By Mary Owen
After occupying its Second Avenue quarters for more than two decades, the Santiam Historical Society Museum is looking for a new home.
“The museum building is in need of updating and maintenance, so we have asked the Historical Society to vacate the building so that repairs can be made,” said Christine Shaffer, interim city administrator for the city of Stayton.
“The city is helping by providing boxes, bubble wrap and packaging paper. We have also arranged for a storage facility until they can find a new location.”
President Susan Masse said the Historical Society has a few leads on a new home, but nothing has been decided to date.
With the help of volunteers, members photographed, logged and packed boxes destined for the storage unit and returned items on loan to their owners in preparation of their end-of-January departure, Masse said.
“The log sheets were entered into the museum database, with the photos, so we have a very accurate and current record of all the items, large or small,” she said.
According to Shaffer, the city is exploring the concept of using the building as a municipal court.
“Marion County will no longer be handling the city’s municipal court needs,” Shaffer said. “The city will need to open a court by July 1.”
Justice courts hear minor traffic offenses, some misdemeanors, small civil claims and cases relating to violations of county ordinances. They are funded by the county, according to website information.
Masse considered by moving the court function to the museum site, the city will be able to take on much-needed repairs to the roof, front porch and interior.
“This will result in the continuing preservation of this historic structure for the public,” Masse said.
“The Historical Society is extremely grateful for the use of the building for so long,” she added. “Without the building being loaned to us for only nominal payment, we would probably not have been able to build our collection of local artifacts and historical reference materials.”
Masse assured the Historical Society will continue to exist, and continues to welcome new members.
“We have plans to publish some wonderful things, including a diary kept by a local farmer, and indexes to our large collection of obituaries, old newspapers and other ephemera collected over the years,” she said.
“We look forward to finding a new home for our collection. After all, it tells the story of our community, and it is not ‘his story,’ it is ‘our story.’”
For more information, call Masse at 503-769-9024 or send an e-mail to smasse@wvi.com.
