Title
Proclamation for Historic Preservation Month and Presentation of Award
Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION (Motion):
Declare May of 2019 as Historic Preservation Month and presenting the Ruth McBride-Powers Preservation Award
BACKGROUND:
Citizens in Oregon City will join thousands of individuals across the country to celebrate National Preservation Month this May. Since the National Trust for Historic Preservation created Preservation Week in 1971 to spotlight grassroots preservation efforts in America, it has grown into an annual monthly celebration observed by small towns and big cities with events ranging from architectural and historic tours and award ceremonies, to fundraising events, educational programs and heritage travel opportunities. This Proclamation will declare May of 2019 as Historic Preservation Month.
Each year the Historic Review Board recommends a recipient of the Ruth McBride Powers Preservation Award during May Preservation Month to a citizen, building/business owner and other who has shown passion for preservation. The winner of the award will be announced at the City Commission hearing.
Ruth McBride was born in Michigan in 1903, graduating from Stanford University in California. According to a 1980 OHS oral history interview, she became interested in history when “as a young bride” she moved to the Coos County lumber town, Powers, Oregon, named after her husband’s family. She began studying the history of her adopted state, especially its architecture and pioneer furniture. Her knowledge increased and she was appointed to the Oregon Landmarks Committee (now the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation) and was a board member of the Oregon Historical Society for many years. She became involved in saving the Ox Barn in Aurora. Her initial preservation project, in 1956, was reconstruction of the badly burned 1852 Robert Newell house at Champoeg, subsequently given to the Daughters of the American Revolution to operate as an e...
Click here for full text