When you attend the 2023 ANWG Conference, you may want to visit places of interest in Oregon.  One place in Salem that you do not want to miss is the Willamette Heritage Center which is housed in the former Thomas Kay Woolen Mill.

The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill was built in 1889 by Thomas Lister Kay with strong support from the business community of Salem, OR. In 1895, the wood-frame mill building was destroyed by fire and the community rallied in support of reconstruction efforts, raising $20,000 in just three weeks to rebuild. Six months later the mill was operational once again, this time housed in a beautiful 4-story brick building that is still in use today. Through the prosperous times of the Alaskan Gold Rush and the sparse years of the Great Depression, the factory produced fine woolen blankets and fabric. Its biggest production period occurred during the World Wars, due to U.S. Army contracts for blankets. After over 70 years of operation the mill closed in 1962, primarily due to competition from manmade materials like polyester. At the time of its closure, it had been managed by four generations of the Kay family – a family legacy that continues to this day at the world-renowned Pendleton Woolen Mills.

After closure, the mill was purchased by Mission Mill Museum Association, a private, non-profit organization formed in 1964 to develop a historical park. Their mission was to provide a “museum and public meeting space as well as an educational, cultural, historical and activity-oriented center for townspeople and tourists alike.” It is the only woolen mill museum west of Missouri and has one of the few water-powered turbines in the Pacific Northwest that is still capable of generating electricity from the millrace. Displays of the original 19^th and 20^th century machinery illustrate industrial wool processing, and images capture the stories of the lives of the individuals and families who worked at the mill since its founding.

Today the museum is known as the Willamette Heritage Center, a nonprofit organization formed from the merger of the Mission Mill Museum Association and the Marion County Historical Society. Their legacy to preserve and interpret the history of the Mid-Willamette Valley continues to this day. The five-acre campus contains fourteen historic structures that house permanent and changing exhibits, a research library and archive, textile learning center, and rentable event spaces. It is also home to retail shops, art galleries, cooperative artist studios and offices run by partner organizations.

The 4^th floor of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Building was remodeled in 1990 to create a Textile Learning Center in partnership with the Salem Art Association; a regional hub where the study, design, teaching, and production of textiles could take place. The 2000 square foot classroom and weaving space includes floor and table looms, worktables, storage cabinets, a dye studio/kitchen area, and all the auxiliary equipment necessary for textile crafts such as weaving and spinning. In 1997, Mission Mill Museum Association took over operations and with the support of local textile guilds, continued to offer classes in textile arts; a practice that continues to this day. The Textile Learning Center is currently the home of the Salem Fiberarts Guild, a vibrant partner with the Willamette Heritage Center in the preservation and teaching of historic fiber arts.

As we move closer to summer 2023, we’ll rollout out more information about the conference and events on this website, so stay tuned! Or better yet, if you’re interested in receiving email updates, sign up and we’ll send information to your inbox as it becomes available.