Robert Newell House Museum and

Newell School House Museum

Newell House displays include:

• Six rooms decorated in the Federal, American Empire Renaissance Revival, and Rococco Revival styles
• Over 100 West Coast Indian baskets
• 19th Century quilts and woven coverlets
• Inaugural gowns of wives of Oregon governors - the oldest from 1851

Robert Newell was born in Butler County, Ohio, on March 30, 1807. He was a mountain man, entrepreneur, and civic leader. He was apprenticed to a saddlemaker, but never made a saddle on his own that we know of. He and Joseph Meek had a lifelong friendship. He went to the Rockies at 22, where he proved himself a legendary mountain man.  He was so skilled at rudimentary surgery and healing, that he was thereafter called “Doc” Newell.  He had no medical training.  He had become a famous fur trader, trailblazer, and explorer by the end of the Fur Trade Epoch.  He came west, one of three men that led the first wagon train to Oregon.  His was the first wagon to come down the Columbia to this area.  He owned a large farm along the Willamette River, but did little actual farming.  In 1842 he and Andre Longtain (a French mountain man) jointly platted the Champoeg Town site. Champoeg grew from a Hudson's Bay warehouse on French Prairie to a thriving community during the 1850s. It boasted a post office, bowling alley, cabinet makers, two lawyers, a Lodge, hotel, stores, mills, warehouses, and blacksmith shop, and was surrounded by homes and farms. In 1843 he voted for the divide that established the Provisional government that led to Territorial status and Oregon becoming the first state on the west coast.  Robert Newell served ably and with distinction during all of Oregon’s early growth.  He helped draft all three early Constitutions.  He was a wealthy, successful businessman and popular civic leader who often entertained at his home.  He was a director of the first literary society and the first newspaper.  He owned two keelboats that served between Oregon City and Champoeg.  He was the first Worshipful Master of the Champoeg Masonic lodge that met in his home.  He almost paupered himself helping the victims of the 1861 flood.  His house was the only surviving structure at Champoeg.  He had 16 children by his three wives.  His first wife, Kitty, was the daughter of a Nez Perce sub-chief. She lived until 1845 and is buried within the Park. His second wife was Rebecca Newman of Ohio, whom he married in 1846. His other wife was of local French descent.  Several photographs of Newell are displayed in the dining room. 

Newell’s first home was at Tualatin Plains near Hillsboro.  He then moved to Oregon City.  He then built a Champoeg farmhouse near the river.  He built this home in 1852 and lived here until 1866, when he was named Nez Perce Indian Agent and moved to Lewiston, Idaho.  He died soon thereafter.  By 1952, when acquired by the Oregon State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (OSSDAR), this structure was ravaged by age and neglect.  The east wing, comprising the dining room and kitchen with the large room upstairs, had collapsed.  The OSSDAR had totally restored/rebuilt and furnished this structure as a Museum in time for the 1959 Oregon Centennial.  The furnishings were selected from the belongings of many Oregon pioneer families.  The downstairs is furnished similar to the original home.  The upstairs displays quilts and handcrafts;  firearms;  gowns worn by the wives of Oregon’s Governors at their inaugural ball; Native American handcrafts, and Robert Newell’s Masonic paraphernalia.   It also displays  spinning equipment and looms from that period.  The 1849 Jail and the  1858 Schoolhouse from Butteville located out front were moved there in 1959.

When the Nez Perce Indians offered him land in Idaho, he decided to leave this area. He became a special commissioner and interpreter to the Nez Perce. Robert Newell is buried at Lewiston, Idaho, where he spent the last years of his life on a 5-acre plot of land which was ceded to him by his Indian friends.

Another view of the Newell House

Newell School House Museum

Butteville school house, a pre-Civil War building, is an example of the federal style of architecture which was used until about 1830 in the East. It is of the same era as Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Marcella Rawe reports in a paper that:

There were several disastrous fires over the years and frequent floods. The worst flood came in 1861 when Champoeg was among the towns swept away by the river, and Butteville residents were picked off their roofs by rescuing steamboats. But, like Robert Newell's house which stood high enough on a hill to escape the water, the Butteville schoolhouse also escaped.

This building was first used as a school and for church services conducted by Rev. Michael Fackler. It was then moved when a larger and more modern building replaced it and used as a storehouse and dwelling. Ruth McBride Powers, State Regent at the time, must have had historic preservation in mind when she purchased the building in 1958 or 1959. It was moved once more to the ground on which it now stands. It has been described as possibly "Butteville's oldest dwelling" (because folks did live in it at one time). It was placed on a "new concrete foundation" and the old mud-mortar brick fireplace rebuilt at a cost of $1,200.

Some of the Newell School House's unique features include:

• Five "six over six" glass windows - originals from the earliest time glass panes were available here in the West.
• Walls with absolutely no studs - studs were incorporated in construction of walls by around the 1830s.
• Original outside siding which seems different on each side of the building. This possibly indicates building materials used from different donors.
• Suspension Ceiling

It is estimated that, except for the chimney and the asphalt shingles, 90% of the building material is original.

Robert Newell House and School House Museum
8089 Champoeg Road NE
St. Paul, OR 97137
(503) 678-5537

For more information contact
Newell Museum
(503) 678-5537

newellhousemuseum@centurytel.net

Last updated 03/10/2007