Once a fire hall and a police station/jail, the Town of Pateros has recycled a part of their town hall into a museum and visitor centre to showcase their story. In doing so they have even incorporated the old jail cells into the displays, creating some great photo ops for those so inclined.
As one enters, the first area encountered is the visitor centre, stocked with maps, brochures and pamphlets on the town, the Okanogan Valley and attractions beyond. The museum staff do triple duty as museum staff, tour guides and visitor centre hosts. Right after leaving the visitor centre and entering the museum one will encounter the museum's guest book on a display shelf. Don't forget to sign it!
The museum contains displays relating the industrial and mining history of the area, focusing on the present mainstay industry, fruit growing. Given that Pateros lies on both the Methow and Columbia Rivers, display space has been alloted to emphasize the importance of the rivers, in particular the Columbia, to early transportation in the Okanogan Valley, before either railroads or highways crisscrossed the valley. Also inside are several large murals which were donated to Pateros by the Douglas County PUD in 2013. One of those depicts Canadian explorer David Thompson, the first white man to map the Columbia River from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.
On display is a model of Fort Okanogan, a fur trading fort established in 1811 at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers by the Pacific Fur Company. One of the most impactful displays is that for the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire, the largest single wildfire in Washington history, which burned 256,108 acres and destroyed 111 homes in the Town of Pateros.
The Pateros Museum at City Hall was converted from an old Fire Hall in 2009. It features educational outlooks on the city and its history and includes a fire exhibit honoring the resilience of the town after the devastation faced in the 2014 Carlton Complex Fires.
On July 17th, 2014 four separate wildfires converged into one, erupting into a firestorm that devastated the City of Pateros and surrounding towns. Despite valiant efforts from the already overwhelmed Pateros fire department and crews, the Carlton Complex burned 312 homes in total and nearly consumed the city. That year the Historical Society began working on a fire exhibit to preserve the memory of what happened and educate people on wildfires and fire behavior. The exhibit features a map of the fire, information on wildfire behavior, and a display on the history of the city of Pateros.
From Okanogan Country
Pateros Museum
Ives Landing, which later became known as Pateros, was established around 1896 by its founder, Lee Ives. In 1900 Charles E. Nosler, a Spanish American War veteran, acquired most of the town site. He renamed it Pateros after a village built largely on stilts he had known in the Philippines. The city was later incorporated in 1913.
In 2009 Pateros received a grant to retrofit the old Pateros Fire Hall at the Pateros City Hall. This took the old fire hall from basically a garage to a modern, energy efficient museum.
At one time the city hall housed the fire department, municipal court, and a police department all within its walls. When the museum was built, it maintained the jail cells in their original state, even offering a photo opportunity to those interested.
The largest displays were donated to the city by the Douglas County P.U.D. and were rebuilt by the city employees. Long hours of volunteer time from several local pioneer families also helped to make the dream a reality.
In 2011, during the reenactment of the David Thompson Columbia Brigade (check out the museum to see how this individual influenced the area), the City of Pateros held a ribbon cutting ceremony opening its doors to the public.
We also have an outside walking historical trail that takes you through Memorial Park and down through the pedestrian mall. Here you will read about the struggles of our small community and enjoy beautiful scenery, shade trees and the Mighty Columbia River all at the same time. Sit a spell under one of our shade trees, let the kids play on our "sternwheeler" big toy,or run through our splash pad, all while learning of our past.
From the Town of Pateros