The Clark County Historical Museum will celebrate its 50th birthday Saturday.
The landmark at 1511 Main St. in Vancouver will offer free admission; activities will include the cutting of a birthday cake at 1 p.m.
The museum was dedicated on May 24, 1964, in a building that had housed Vancouver’s Carnegie Library. It was built in 1909 in a style described as “Beaux-Arts/American Renaissance,” with the help of a $10,000 grant from 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
Vancouver’s Carnegie Library was one of 43 built in Washington; 32 are still standing. Of the 32 Carnegie libraries built in Oregon, 28 are still standing.
In recognition of Carnegie’s contributions, the Clark County Historical Museum is using the birthday to relaunch a family travel program, “Mr. Carnegie’s Grand Tour of Washington and Oregon.”
