Fifty years ago, just a few thousand people graced the halls of the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center every year. With an estimated 800,000 to 1 million yearly visitors today, that center was getting a little crowded.
So, in keeping with its preservation ethic, the National Park Service last year launched a $1.7 million face-lift of the existing facility instead of building a new one.
“We’re in the forever business,” said Tracy Fortmann, superintendent of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. “National parks are here forever, and we were looking at how we could give new life to this historic structure.”
Inside and out, a breath of fresh air has come to 1401 E. Evergreen Blvd. in Vancouver. The center reopens to the public Nov. 14.
A green coat of paint on the exterior has replaced the “battleship gray.” Walls have been knocked down to create a more open and interactive exhibit space. The theater has doubled in size and can be sectioned off into a community room.
“Within the same footprint, we rearranged spaces greatly to better serve current visitation,” said Curator Theresa Langford. “Because we get so many students on field trips, we really needed a spot where we could gather them together.”
The ongoing makeover is the biggest single stretch of work the visitor center has seen since it opened in 1962.
In addition to visitor benefits in the center, asbestos has come out of the floors and ceiling, lead paint is no more and carpets have been torn out to reveal the original concrete. New lighting, wiring, plumbing and mechanics give the place high marks in sustainability, as well.
“In this project, we retained the shell of the building, but we took it down to the studs in the interior,” said Facility Manager Alex Patterson.
Exhibits are more varied than they were, and will run in themes that dig further into the past and relate to all people who had contact with the fort.
“We wanted a place where people can explore and discover and connect with the past, where it’s not dead and boring, but is alive and now,” Assistant Curator Meagan Huff said.
One of the most unexpected places to find that connection ended up in the restrooms, where a blue-and-white Spode plate design stretches across the ceiling in both the men’s and women’s restrooms. Also called “the queen’s china,” Spode plates traveled 17,000 miles en route to Fort Vancouver to be traded.
“You’ll have these learning moments when you’re not expecting it,” Fortmann said.
Part of the push behind the upgrades is the upcoming centennial of the National Park Service in 2016.
Fortmann said there was also the desire to allow for “dynamic” exhibits that rotate to get visitors to return.
“We didn’t want it to be one of those facilities where people say, ‘Been there, done that,’ ” Fortmann said. “It’s all about getting people in, getting people acquainted. We really wanted to get people connected.”
