The Gorge Heritage Museum, also known as the West Klickitat Historical Society, began in 1984, locating in Bingen in 1987, housed in Bingen's former Congregational Church. Long ago, we outgrew this space and part of our collection is stored offsite.
This is neither satisfactory to us, nor to our members and visitors. We are in dire need of a larger building or enough land to build a satisfactory building. We are a nonprofit and don’t have an unlimited bank account, but we do have some building funds. Our membership has dropped due to an aging population and possibly because we have been a bit lax about reaching out to the community.
Our current building is most definitely not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, and the one bathroom that is in the basement is not totally functioning. We have the original wiring of the more than 100-year-old building and are likely lucky we’ve not had a fire.
Ideally, we’d like to be in White Salmon nearer the schools, so the children could walk to us for field trips — the district doesn’t have unlimited funds for buses to transport the kiddies.
Our annual dues are $20 for an individual and $35 for a family. Businesses are $100 and donations are always welcome. For that amount, one gets unlimited visits to the museum ($5 usual admission), and children under 16 are free with the member. We have a quarterly newsletter which has always been interesting, and we have an annual meeting/potluck with good food and a good program in October.
We welcome volunteers and would be happy to be open more and longer if more people were available to help. There is no paid staff at the museum, only volunteers. We are usually open from approximately Memorial Day to Labor Day, and folks can make an appointment for other times of the year.
We were recently contacted by two couples who asked to see the museum, and one of the board members volunteered a Sunday afternoon. By the time her day ended, she’d had a total of 10 visitors, so six more than the original two couples. There is an interest, and we’d like to meet that.
If you would like to help support your local history museum, our address for joining or asking questions is Gorge Heritage Museum, PO Box 394, Bingen, WA 98605.
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