Welcome to CPCHS Museum!
The Crown Point Country Historical Society was established in the early 1970’s. The museum, now nearing completion of the major phases of construction, is truly a community effort, as well as a gift to the wider community of visitors who appreciate history.
The mission of the Crown Point Country Historical Society is : “To promote and preserve the cultures and communities of our area’s past and present.”
To that end, CPCHS recognizes the contributions of all who have lived in this beautiful part of Oregon – the Indigenous peoples, and the later explorers, traders, and pioneers from other continents. The museum will chronicle the lives of those people which will include oral, petroglyphic, pictographic, and written histories. For over five decades CPCHS has been collecting and preserving historical records and artifacts as well as visual displays showcasing the industries and occupations of the area. The museum will showcase both inside and outside exhibits related to hunting, fishing, farming, dairying, logging, lumbering, and nursery cultivation.
Our museum will also honor Oregon’s geological past with a memorial wall comprised of rock specimens originally collected by ‘Klondike Kate” Rockwell. Other plaques and memorials celebrating our area’s history will be displayed on the site. The grounds will highlight native plants and a “Buy a Brick” walking trail will recognize all earlier inhabitants of the area. Large exhibits like boats, machinery, and equipment will be situated in the outside areas. A replica of a Wasco longhouse will complete our outdoor exhibits.
The style of the CPCHS museum building fits well into a Pacific Coast landscape. On the 2.69 acre site, the structure has elements of an expansive western architecture – wood construction, vaulted ceilings, and a western style porch on three sides. The building also encompasses aspects of NW Indigenous longhouse construction with locally sourced wood beams and poles, placed both inside the museum and along the perimeter of the wide covered porch. This is a museum which fits both its architectural forerunners as well as its historical placement, sitting as it does on a hill, surrounded by trees, and overlooking the Columbia River.