Restoring Our New Home

In 2017 we moved into the abandoned historic U.S. Forest Service Bear-Sleds Ranger District Headquarters in Wallowa, Oregon. Renovations are well underway as of 2023.

We are restoring and establishing an interpretive center in the Ranger Station Warehouse to tell the natural and social history of the Wallowa country from Nez Perce times through settlement period to the present. We will commission artwork to display alongside historic photographs, artifacts, maps, and documents.

The Ranger House sustained major water damage prior to the Wallowa History Center taking over the complex, and will need to be completely gutted to be restored. We will pursue capital fundraising for this project.

Research Library admission is free and open to the public.

Our Research Library currently houses over 4,000 files on historical topics and family names, along with hundreds of books, manuscripts, theses, diaries, ledgers, and other objects. We have upgraded the electrical and heating/cooling systems, refinished the floors, gutted and restored the bathroom, repaired the plumbing, installed new storage, created a reading room, and moved our collection into its new home.

This summer contractors and volunteers repaired the historic windows, replaced the roof, replacing damaged exterior siding, and painted the exterior.