One of the oldest institutions in the Valley is also in charge of preserving its history. The Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum was started in the early 1900s by Ada Hill, a school teacher in North Bend.

Cristy Lake, assistant director at the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum, explained that through Hill’s work, the Valley gained an important organization.

“She started collecting things from the pioneers who were the parents of the kids she had in her class and over time the collection grew,” Lake said. “By the ‘60s it was filling the whole classroom and the school. The baby boom had happened and the school needed the classroom space so they asked Hill to remove the stuff from the school and at that point, the historical society was formed to help take care of the collection.”

Since then the museum has been obtaining historical artifacts through a mixture of purposeful collecting and donations from people in the Valley. Lake said that over time the museum’s collection has narrowed in subject to better focus on the region it is in.

“Originally the museum had a much broader mission that it does now. We focus specifically on Snoqualmie Valley now,” Lake said.

“When Hill started the collection it was Washington State and Pacific Northwest pioneer history. So parts of our collection are better represented than other parts.”