McLoughlin House

Yep, the place is still standing. It’s pretty cool to visit. Kind of a yawner, but still, worthwhile. I always try to soak up the history of places like McLoughlin House. It helps to give me an accurate perspective of Oregon City, before all of the heavy industry moved into the area, went belly up, and left behind the hulking remnants of concrete and rusting steel.

Checked out this historic house recently. They do not allow pictures inside the building. But the tour was very interesting and I thought they did a good job. The house is over a hunderd years old and has no kitchen or bathrooms. It was originally owned by Dr. John McLoughlin who built Fort Vancouver in Vancouver Washington. He also helped hundreds of settlers who came to Oregon as part of the Oregon trail wagon trains much to the disatisfaction of the hudson bay company (his employer) who did not like to loose the funds spent to help American pioneers. John McLoughlin was also known as the great white eagle and the «Father of Oregon». He brought the first fruit trees and did much to make Oregon what it is today. The barclay house right next door has a giftshop and a restroom. I highly recommend seeing this important part of Oregon’s history.

Here is the Cliff Notes version of this historic structure:
This Colonial-​style home was built by the ‘Father of Oregon’, Dr. John McLoughlin, where he lived for the last 11 years of his life after his retirement from running Fort Vancouver for the Hudson Bay Company. The house is filled with period furnishings, including his china service, used by the McLoughlin family, primarily at their other home at Fort Vancouver. The rest of the furnishings were donated from other families in the area to reflect this early pioneer period in Oregon’s history.
The home was built in 1846 and was designated by Congress as the first National Historic Site in the Western U.S. It was moved to its current location in 1908 by a group of preservationists that saved the house from demolition when it was owned by the local paper company. Supposedly after it was sold by McLoughlin’s heirs and before it was restored, the house functioned as a bordello (Hotel Phoenix). So a lot of history here. The story of how the house got up the hill is a very amusing tale. And if you want to impress the other members of your tour group, the answer is «one horse.»
One of the locals told me that this is considered the smallest National Park in the U.S., but I’m not certain that information is correct. The McLoughlin House (and Barclay House next door) are considered part of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The graves of Dr. McLoughlin and his wife, Marguerite, are located here as well.
Dr. McLoughlin was a very interesting man: frontier doctor, founder of both Fort Vancouver, where he welcomed many of our state’s early residents at the end of the Oregon Trail, and Oregon City. Ultimately he resigned from HBC which didn’t necessarily agree with his generosity towards settlers and fair dealing with the local tribes. He also blamed them for the death of one of his sons.
But, I found Marguerite’s story to be equally interesting. She was part Native American, 5′ tall on her tippy-​toes (to his 6’4″) and bore eight children (four with her first husband). They must have made quite a pair. The portraits of the ‘Great White Eagle’ (his other moniker) and his wife are fascinating and a little spooky.
My first tour with my boys was during the summer a couple of years ago. The house has neither heat nor air conditioning, so on that day we were melting from the heat. The house was not built with a kitchen, which was considered a fire hazard, or a bathroom. In those days, these were all in a separate out building.
The docents here are excellent and on our tour earlier today, were in period costume, and very informative.
Free tours are available on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Check-​in at the Barclay House next door. No photography is permitted inside the McLoughlin House.