fundraiser and ensure that Clackamas history has a future!

09/19/2026

There's still time to donate to our Summer Fundraiser! Please help the Clackamas County Historical Society reach our goal of raising $25,000. This money will help us preserve our over 40,000 artifacts and provide educational programs within Clackamas County communities. Please donate today!

To make a donation, visit our website at clackamashistory.org.

09/17/2026

Don’t let this summer be our last! Please help the Clackamas County Historical Society reach our summer goal of raising $25,000. This money will help us preserve our over 40,000 artifacts, telling the inspiring stories of ordinary people like Mary. Please donate today!

To make a donation, visit our website at clackamashistory.org.

09/16/2026

"WE KIDS DIDN’T know then that as we nudged into the 1970s, we sat at an intersection of land development in Oregon," said Author Dede Montgomery in her 2017 memoir "My Music Man," reflecting on her and her family's histories through their shared connection with Oregon's natural landscapes. "Our state was on the brink of disputing the false early Oregon legend that fertile Willamette Valley land would be forever green and abundant. Newly elected Oregon visionaries exposed the truth: our land could not be developed without bounds and still maintain its glory. Was it the influence of growing up during Governor Tom McCall’s reign that so profoundly affected us, unlocking our passion to care so much about the river, its valley and history? In 1962, Tom McCall, a graduate of the University of Oregon’s Journalism School like our dad, produced Pollution in Paradise prior to his reign as governor while he was a reporter with KGW television."

Blending history, memoir, and fiction to tell a compelling story rooted on the banks of the Willamette, join us and presenter Dede Montgomery for the latest in our Look Back Lecture series presentations: "Where the River Meets the Story," coming to the Museum of the Oregon Territory on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 7PM. Tickets are $10 for CCHS Members, $20 for non-members. For more information, visit the event page on our website.

Address

Oregon City, OR

Telephone

(503) 655-5574

Website

http://www.clackamashistory.org/

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