Top 10 History Museums in Portland, Oregon (OR)

The Architectural Heritage Center is a non-profit resource for historic preservation owned and operated by the Bosco-Milligan Foundation. As "home base" for heritage conservation in the Portland, Oregon metro area, the AHC hosts dozens of programs, tours, and exhibits each year which help people appreciate and preserve older and historic buildings, neighborhoods, and traditional commercial areas.

Explore Oregon’s past at the Oregon Historical Society! Located on the historic South Park Blocks in downtown Portland, the Oregon Historical Society’s museum is open seven days a week and features original and traveling exhibitions that tell stories of the people, places, and events that have shaped Oregon and American history. In February 2019, the Oregon Historical Society unveiled a brand permanent exhibit, Experience Oregon, that chronicles the state’s complex history through rare artifacts, hands-on interactives, and digital displays. The Society’s world-class research library is open Tuesday through Saturday and is the perfect place to research a historic home or find a long-lost pioneer relative. Don’t forget to stop by the museum store for a uniquely Oregon souvenir!

The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education explores the legacy of the Jewish experience in Oregon and teaches the universal lessons of the Holocaust. Through exhibitions, programs, educational resources, and opportunities for intercultural conversation, OJMCHE challenges our visitors to resist indifference and discrimination and to envision a just and inclusive world.

NOTE: The Wells Fargo Museum is temporarily closed and will open at the end of October 2019. Thank you for your understanding.

Only working Steam Railroad Museum in Oregon. We have three vintage steam locomotives, machine shop, rail history exhibits, gift shop, and space for birthday parties. 10-mile train rides on Saturdays, Holiday Express train trips in November/December. Home to the American Freedom Train, driven 32,000 miles across America during the Bicentennial. This GS-4 locomotive is the last operating steam locomotive of its kind (Streamliner, created in an art deco motif), and is the most photographed engine in the world.

The Portland Police Museum details Portland's rich history of law enforcement through exhibits showcasing uniforms, arrest record books, weapons, badges and other artifacts that lend to the story of the formation of the Portland police officer. There is also a room dedicated to the memory of Portland's fallen officers. At the end of the museum is a gift shop. Please bring photo identification if over the age of 18.

The Portland Chinatown Museum is Oregon's first museum about Chinese American history, art and culture. Portland's Chinatown is a powerful site of historical memory, its buildings harboring and evoking stories of Portland's first truly multicultural neighborhood stretching back to the city's beginnings. The role and influence of the Chinese is one of Oregon's hidden stories. Despite anti-Chinese legislation and racial discrimination, Chinese merchants and workers were the earliest and largest non-European immigrant group to settle and to build in Oregon. By 1900 Portland's Chinatown ranked as the second largest Chinatown in America. Our Museum provides a new cultural attraction while contributing to the preservation and revitalization of Old Town Chinatown during a time of rapid transformation. We are proud to share this history.

The Cedar Mill Historical Society is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to discovering and promoting the history of our community, from prehistory to the present day. Understanding our history helps us connect to our community.

Ever seen one of those building with the big IOOF sign and wonder what that is all about? Well, it means Independent Order Of Odd Fellows and you can find out more about them and their interesting history at The Museum of Odd History. Learn how important the lodges and the members of the lodge were to the growth of the town of Saint Johns. Interesting photos and regalia on display.