On October 10, 2022, The Dalles City Council made a momentous decision about the future of the Waldron Brothers Drugstore, also known as the Gitchell Building – the oldest intact commercial building in The Dalles, and an Oregon Most Endangered Place since 2019. The City Council voted unanimously to pursue the preservation of the […]
Announcing the 2023 Pets ‘n Preservation Photo Contest Winners
Highly regarded—in our opinion—as one of Oregon’s premier pet photo contests, the Restore Oregon Pets ’n Preservation photo contest raises awareness of our most loved places around the state. For the last three years, animals from all across the state have entered our contest in hopes of winning the coveted cover of the Pets ’n […]
Historic Preservation Plans for Disaster Resilience
As a result of the 2020 Labor Day fires, hundreds of homes in the Santiam Canyon were reduced to ashes and dozens of businesses were razed. Four people lost their lives, and life has been altered for everyone who calls the community of Gates home. According to the USDA Forest Service, in 2020, 2017, and […]
Arthur’s Restoration Journey: A Preservation Planning & Testing Case Study
The Jantzen Beach Carousel has provided Restore Oregon with a unique opportunity to demonstrate how the process of historic preservation planning works, and why it is so vital to any preservation project, be that preservation of an object (like the carousel), a landscape, a structure, or a building. Our team spent the pandemic testing repair […]
Building a Preservation Roadmap: Inventory and Condition Assessment
Back in 2017, when the Jantzen Beach Carousel was offered to our organization, we had to scramble to make acceptance of such an unusual donation possible. Simply scraping together funds to pay for storage and insurance was a challenge. So, while we would have loved to have launched our stewardship with a thorough inventory and […]
Big Grants for Billy Webb Elks Lodge!
As one of Oregon’s Most Endangered Places, Restore Oregon staff has worked closely with the volunteer leadership of the Billy Webb Elks Lodge (BWEL) to raise close to $200,000 in grant funding and donations since the devastating fire occurred last September. An award of $140,000 from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program […]
Welcome Our Newest Staff Members!
Restore Oregon Staff and Board of Directors Welcome Two New Staff Members Please give a warm preservationist welcome to JB and Sara! Meet Sara Masser, Development Manager Sara brings over a decade of fundraising experience, and a healthy obsession of all things historic, into her new role at Restore Oregon. Sara serendipitously stumbled into a fundraising […]
Gather in the Garden: Thank You for Joining Us!
We can’t thank you enough for joining us yesterday—rain and shine—for Gather in the Garden at Victorian Belle. Not only did you celebrate Peggy Moretti and take part in some of our event activities, you took an active role in restoring Oregon. Each event ticket, auction purchase, and donation goes towards our mission to preserve, […]
Thank You for Joining us to Celebrate Mid-Century Modern
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our MCM Design Celebration this past weekend. It was SO MUCH FUN to gather in-person! Thank you for coming out! We hope you found the event fun and educational. Our goal was to inspire you to save old places and seek out Oregon’s cultural heritage. This event […]
Update on Federal Legislation (Funding) for Historic Preservation
Congress is starting the appropriations process which will determine Fiscal Year 2023 funding levels for historic preservation. Co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), are leading the bipartisan FY23 Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) effort in the House. Their $200 million request for funding for the HPF would […]