Photos and Artifacts
We are fortunate to have received thousands of artifacts by way of donation. Here is a sampling of some of the photos and artifacts on display at our museum. We welcome new donations as well as researchers. We have recently helped fill gaps in the history of Ferry's on the Willamette, and genealogy research materials. Many newcomers to our area scour our collection of photographs of homes in Independence seeking to connect with their new "old" house.
Our collections policy is based on our mission statement which is posted on our home page. We collect objects that have a relation to the area by way of it's people, businesses, lifestyle, or history. We have a large photo library which includes many postcards. The quilts in our collection reflect the times from the depression era, to quilting bees by local church ladies. We house a vast collection of tools used to build many of the homes in Independence, Buena Vista and Monmouth.
The center piece to our collection is a, circa 1900, covered wagon that was used in the 1959 Centennial parade of an 1859 wagon train from Independence, Missouri. This wagon never actually crossed the Oregon Trail. It was used as a farm utility wagon prior to 1959 for taking goods to and from town. After the celebration in 1959, the wagon was stored at the city shops. In 1973 Mr. Dennis Eberly, a local historian and teacher at Henry Hill Elementary School, acquired the wagon for the museum. On September 22, 1979, with the aide of Scout troop 38, they carefully rolled the unstable wagon eight blocks to the museum. They disassembled the wagon outside, and rebuilt it inside. After extensive restoration by Eberly and his son Troy, salvaging boards of about the same age from dilapidated barns, the wagon has forever become a historic center piece to the Heritage Museum.
The Heritage Museum also owns the wagon that was used in the 1959 wagon train. The "On to Oregon Cavalcade" set out making wagons for several cities in Oregon. This was all part of the Oregon Cenntenial and was reported world wide, according to news clipping services. These wagons were shipped to Independence, Missouri where these "modern day" pioneers spent four months traveling the original Oregon Trail as closely as possible. Upon inspection by a wagon expert, we believe that the undercarriage of the Independence wagon was originally built in the 1850's. The Independence wagon was the last wagon in history to carry U.S. mail over the Oregon Trail. We are proud to have kept this wagon in nearly perfect condition for all these years. It is currently in storage until funding is raised to construct a new building to house it, as well as two other vehicles in our collection. The new addition will create program space that is fully handicap accessible and will also allow access to our main exhibit floor in the
current historic structure.
