Rainier Oregon Historical Museum opens Aug. 9

The much-anticipated grand opening of the Rainier Oregon Historical Museum (ROHM) will take place Saturday, Aug. 9 from 1-4 p.m. The event will feature programming starting at 1:15pm with special guest speakers: Oregon state representatives Rob Nosse and Darcie Edwards; Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society Kerry Tymchuk; Rainier Mayor Jerry Cole; and ROHM president, Kay Heflin and vice-president Duane Bernard.

The creation of ROHM has been ten years in the making. What started in 2015 as an initial group of community members meeting monthly around a dining table evolved into a three-quarter acre plot and over $2,000,000 in grants and contributions to create a permanent residence displaying Rainier's storied history.

"Mike Clark and I had been posting historical pictures and decided we wanted to create a museum for Rainier so we could preserve Rainier's history and the pictures we had," said ROHM President Kay Heflin. "We would conduct regular meetings and discuss what we were going to do. Mike suggested we buy the old Dibble house on the highway; but, at that time we didn't have the funds and there was no parking, so we just kept on with monthly meetings."

The group formed as a non-profit in 2016 with contributions from community members but everything came to life in 2017. An opportunity was presented to set-up an initial museum in City Hall across from the library, which opened in time for Rainier Days. Along with ROHM board members, local residents supplied photos and artifacts for display. Heflin and ROHM Vice President Duane Bernard are lifelong Rainier residents. Bernard joined the meetings a year after they started and took an active role in pursuing an alternative to the City Hall location. He then looked at local historical houses and approached Rainier High School, which gave permission to set up a mobile building, but it didn't feel permanent enough.

"I got to thinking about our own land," said Bernard. "None of the board knew, but I wrote to Steve Oliva [a former classmate] and told him we had been looking for land and asked if he would be willing to donate some for the museum. One day, the phone rang and he said, 'I'll meet you down on A Street at noon.' So I met him and he asked, 'Do you think a half acre here would do?' I stood there trying to visualize a building big enough - a parking area and maybe other buildings - and told him, 'Yes.' So I went back to the board and said, 'We have a half acre land given to us that would be ours,' and then we went to work on it and the vision started to take shape."

The property deed was recorded on Sept. 21, 2020. In addition to donating the land, Oliva pledged one million dollars toward construction of the project, but the team needed to get to work to procure more funds and began applying for a number of grants in 2022 and 2023. "We applied for the Cultural Coalition Grant and were chosen out of 37 applications and that was $500,000," said Heflin. The organization also received a Murdoch grant for $300,000 and a "smaller grant" from the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation.

The last large grant came about from a connection Bernard has. "I used to be president of the Portland Safari Club and Safari Club International," said Bernard. "One of the guys I used to be on the board with, we remain good friends and I called this old friend up in Portland. I knew he had given the Maritime Museum $10 million, so I said, 'How would you like to donate to the project that I'm involved in?' I told him about it and he said, 'Yeah, I'll get you some money,' and he sent us a check for $100,000 and that really helped."

Following a groundbreaking ceremony in Spring of 2024, official construction began led by R&O Construction which also helped offset some costs with service discounts. Despite some delays due to permitting, the project moved full steam ahead with the team receiving keys to the building on March 21. Next came the arduous task of transporting all of the artifacts and memorabilia to the new building, procuring display cases, and mapping out how and where in the building to lay everything out.

"It's not just moving the display cases and stuff we had in City Hall, it's keeping track of it," said Heflin. "Everything is catalogued and each item has a number. When you pack up a display case, everything needs to be boxed then labeled so when you come down here you know what display case that goes back into and everything has to be kept together. It's not like moving a house where you can just load up your furniture and take it in the room and put it where you want and it's done."

All of the hard work has paid off, and the team is ready for the grand opening and ribbon cutting on Saturday, Aug. 9. Visitors will be able to see a wide range of historical artifacts collected through the donations of local families. These items include Rainier's first church piano from the First Congress Church, the organ from the Hudson Chapel, and a roll-top desk that belonged to one of Rainier's first postmasters. A previous logging exhibit is on display, along with vintage vehicles like a fire truck from the Rainier Volunteer Fire Department and a delivery van from Halberg Grocery.

Display cases and curio cabinets feature photos, historical calendars, and dishes with scenes of Rainier and a display dedicated to Rainier Creamery, among a wealth of other memorabilia. The museum also has items for sale including books, DVD's, and even re-created Rainier Mineral Soap, a throwback to an old soap factory located at the end of A street that had shipped products across the United States.

When asked why they think it's important to the town to preserve this history, Heflin said, "When I started sharing [old photos] on Facebook, there was such a great response from people and that's when we decided we needed to preserve Rainier's history. Otherwise, people die and they don't have any connection. Now that we have this museum, people are realizing now we have a place where we can preserve [items] and they will be here for years and they won't be lost."

Yearly memberships are available for $25 for an individual or family to support the museum with ongoing operations. Memorial pavers are also available for purchase as part of fundraising efforts. The museum will be open Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., and they are actively looking for volunteers to be open longer and more often. The Rainier Oregon Historical Museum is located at 700 West A Street. For more info, call 503-949-9366 or visit rainiermuseum.org.