About

Background

The Willamette Living History Tour began in 2008 as a part of the Centennial Celebration of the incorporation of the Town of Willamette in West Linn, OR. Due to the overwhelming success, the Willamette Living History Lantern Light Tour is now an annual event on the second Saturday of each September. In 2013, in honor of the Centennial Celebration of the incorporation of the City of West Linn, an all new script depicting the year 1913 was created. All characters and scene were created through extensive research of primary documents to provide the most accurate interpretation of the days of old. In 2018, another new script was commissioned to depict the year 1922, when the modern Arch Bridge between West Linn and Oregon City was completed.

What to expect

The one hour tour begins as your costumed guides bring groups through scenes of what life was like in the early 1920’s era to meet many of the town’s founding fathers, significant leaders and first families. The tour lasts approximately one hour and ten minutes. Guests are served complimentary light snacks and drinks at the conclusion of the tour. This tour requires walking on uneven terrain, entering and exiting homes, as well as several staircases. Therefore, we are unable to accommodate mobility assistance vehicles, wheelchairs, walkers or strollers.

The Storyline

In 1922, the Arch Bridge between West Linn and Oregon City is rebuilt into the modern concern structure able to carry cars, trucks and buses. The combined Union High School was two years into occupancy of its new West Linn building on the westside of the Willamette River. While the Town of Willamette had merged with the City of West Linn in 1916, the citizens of the Willamette area still held tight to their local identity. The nation was in deep into the Prohibition of Alcohol, but some rural entrepreneurs had developed their own sources for booze. The roads were being paved as automobiles grew in popularity. Motion pictures had securely established themselves as a source of entertainment and the exercise movement got Americans moving.

The various scenes and townfolk mingling along the streets create a complete feeling of what life was like nearly a century ago.