Sherwood Historical Society Column: The Washington County Museum

By June Reynolds

SHERWOOD, Ore. — Washington County, in Oregon, was created on July 5, 1843 as a result of the Champoeg “Wolf” meetings that created the Provisional Government of Oregon. The first district was the Twality District, covering the area of today' s Hillsboro. It wasthe county seat, followed later by the Cedar Creek District, where most of today’s Sherwood is located. One hundred and eighty-three years makes for a long time of memories, and luckily for us, the Washington County Museum is still full of that history from family trees to settlers’ crafts and skills, from photos of the horse and stock auctions in downtown Hillsboro to the reenacting of the Pioneer wagons coming into town.

The Museum has a history of its own, founded in 1956, just before the Oregon Centennial of 1959. It outgrew the first county seat location and moved to the Rock Creek Campus of Portland Community College, just north of Beaverton, in 1975. At the time, it was a state-of-the-art, curated museum where trusting people brought their precious family artifacts and collections, such as farming tools, musical histories, and city documents. There was even a budding publishing enterprise for historical books.

From 2001 until 2010, I did most of my research in the museum, collecting the history of Sherwood. The result so far is three volumes of history and an addendum created for the historical records that keep appearing all the time. The library is still filled with many magical ideas, pictures, and voices of the past. 

I am not sure exactly when it was that I caught wind of shifts and changes in the museum. At first, I liked the idea that more attention would be focused on the natives of the Tualatin River. I was happy that the name “Five Oaks” would celebrate the landmark of the native bands of the Kalapuyans near there. The cultural add-on of the art gallery was also a plus, in my opinion. But the leaders of the museum got “over their skis” financially, and now, with lean times for cities, counties, and states, the whole sustainability of the historical institution collapsed. This is happening all across the country and we are fighting to keep our valued institutions, from museums to libraries to botanical gardens.

In January of 2025, the Washington County Museum was closed. Locked inside is my family’s history –  likely yours as well. Locked inside is the history of what made our state the great place that it is. There is no research being done on the town of Sherwood. Gone are the school field trips, Horse Plow Days, the Latino Cultural Days. Gone are the people reenacting history and the craft demonstrations. Locked in the museum are so many facets of Sherwood History.

The Washington County Historical Society was the hub of all the smaller museums, such as the Sherwood Historical Society and Museum and the Tualatin Historical Society. The county unit had a roundtable of all the groups in Washington County. People came to see how they could organize their local museum, collaborate with other groups, show off their organizations to the State Governor’s Ball, and help with other State Parks programs. All the groups got their information from our central county museum to help with other museums, festivals, and fairs. 

The Roundtable is still alive and is very concerned about the fate of the Washington County Museum. The small museums now owe their success to the county museum, and need to help out the county museum that supported them all these decades. Please, if this concerns you, join the Washington County Roundtable and write a letter of support to the Washington County Commission in Hillsboro. For more information, contact Liza Schade at lizaschade35@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, back in Sherwood, you will be seeing many Pioneer 4^th graders making the trek to the Sherwood History Center in May and June to do some time traveling. The Civic Organizations exhibit is still up and will continue through the summer. Reenactments will be popping up to celebrate America’s 250^th birthday, so keep in touch with our many websites.

Regular hours are Wednesdays and Saturdays, 1:00-4:00 p.m.