The Treasure Trunk

Museum Exhibits

It's like stepping back in time, a visit to the Sandy Historical Society Museum, Carefully curated exhibits conjure a history and peoples who endured hardship and travailto help bring civilization to our piece of Oregon Territory.

Two floors of museum space are devoted to the geography, the pioneers and settlers and their role in the settling of the West.

The main exhibit hall showcases the role of geography in influencing the emigrants to abandon the treacherous route of the trail along the Columbia River. lnstead, they heeded the invitation to cross the flanks of Mount Hood on a road carved out by Samuel Barlow, William Rector and Joel Palmer. The Barlow Road carries his name. But the goal remained to bring the pioneers safely into the Willamette Valley. Like other segments of the Oregon Trail, the Barlow Road has been paved over and the path altered as conditions warranted.

Barlow sought a less deadly route through what would later become Sandy, the Philip Foster farm in Eagle Creek, then on to Oregon City, the practical end of the Oregon Trail. The museum collection includes artifact evidence of the earliest Native Americans as well as earliest trappers and settlers. He was granted permission to make it a toll road and it remained so until 1912.

The exhibit hall also includes a diorama, video, logging equipment and an excellent collection of photographs of the logging industry, which was the heart of the Sandy economy. From the day the museum doors opened, there has been a focus on the impact of logging and the many sawmills in and around Sandy.

Tawney Blacksmith Shop is commemorated with a reproduction of a blacksmith shop that served the Sandy area. lt includes signs of the merchandise sold and includes the tools that allowed the proprietors to provide smithy work for their customers.

Clackamas County Bank remains the oldest Community Bank in Oregon, and a replica of teller row is a highlight of the display. The bank was launched in 1911 by A.L. and M.A. Deaton with a capital of S10,000. ln 19L8, Walker A. Proctor gained the controlling interest, and the bank remains staunchly loyalto the citizens of the community. The controlling interest remains in the hands of the Proctor family.

Meinig Bros. General Store was built in L890 and had a couple of locations in Sandy. lt was a true general store of the time selling general merchandise, hoes, flour, hardware, feed, clothing and farm implements. The replica of the store includes vintage merchandise samples plus a good sense of the importance of the store to the nearby farmers and the community.

Family Life

From the kitchen to the parlor, the barnyard to the local shops, the displays in the top floor gallery {available by elevator} are meant to be a look back in time. The exhibits include a good selection of home goods that were at the core of home life - cast iron pots, kitchen implements and more.

There are also frequently changing displays that allow for items from the museum's permanent collection and on-loan items to be displayed. Examples include bridal attire over time, a collection of radios, musical instruments, a replica of a beauty salon complete with hair dryers and much more. There are also seasonal displays.

On the Family Life floor (accessible via elevator) there is also the Museum Library with relevant history volumes and the family histories of Sandy-area families who have submitted them. The family histories also include photographs and obituaries that volunteers have contributed to the paper history.

Roger Cooke, whose paintings are on display in the museum library, is known far and wide for his depictions of Native Americans. His mural of the Oregon Trail is also on the east fagade of the Ace Hardware building, which is on the path of the Barlow Trail. Roger Cooke died in 2012.

There is always more to be discovered at the Sandy Historical Society Museum.