Built in 1903, this building was important to area social life, serving as Wilsonville's first “community center.”
Meetings were held in a lodge hall that occupied the second floor. Area residents would also flock to the upstairs space for dances and occasional roller skating. Teens from nearby Butteville, Champoeg, Aurora and Donald would cross to the north bank for a Saturday night fling. The building even served as the town theater during the days of silent movies. Admission was five cents.
For years the ground floor was a place for “Drugs, Confectionery & Tobacco” (faded lettering can still be detected on the south exterior wall). The building also housed a butcher shop, and later a pool parlor and hotel rooms.
It operated as a feed store from the early 1940s until 1972. It then housed an antique store and art gallery before becoming a private residence.
Originally located just south of 2nd Street on the west side of Main Street (now Boones Ferry Road), it was moved to its present site in 1910 with the help of two horses and a stump puller.