The Linn County Historical Museum was established in Brownsville in 1962 by the Linn County Historical Society in cooperation with the City of Brownsville.

Under the leadership of Floyd Jenks, of Tangent, and others, many county residents contributed time, talent, funds and artifacts to stock the new museum.

Freida and Ben Fisher of Brownsville and Elaine and Edward Poland of Shedd led the search of the backrooms, barns and attics of Linn County for relics of its past. In only a few months they and others arranged for the June opening of the original store-front museum on Spaulding Avenue in Brownsville.

Over the years the collection grew and expanded into an adjacent building to the east. Many visitors were charmed by the "grandmother’s attic" feeling of the museum, with its scenes of domestic life and commerce, cases, shelves, nooks and crannies overflowing with a jumble of historical items.

The new facility in the old relocated Brownsville Depot and railroad cars was dedicated on June 16, 1984. It captures the essence of early Linn County life with replicas of a general store, a bank, a barber shop and milliner’s shop, all rich with the objects, clothing and turn-of-the-century tools of the trade. The pioneer Drinkard covered wagon stands in the lobby containing some items brought across the plains on the Oregon Trail.

Other museum displays range from exhibits on the Indians and natural history to Linn County cities, manufacturing and agriculture. Exhibits frequently change, so museum-goers will always find new and interesting displays to intrigue the mind and eye.

New at the Depot facility are a mini-theatre, a research collection and a museum store.

The theatre occupies one of the box cars, and includes 30 seats from the old Linn Theatre in Brownsville. Historical and vintage video programs are shown by request.

Photos and documents from Linn County’s past are being sorted and indexed for use by genealogists and historians, an ongoing effort to establish and maintain a research facility at the museum.

A museum store operated by the Museum Friends carries a selection of books, cards, photos and other mementos. Proceeds from sales help support the work of the museum.

Other important support comes from donations, both at the door and to the Linn County Historical Museum Trust.

The Depot

Although the first railroad in Linn County was the Oregon and California Railroad which arrived from the north in 1870, the need had been felt for years, as early as 1854, to bring a railroad to Brownsville.

Nothing came of a plan promoted by about fifty men in the early 1850s, but their company name, the Oregon and California Railroad, was picked up years later when Ben Holladay began building his great line through the Willamette Valley, passing through Halsey six miles west of Brownsville.

Brownsville became a busy market center, and by 1878 the prevailing sentiment was that the town definitely needed a railroad.

George A. Dyson, a local tinsmith, started Brownsville’s first newspaper, The Advertiser, with the sole purpose of promoting a railroad for the town.

On December 2, 1880, Dyson’s dream of a railroad came true when the Oregonian Railway Company completed a narrow gauge line as far south as Brownsville.

After some years, during which the large lines jockeyed for control of railroading in Oregon, the Southern Pacific Company bought the railroad.

By 1894 the track in Brownsville had been widened to standard gauge, and the people were enjoying "all rail communication with Portland… by means of the Woodburn-Springfield branch of the Southern Pacific…" It was probably during this period that the present Depot, now the Linn County Museum, was built in the familiar bungalow style adopted by Southern Pacific.

The Depot was located at the northwest end of town, next to the railroad tracks. Well into the first half of the 20th century, the railroad was a major link between Brownsville and the rest of Linn County. Then, with the decline of the railroads, the Brownsville track was used only as an industrial spur, and the old Depot was no longer the center of the town’s comings and goings.

In the 1960s the Southern Pacific donated the Depot building to the Linn County Historical Society which turned it over to the City of Brownsville.

The City later sold it to Ray Bubak, an antique dealer who dismantled and later reassembled the building on its present site. In 1981 the county acquired the land and building, Southern Pacific donated some railroad cars, and the combined Depot and cars were renovated and dedicated in June, 1984, as the Linn County Historical Museum.

Moyer House

The elegant old Moyer House has spent more than 100 years overseeing the life and development of one of Oregon’s oldest pioneer communities.

John M. Moyer, born in 1829, came west with his friend, George F. Colbert, in 1852. The two young men, both carpenters by trade, began building houses in the area around Brownsville, and Moyer soon had a job building a house on Blakely Avenue for Hugh L. Brown, after whom Brownsville was later named. In 1857 John Moyer married Mr. Brown’s daughter, Elizabeth, and in time the two bought a farm and some lots in Brownsville. Later, Moyer owned, or had interests in, a sash and door factory, the Brownsville Woolen Mills and the Bank of Brownsville. He was also the town’s first mayor, and served on the school committee.

Because of their business and civic involvements, the Moyers entertained frequently, so eventually felt the need for a new house. The property they selected covered seven acres, extending toward the Calapooia River and Brownsville’s present City Park.

Using plans he had drawn himself, lumber milled in his sash and door factory, and with the help of his longtime friend, George Colbert, J.M. Moyer built his elaborate new house in 1881, with extreme attention to detail.

The Italianate style house replaced the Moyers’ smaller home nearby. Moyer did much of the work himself, and is said to have handpicked all the lumber for its construction. The house also boasted wooden Venetian blinds, with the slats produced in Moyer’s sawmill.

Twelve-foot ceilings, a while Italian marble fireplace and carved walnut banisters decorated the inside, while elaborate trims and heavily bracketed cornices adorned the Italianate exterior. Landscapes and scenes in oil were painted on walls and window transoms. On the ceilings of several rooms were floral designs, said to have been painted by an itinerant Italian artist, while great medallions made of wood were constructed to hold the light fixtures.

John and Elizabeth Moyer lived together in the house until his death in 1900. Elizabeth Moyer continued to live there after her husband died until her death about 1920, when the house and furniture were sold to Harry Thompson, the local banker.

Mrs. Thompson had the house remodeled, and when the Thompsons solid it some years later, the furniture was sold separately.

During the 1930s and 1940s the house was converted to apartments, and much of the original work was covered with paint and wallpaper.

In 1963 the Linn County Historical Society acquired the house with a grant of $7500 from the Hill Foundation and donations from others. Restoration began immediately, and continues to this day.

The house now belongs to Linn County and is designated as a museum, under the care of the Parks Department and a devoted group of volunteers.