2025: Bringing the Past to the Present
Completed in July 1936, West Linn’s Historic City Hall was built with a combination of grants and a federal loan under the New Deal’s Public Works Administration. The building has served multiple functions over its 89 years. City Hall was on the second floor and the Post Office, grocery store, and a meat market were on the first floor. Then Police Department, library, and municipal court would come later (source: West Linn Historical Society article 2014).
After the new City Hall was built, the West Linn Police occupied this entire building from 1999-2014 until their move to their current space in Old Willamette. Historic City Hall has stood vacant since 2014. But for the vision and determination of a few historically inclined folks in the community, this building would continue to sit unoccupied and in decline at the end of the Arch Bridge, at the heart of the Willamette Falls Region.
The Coalition’s work with the City of West Linn to restore the building is a decade in the making! Between the dogged determination of former executive director Siobhan Taylor and the essential discovery of potential habitability by West Linn history buff and founder of Old Oregon Photos, John Klatt, the Coalition has remained steadfast in its commitment to bringing this building back to life as a community asset.
In 2020, the City of West Linn recommitted over 1 million dollars to the restoration of the building. Though the project presented many challenges, construction broke ground in January 2024 and was officially completed in January 2025.
The building officially opened to the public on October 2nd, 2025!