At the historic home of the Barclay family in Oregon City, Oregon, join a tour of the neighboring McLoughlin House, shop the McLoughlin Memorial Association Bookstore, and learn about the history of the Barclays.
This monument, located just west of Pearson Air Museum at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, commemorates the world's first transpolar flight. In 1937, three Soviet aviators flew an ANT-25 aircraft from Moscow, Russia, to Vancouver, Washington.
Fort Vancouver was a supply depot and the headquarters for the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), a British corporation that monopolized the fur trade. Although HBC hoped to secure the Oregon Country for Britain, the post's humane and generous chief factor, Dr. John McLoughlin, often came to the rescue of American emigrants who arrived on his doorstep half-starved and penniless.
The bookstore at the Fort Vancouver Visitor Center is operated by the Friends of Fort Vancouver, an official non-profit partner of the National Park Service dedicated to supporting the educational mission of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The McLoughlin House is named after John McLoughlin, the Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver. Pressured into retirement by Hudson's Bay Company because of his generosity toward American emigrants, John McLoughlin moved his family from the fort to this home in 1846. During his retirement, he became a U.S. citizen (in 1851), founded Oregon City, established several businesses there, and donated land for schools and churches.
The McLoughlin House in Oregon City was the retirement home of Dr. John McLoughlin, the former Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver. Here, he lived with his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, and became a prominent citizen of Oregon City.
The bookstore at the McLoughlin House Unit of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, located in Oregon City, Oregon, is operated by the McLoughlin Memorial Association, an official non-profit partner of the National Park Service dedicated to to supporting the educational mission of the McLoughlin House Unit.
This is the second stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about the Indigenous and Hudson's Bay Company history, as well as the arrival of the Army.
This is the fourth stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about the history of the bandstand.
This is the fifth stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about the history of the guardhouse and the Indigenous people who were imprisoned here.
This is the sixth stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about the Officers' Row, and the many individuals who lived and worked there.
This is the seventh stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about how Vancouver Barracks expanded at the turn of the century.
This is the eighth stop on a self-guided tour of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground. At this stop, you will learn about how World War I impacted Vancouver Barracks, including the history of the Spruce Mill.
Pearson Air Museum, a part of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, tells the story of Pearson Field, one of the country's oldest continuously operating airfields.
In 1904, the U.S. Army built a new Post Hospital at Vancouver Barracks as a part of a nationwide effort to modernize its forces. Until the end of World War I, the Post Hospital at Vancouver Barracks was considered one of the most modern and efficient military hospitals in the nation.
This location on the west side of Fort Vancouver way was once the location of the St. James Mission, an early Catholic mission in the Pacific Northwest.
During the summer months in the 19th century, many concerts and social events centered around the Vancouver Barracks bandstand. Today, the bandstand is often used for community celebrations and events.
In the northwest corner of Fort Vancouver's protective palisade wall, a three-story tower called a bastion or blockhouse rose above the surrounding plain.
Blacksmiths at Fort Vancouver provided the tools and hardware used in everyday life. They made everything from axes and beaver traps to gardening hoes and fishing spears.
From crafting necessary furniture to framing and roofing a warehouse, the extensive Hudson's Bay Company operation based at Fort Vancouver relied upon skilled carpenters for its success.
If one building best represented the power and dominance of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in the mid-nineteenth century Pacific Northwest, it was the Chief Factor's House at Fort Vancouver - known by many as simply the "Big House."
At the Contact Station, located just inside the gates of the reconstructed Fort Vancouver, get more information on your visit from a national park ranger and pay entrance fees or present your America the Beautiful pass.
The most visible and significant feature of the Vancouver Barracks Parade Ground was the central flagstaff. The colors that flew there were a symbol of government authority in the territory and a reminder of shared ideals.
Historically, the Fort Vancouver Garden was a place of rest for the fort's officers and visitors, and provided food for the Chief Factor's House table. Today's reconstruction at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is tended by volunteer gardeners.
At Fort Vancouver, employees stored animal skins in fur stores. Contrary to the modern meaning of the term "store," nothing was sold out of these buildings. Instead, fur stores were more like warehouses where skins were processed and kept for shipment to market in London.
The Pacific Northwest may have been a remote place during the mid-19th century, but it was certainly not lawless. At Fort Vancouver, Chief Factor Dr. John McLoughlin detained rule-breakers and accused criminals in a small jail inside the fort's palisade walls.
In Fort Vancouver's Kitchen, cooks prepared meals for the Hudson Bay Company's gentlemen, the families living in the Chief Factor's House, and their guests. The Kitchen sat behind the Chief Factor's House and was connected to it via a passageway.
The Red Cross convalescent house at Vancouver Barracks was dedicated in February of 1919, and provided recreation for wounded and ill soldiers away from the hospital atmosphere, and helped boost the morale of recuperating patients.
The north end of this parking lot was once the location of Vancouver Barracks' Sutler's Store. Until the late 19th century, the U.S. Army awarded sales commissions to civilian traders, known as sutlers.
