The Robert Newell House Museum

On a hillside west of the entrance to Champoeg State Heritage Area, above the banks of the Willamette River, stands the home of Robert Newell. A central figure in Oregon statehood and first Speaker of the House, he resided at Champoeg for nineteen years beginning in 1843. His home was reconstructed by the DAR in the 1950's and has become a center for Living History activities, archives, and artifacts in the French Prairie region of the northern Willamette Valley.

The Newell House Museum Complex has several unique collections of Oregon history artifacts. We are home to the Oregon Inaugural Ball Gown Collection with the earliest gown dating back to 1851.

The museum has an extensive collection of quilts, needlework, and other piece goods dating back to the 1700's. There are also many carding, spinning, and weaving tools. We are fortunate to have a significant collection of early basket, bead, and leather work from many of the Pacific Northwest Native American tribes, sorted and displayed by individual tribe. We are also fortunate enough to have items once owned by the last princess of the Coos Bay Tribe.

The Newell Complex museums have collected many assorted pieces of pioneer furniture and household items over the years, mostly from pioneer families in the area. Some were actually owned and used here by Robert Newell. Items range from everyday kitchen implements to fine china and a Chickering square grand piano. The complex includes six fully furnished rooms in the Newell House, as well as the school room and teacher's quarters in the Butteville School.

By the end of the Fur Trade Era he had become a famous fur trader, trailblazer, and explorer. 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. Newell’s first home was at Tualatin Plains near Hillsboro. He later moved to Oregon City and then to Champoeg where he built this farmhouse in 1852. 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.

Robert Newell 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.

Robert Newell served ably and with distinction during all of Oregon’s early growth. He helped draft all three early Constitutions, 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.