View Cowlitz County artifacts that helped shape America's 250 years
America turns 250 in less than three months, but the Cowlitz County Historical Museum is starting the celebration now.
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Through the rest of the year, the museum on Allen Street is hosting an exhibit that highlights the area's connections to major American milestones, from the Revolutionary War to racial integration of schools to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state historical society in Colorado took the lead in creating parts of the exhibit "Moments that Made Us" for western U.S. states that weren't as instrumental to the American Revolution, said Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director Joseph Govednik.
Washington state, Oregon and Idaho historical organizations helped make Pacific Northwest-specific panels as well.
The local exhibit's map of Native American tribal lands highlights the area's original inhabitants.
Other local displays tell the origins of people from afar who made Cowlitz County their home.
How to Go
What: "Moments that Made Us" exhibit featuring local and state ties to America's 250th anniversary.
Where: Cowlitz County Historical Museum, 405 Allen St., Kelso.
When: Through 2026. The museum is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Cost: Free.
Photos of Abel Ostrander offer a glimpse of the native New Yorker, born just one year before the Declaration of Independence and turning 12 when the United States Constitution took effect in 1789.
At age 75, Ostrander traveled from Missouri to Cowlitz County in the summer of 1852, almost a decade before the American Civil War, after his son found wealth in the California gold rush. The family settled along the Cowlitz River in an area that now bears his last name.
A German passport from 1877, belonging to Marie Fisch, is displayed. She later became Mrs. Bertz and moved to Cowlitz County in 1891, according to the exhibit.
America 250
The exhibit also features a profile of Henry Cheholtz, a Cowlitz Tribe member who lived on the banks of the Cowlitz River near Castle Rock in the late 1800s.
He gave an impromptu speech at a 1890s Fourth of July event, the exhibit shows, reflecting on the land before European settlers arrived.
"The Great Spirit put creatures in the forest for food and clothing, not to kill just to be killing as some palefaces did," Cheholtz is quoted as saying on an exhibit panel.
Displays span many decades. A replica 18th-century tricorn hat is shown, along with a 1940s hard hat worn by a Swedish immigrant who worked for Long-Bell in Ryderwood.
USA 250: A hard hat
A hard hat worn once by a Swedish immigrant who worked for Long-Bell in Ryderwood from the 1940s to the early 1950s is on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum on Thursday, April 2, in Kelso.
A panel on local Civil Rights activist Victoria Freeman explains how she spearheaded the integration of Longview schools in the 1920s, before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional.
A single teacup from Longview's Paragon Restaurant is displayed. Chinese immigrants operated the eatery starting around 1950, according to the exhibit.
An item from recent history is COVID-19 vaccination cards in multiple languages.
USA 250: Naturalization papers
Naturalization papers belong to Jurgen Gustav Otte on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum on Thursday, April 2, in Kelso.
Military history
The exhibit also shows the evolution of military weapons throughout the years.
An American Revolutionary War-era Brown Bess Musket is on display. This is a British infantry rifle used by the redcoats during the American Revolution, which lasted from 1775 to 1783.
USA 250: Musket flint from Valley Forge
A musket flint from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum on Thursday, April 2, in Kelso.
Govednik said the firearm was donated by a Kalama family. It was a standard-issue rifle for the British army from 1722 to the 1830s and could have been used by an American soldier as well.
In the same display case as the rifle is a British cannonball from Nepal, used during Britain's occupation of India. There are also .75 caliber musket bullets.
USA 250: Brown Bess Musket
A Brown Bess Musket, a rifle used by British forces during the American Revolution, on loan from a Kalama family, is on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum on Thursday, April 2, in Kelso.
There are also items from World War II, including an M1 steel American helmet from 1943.
USA 250: M1 helmet
An M1 steel helmet issued to American soldiers during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, which lasted almost 20 years, is on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum on Thursday, April 2, in Kelso.
The exhibit features shameful parts of U.S. and local history, including the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Documents from 1941 show cameras confiscated from members of the local Japanese American community.
Govednik explained that before local Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps in California, they were required to register and surrender items such as flashlights, cameras, radios and firearms.
According to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, both the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been spying on Japanese Americans since the 1930s.
USA 250: Inventory list
An inventory list from the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office dated Dec. 29, 1941, of cameras turned over by members of Longview's Japanese community before being taken to internment camps in California, is on display at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum.
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