Column: The history of the Morback House
The Sherwood Historical Society's monthly column explores local history
By June Reynolds for the Sherwood Sun
SHERWOOD, Ore. — This is the first of many historical articles, designed to recall the history and current happenings of our Sherwood Heritage Center here in Sherwood Old Town. Our center is made up of the Victorian-style Morback House Museum and the first settler’s home, known as the Smock House.
The center is located in the block of Veterans Memorial Park (1st and Main; Morback House is our flagship feature, housing many of Sherwood’s artifacts and history. The history of this building spans 134 years as of 2026. It has a basement, which was supported with Sherwood’s bricks for many years.
So goes the tale:
1890: Matt Fitch, builder and brick factory engineer, designed the house. The basement was built with the original brick from the brick factory, located in the area of Railroad and Pine Street today. Matt was married to Nettie Fitch nee Smock and Mr. Fitch built the house for J.C. Smock, founder of Sherwood, who sold it to Robert Alexander, one of the brick factory owners.
1892: House finished as of 1892. It took two years to build.
Oct. 6, 1899: Joe Morback purchased the house. He married one of J.C. Smock’s daughters.
May 3, 1912: Mr. Morback became mayor. A water well for the city was drilled in the front yard of the house by Joe Morback’s brother, Jack.
1916: The Morback brothers maintained the well and piped water into a 500 gallon tank in “The Water Room” on the second floor of the house. One morning Joe went out to fix the pump, got his ragged coat caught in the gears and lost his hand and forearm. Joe continued as Mayor of Sherwood and managed the Sherwood White Socks baseball team. Joe and Rosa had four children.
1931: Rosa Morback nee Smock passed away in the House.
1935: Vera Fish married Mr. Morback.
1935: Extensive remodeling of the Morback House with wrap-around porch and kitchen and dining room located upstairs.
1946: Mr. Morback passed away. By March, Vera sold the house to George and Edna Stiles.
September 7, 1962: The Stiles sold the house to Bradford and Dora Wilcox for $6,000.
Feb.9, 1965: The Wilcox family sold the house to Lauren and Byrl Nichols.
June 10, 1966: The Nichols sold the house to the City of Sherwood for $13,000.
1966: Sherwood Library moved to the Morback House basement. Lyle Ulrich, who worked for city maintenance, hand-shoveled a new entrance to the basement library. The Police Station and the City Hall moved into the upper floors. City hall moved out in 1997.
2003-Summer: Sherwood Police moved out of the Morback House.
2003-November: The Sherwood Historical Society moved into the Morback House and held their first Open House in December.
2008 April: Mad Hatter Tea Party was hosted in “The Girl’s Room” on the second floor. It was part of the cultural exhibit titled “All Things Tea.”
2008 June 30: Edogawa students and dignitaries from Japan came to see how volunteerism works in America.
2008 Fall: Nathanael Haggard presented his Eagle Scout project to the Morback House. The project was building benches for the porch and the Train Room.
2011-March: Porch redone with new planking and a to-code railing.
2019-July 27: Siding, roof, and upstairs windows repaired. Top of house re-painted.
2021 May: Foundation of basement shored up.
The Sherwood Heritage Center and museum is open Wed. and Sat. 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The phone number is (503) 862-7603 or (503) 625-1236 We are on Facebook and the Sherwood City Website. Cultural Exhibit will be up in mid-March featuring “Civic Groups” We are located in Vet’s Park on the corner of First and Main.
