Watts House Pioneer Museum

The Watts House today is Scappoose's Pioneer Museum and is dedicated to preserving our heritage.  In its long history (now 110 years old)  it was the primary residence of Grant Watts' family until 1975 when James Loring Watts (Grant and Rose's son) sold the house to the City of Scappoose for $20,000.  The agreement stated the home would eventually become a museum.  However, it first served as a boarding house for teachers, and from1974 through 1997 as Scappoose City Hall. In 1976 the Watts House was placed on the National Historic Register where it remains today. 1997 the new fire station was built which would also house City Hall.  Once the City moved out the promise made to Grant Loring Watts was realized and the house started it's path to becoming a museum. The first part of the museum to be completed was the basement of the home.   It is dedicated to the Childrens Museum where they can see what an 1888 merchantile looked like complete with cans of goods on the shelf, the original money order stand, the cash register as well as shelves stocked with merchandise that would have been available to customers back in days of the Watts and Price General Merchandise store.