Heppner Library-Museum
The Heppner Library-Museum is a joint public library and county museum located in Heppner, Oregon. The library is a branch of the Oregon Trail Library District and part of Oregon's Sage Library System. In 1958, Mrs. Amanda Duvall gifted the library to Heppner as a memorial to her late husband. The City of Heppner donated the land upon which Duvall’s gift was constructed. The work was completed by the McCormack Construction Company of Pendleton and the Case Furniture Co. of Heppner. The Heppner Library-Museum was dedicated in 1960.[1][2][3]
History
Library
The Heppner Library has its origins as early as 1893 when two Heppner citizens campaigned to create the burgeoning town’s first library. H. E. Riner and O. K. Fitzsimmons reportedly canvassed the town for books and even persuaded the State Library of Oregon in Salem to donate at least a thousand books. Riner and Fitzsimmons also donated $500 each to aide in the library's startup. This first library was located in a small, nondescript wooden building on the main street.
Over the course of the next two decades the first library moved in and out of different buildings in Heppner. The library, for example, relocated into an old Baptist Church located at the present-day intersection of Gale and Baltimore streets. It was also relocated to Gale and West Willow streets where an Assembly of God Church one stood.
The first library met its demise in 1918 following a four-block fire. Newspaper reports at the time in the Heppner Herald characterized the fire as the “most destructive in the history of Heppner” and entailed a loss between $25,000 and $30,000. The fire reportedly began at the rear of the opera house building at Gale and West Willow streets.[4] Community members spent the next few years reorganizing and reestablishing the library on Main Street. It occupied a small space in the town’s millinery shop. The library was restocked with at least three hundred books donated by the State Library of Oregon and gifts from local citizens.
In 1925, the library was again destroyed after fire erupted in a neighboring butcher's shop and newspaper reports indicate it was at least five more years before a the town had a functioning library.[5] The library was again rebuilt and reorganized around 1930 and temporarily located in the upper level of the Odd Fellows Building.
Museum
Notable People
References
- ^ Weatherford, Justine (13 May 1976). "Bicentennial Forum". Heppner Gazette-Times. University of Oregon Libraries; Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Dedication of Museum-Library Set for Sunday Afternoon". Heppner Gazette-Times. University of Oregon Libraries, Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR. 26 May 1960. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Contract for New Museum-Library Goes to McCormack". Heppner Gazette-Times. University of Oregon Libraries; Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR. 13 August 1959. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Destructive Fire Causes $25000 Loss". Heppner Herald. University of Oregon Libraries; Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR. 31 May 1918. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Early Morning Fire Causes $35,000 Loss". The Gazette-Times. University of Oregon Libraries; Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR. 28 May 1925. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
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