Oregon celebrates 157th birthday

Happy birthday, Oregon.

Covered wagons, costumed interpreters and the original Oregon Constitution served as parts of the 157th birthday celebration at the Capitol on Saturday.

Oregon became the 33rd state to join the union on Feb. 14, 1859, about 54 years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the territory.

"I really like the live action and the characters in costumes," said Vernadene Anderson, of Salem.

The celebration included learning opportunities about the state in which visitors could explore Oregon history.

Roots of reunion for Oregon pioneer family date to 1891

"I enjoyed the woodworking station, it was great to see a presentation of how they used to do it," said Peter Anderson, of Salem.

"We learned that they actually hired scribes to take down the minutes for the meetings and to write the documents," Vernadene Anderson said. "I thought there might have been just one for consistency, but some of those documents are huge, so they needed more."

The Curtis Heritage Education Center, a nonprofit established in 2013, had one of its wagons on display that was reportedly a part of the Oregon Trail expedition.

"We don't know for sure because there weren't VIN numbers back then, but we have a pretty good idea based on the hub style that was used," said Don Scott, vice president of the education center. "That dates it back to somewhere in the 1840s."

Oregon birthday bash celebrates 156 years

Scott said that the Curtis Heritage Education Center is currently in the process of designing and building a museum at Antique Powerland in Brooks, which is where they will house the 120 Oregon Trail wagons that they currently have in their collection.

"Those 120 are probably the broadest collection of carriages in the nation. We're anxious to get to the point where we can accurately display them," Scott said.

Oregon Capitol celebrates state�s 155th birthday

As part of the wagon display outside the Capitol, the education center also conducted a demonstration that showed what it took to plan the journey of the Oregon Trail and the different materials used.

"Planning for the Oregon Trail for them was like us planning for the Mars mission now," Scott said.

The Oregon Constitution was on display in the Rotunda as well, it's battered pages protected by a glass case and plastic sleeve.

The Friends of Historic Champoeg of the Champoeg State Park dressed in traditional attire from the 19th century as they explained to onlookers about different aspects of the daily lives during that time. There were displays that included information on sewing and the importance it played in the making of clothing, a millinery table that showed many kinds of women's hats, a woodworking station with actual demonstrations using the same methods, a table on herbal medicines and spices, and one that detailed the early trails and pathways of 19th century Oregon as well as the changes made to the state's counties over the years.

cwilliams9@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6719, or follow on Twitter @connerjwilliams