Washougal museum gets financial, material boost

WASHOUGAL — The Two Rivers Heritage Museum is poised for growth.

The Washougal museum, located at 1 Durgan St., recently received two donations — one financial, one material — to support new construction and exhibits at the facility.

This month, the museum received a $7,500 grant from The Honorable Frank L. and Arlene G. Price Foundation to build a replica Native American plankhouse — the Gathering Place at Washuxwal — at the museum’s south side. The open pavilion, designed by Camas firm Lewallen Architecture, will feature carved art and serve as an outdoor space for community and school events.

The museum also received a collection of research notes and a set of Camas-Washougal homestead records from the family of Curtis Hughey, a former Camas-Washougal Historical Society president. The notebooks cover property from Cape Horn to 192nd Avenue in east Vancouver, and feature land records, court documents, affidavits, verbatim testimony from homesteaders and their witnesses, newspaper clippings and additional family information that Hughey collected and organized.

Jim Cobb, president of the Camas-Washougal Historical Society, which operates the museum, called growth in the region “amazing.” Those donations will support the preservation of the area’s Native American and pioneer history.

“We’re telling the story and the history of our town,” he said.

Volunteers gathered in the museum’s lobby this month to formally accept the grant. Set against the background of displays of woven rugs, baskets, arrowheads and a rendering of the Gathering Place, museum directors applauded the facility’s expected growth.

“It is a village effort, trust me,” board member Richard Johnson said.

Kay Dalke-Sheadel, executive director at The Honorable Frank L. and Arlene G. Price Foundation, also lauded the museum.

“It’s nice to be able to see our dollars at work,” she said.

The cost of the Gathering Place project is estimated between $150,000 and $300,000, Cobb said. The museum has received cash donations as well as in-kind pledged donations of materials.

Hughey’s collection will be used to build stories for displays for the Gathering Place project, while the Homestead notebooks will be donated to the Clark County Historical Museum to be added to its collection.

Brad London, a volunteer on the board, said they are “thrilled” about the coming projects at the museum.

“It’s going to allow us to further advance the community,” he said.

For more information about the museum and the Gathering Place project, visit www.2rhm.com/.