ORIGINAL WASCO COUNTY COURTHOUSE REGIONAL HISTORY FORUM SERIES

ORIGINAL WASCO COUNTY COURTHOUSE REGIONAL HISTORY FORUM SERIES FOR 2024

Programs begin at 1:30 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the 1859 courthouse, 410 West 2nd Place, The Dalles, behind the Chamber of Commerce / Visitors’ Center

Saturday, February 3

The Story Behind ‘Chicken Charlie’s’ Island

Rodger Nichols is a longtime local reporter and contributor to the Regional History Forum.  He has an unusual family connection to the story of Charles Reither, the real “Chicken Charlie.” His research has uncovered intriguing facts about the man and the island, also called Eighteen Mile Island.

Saturday, February 10

Rooted:  The Lives of Amos and Hannah Root, Pioneers of Mosier

Research into the lives of her great-grandparents led retired teacher Doris Smith  to write her recently-published book “Rooted.”  She chronicles the lives of a pioneering American family over a fifty-year time span beginning in the 1870s and ending on a tragic day in 1923.  Amos and Hannah Root traveled west from Indiana in search of the perfect place to settle.  They found it in Mosier, Oregon.

Saturday, February 17
Umatilla House:  The Most Famous Hotel in the Pacific Northwest
Susan Buce is a local historian and serves as registrar at Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum.  The hostelry holds a special place in the history of Dalles City when it was a bustling new town in the wild west.  It survived fires and floods, serving up to 1500 meals a day and hosting 300 guests a night.

Saturday, February 24

Saving Fort Dalles:  The Old Fort Dalles Historical Society

Julie Reynolds serves on the Fort Dalles/Anderson Homestead Museum Commission. The women of the local Sorosis Club determined to save what was left of the fort after the military abandoned the installation.  They formed the Old Fort Dalles Historical Society for this purpose.  Fascinating information emerged in the process of transcribing the Society’s handwritten minutes.

Admission is free for the February programs

Donations gladly accepted! – Downstairs monitor for those unable to climb stairs.

Coffee and cookies will be served