Society
Since its founding in the 1970s, the Jefferson County Historical Society has dedicated itself to recording, preserving, and promoting the recognition and understanding of the history of Jefferson County.
In line with this mission, the Society operated for many years the Jefferson County Historical Museum in the old County Courthouse in downtown Madras. They had to shut down in 2012 when the county determined the old courthouse uninhabitable and our “museum pieces” are now “in storage” awaiting opening of a new museum.
The JCHS also maintains an authentic. well-furnished homestead farmhouse and one-room country school on the County Fairgrounds in south Madras. In 2026, we added the Glover House, a former Grandview area homestead dwelling, to our “community” at the fairgrounds.
In 1984, the Society prepared and published a book of photos and family histories, The History of Jefferson County Oregon 1914-1983, and in 1998, it brought out a revised edition of Jefferson County Reminiscences, a much-loved 1957 collection of “the way it was” accounts by early county residents.
It regularly honors important achievements in local history with “The Beth Crow Award,” in memory of a local historian. Beth was a very important, impactful local historian and JCHS member. Beth also started the original JCHS historical publication, The Agate, which has been modernized over the years and now is a twice-yearly magazine.
The JCHS members promote appreciation of local history through County Fair exhibits, talks and lectures, a popular series of “History Pubs,” collaborative programs with local schools, including mentoring student research projects in the “History Day” program and a “Traveling Trunk” program for circulating historical artifacts and information in classrooms.
Believing that history here or anyplace is ongoing, revealing important continuities that connect early days and what’s happening today, and also inclusive, embracing all the ethnic groups that have lived and worked here, the Society aims to record and promote the understanding of such changes in the land as the coming of irrigation in the 1940s and with it the arrival of farm families from Idaho, the building of dams in the 1950s and ’60s, the growth of Central Oregon tourism thereafter, the rise of the Confederated Warm Springs Tribes as a major economic and social factor in the County, and the coming of Latino families here over the past fifty years.
All these have been important contributions to the unfinished and ongoing story of Jefferson County; and in a time of rapid growth and change in our region, the Historical Society aims to do all it can to help County residents see the big picture of their collective historical heritage.
In the same spirit, the Historical Society from its beginnings has been dedicated to conserving and celebrating the natural history of Jefferson County and north Central Oregon.
Our distinctive local geology and natural landmarks and plant and animal life also comprise a story worth telling, one that has profoundly influenced our human story here, from Native American times to the present.
Doing all this in the name of historical education takes time and dedication, but it is also fun — and if beyond joining the Society you’d like to become a volunteer, we’d love to sign you up!
