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CMHS to begin fundraising for JQA Young House
by Virginia Bruce

After closing down the Cedar Mill History Museum last fall, the Cedar Mill Historical Society realized that the ultimate location for our collection should be the John Quincy Adams Young House. Owned by the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District (THPRD) since 2005, the house has stood empty because the park district hasn’t allocated funds to rebuild the foundation.

Washington County's map shows the Right-of-way very close to the house

The park district agrees that the house will be used as an interpretive center. However, they expect the funds—ultimately as much as $1.5 million—will be raised by CMHS. We are in the process of creating a Memorandum of Understanding with the district to delineate responsibilities and expectations.

The first big question to answer is whether future expansion of Cornell Road will impact the house in its current location. For several years, we were told that the house would have to be moved because the right-of-way of Cornell came nearly to the porch. In 2012 THPRD hired Architect Brian Jackson to develop a report detailing the scope of work to move the house to the southeast of the half-acre lot onto a new foundation.

The old house got a coat of paint last fall, along with a new roof.

Last year we were told that it wouldn’t be a concern, and that the district was going to proceed with some renovation projects. The roof was replaced—an immediate need because it was leaking. Minor repairs were made to some areas of siding, and the house received a new coat of paint.

However the location is still a question. Once we get a definitive answer to that question, we’ll proceed with the MOU and begin to seek major grant funding. When that’s underway, we’ll begin to reach out to the community for additional funding. If anyone has experience with grantwriting and wants to volunteer, let’s talk! CMHS is a registered non-profit.

In the meantime, the panels we used at the museum are in storage, and some of the images are on display at the library. The rest of the images and all the archive files that have been collected are stored at my home. If everything falls into place, it will still be several years before we’ll have our permanent museum. We recently learned about Catlin Gabel’s preliminary plans for the OCAC campus, and have inquired about using the old Swedeville School as a temporary location for the Museum. No word yet on whether that would be a possibility, fingers crossed!

History Club is fun!

We’ve been having bi-monthly meetings of the informal Cedar Mill History Club since last fall. Each meeting is different, but they are basically a chance to get together and talk about our past with people who are interested!

During our April meeting, we shared the contents of a tub of material donated by Bernie Young to the Beaverton History Museum. They had lost their space and decided that we should have the documents. A woman who attended said she was searching for information about her family, and we were able to find an early roster of Leedy Grange listing her grandfather as a charter member!

The next meeting will probably be in mid-August, and will be advertised in the News and shared with our email list. Sign up by sending an email to info@cedarmillhistory.org. Meetings are co-sponsored by The Ackerly at Timberland which provides space and refreshments. We appreciate their commitment to local history!

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