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History in the News
Cedar Mill History Club

Thursday, September 20, 2-4 pm, The Ackerly, 11795 NW Cedar Falls Dr. (in Timberland), free

Cedar Mill area “old-timers” and history buffs are invited to enjoy conversation and snacks. “Together We Remember” is the tagline for this gathering meant for sharing reminiscences and stories. Everyone is invited. The Ackerly is providing a space and refreshments. We intend to meet quarterly at first, and perhaps monthly if there is enough interest. We’re contacting other area retirement communities to help host future meetings. The Cedar Mill Historical Society is sponsoring the event. For more information, call 503-803-1813. To RSVP, call The Ackerly at 503-350-3400.

History Museum closing

We have been unable to find a new home for the Cedar Mill History Museum at this time. The building will be demolished this fall, and so we’re packing up our photos and storing them and the artifacts at the Washington County Museum until a new location is available. All suggestions considered: however there’s no space in the library, and the JQA Young House is years away from being useful. Aside from that, let us know if you have ideas or contacts.

Photo by Eric Squires

We’ll be packing up during the week of September 17-22. We’ll need plenty of help so if you have time, please let us know at info@cedarmillhistory.org. We also need boxes, labor help with moving, and transport.

It’s been wonderful to share our history with everyone who visited. Many of the folks who came were descendants of the early residents and had stories to share. Discovering the history of a place is a little bit like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle where each piece is buried somewhere inside a different box! Hearing the family stories really helps us figure out where things were and who were the various players in our tale. We look forward to building our organization so we can re-open the Museum with an even more complete story to tell.

History survey results are in

Thanks to the nearly 100 people who answered the Cedar Mill Historical Society survey earlier this year. We found out that people do want a museum, and they want to find information on a website. Another big interest is for a walking tour of the area. Many folks indicated an interest in membership with fees that can support the organization. Thanks to the Community Consulting Project (CCP) who designed and managed the survey and interpreted the results.

We’re working on all those things! A completely revamped website is being developed now with the help of a skilled volunteer who was referred to us by one of our CCP contacts. It’s a WordPress site, which means that folks who don’t have web design skills can contribute. Let us know if you’re interested!

We’ll spend time this fall creating a “friends” group to involve more people in the effort. Anyone who has experience with volunteer management or organizational development is encouraged to get involved.

The walking tour will include signs at important sites (stores, churches, homes, farms, etc.) in the community, and a brochure with more information. about each one. Unfortunately, rapid development during the 50s and 60s pretty much demolished our historical buildings, so the signs and stories will have to do the job. We’ll need help figuring out which sites to feature, designing and installing the signs, and creating and distributing the brochure.

Join the Board!

If you have a little time, some skills or background, and an interest in preserving and sharing Cedar Mill history, we need you! Currently we only have three people on the CMHS Board. We have many ideas, and we can offer rewarding and interesting projects to people who can commit to helping us.

Contact Virginia Bruce at 503-803-1813 or info@cedarmillhistory.org for more information.

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