Historic Restoration

National Register of Historic Places

Saved from the wrecking ball during 1990’s, these buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and a community treasure. The Drexel Foundation was originally created to help preserve the Historic 1908 Vale Hotel and 1895 Grand Opera House. The goal is to restore these important buildings for Vale’s future children.
The buildings are well on their way to becoming an “Art Center”, and “Artist in Residency” space. The upstairs of the Opera House is starting to look like the art center. Since 1995 roof repairs & structural stabilization has occurred for both buildings. Many rooms have been restored, the roof in-between the wings, and the new exterior door was added in the alley at the hotel. Restoration of the original 1895 tin ceiling and floor in the opera house is beautiful. Both the Opera House & Hotel’s exterior bricks underwent mortar repairs. All work on buildings are done in accordance with the national standards for historic preservation. ” Every year we take many steps forward, you can see it all coming together, with the great programs & volunteers and support. The Drexel Foundation is making a difference! You can check out the progress during our Open House, see calendar events for info. If you miss this chance to tour the buildings, there are private tours available by appointment. Some of the memories from local people are the best, such as “I delivered papers in the hotel when I was a kid” as told by Bill Cummings. The Drexel Foundation is always trying to learn more about the puzzle of these buildings, and always on a lookout for old interior photos of the buildings. Rehabilitation has been possible over the years from the owner, Mike McLaughlin’s personal labor & financial investments, the Drexel Foundation’s efforts, SHPO & OCT, and community grants. Local investment of labor, materials & volunteers have been used as a match for various grant assistance.
 
There is community support of our preservation project by hometown business owners, government representatives, past residents, and teachers. During 2020 they created the HGTV Application film to reach out for help with funding for our community. They support the Drexel H. Foundation’s efforts and are trying to help get the needed financial support for Historic Restoration projects, and to improve downtown Vale. See the video below of the HGTV video that they created.
The Grand Opera House has national and statewide significance. It contributes to understanding Eastern Oregon’s culture, Vale’s place in history, and is located on the authentic Oregon Trail. Its occupancy is vital to return life to our downtown core Main Street Vale. It represents a unique time period of the West, was a center of social activity. When the county went dry the former saloon became the Grand Opera House, brought entertainers from around the nation to this pioneer town, since the manager trained with the Barnum & Bailey Circus there was top-notch culture presented at this location. The Vale residents, young and old embrace the communities’ vision to create a Drexel art center and useable community event space in the Grand Opera House.

Since 1995 progress toward its occupancy has been made by grassroots fundraising, local volunteers, and small grants. This building used to have missing doors and missing walls and was designated as slum and blight. Considerable preservation efforts and restoration work on installing doors, windows, mason mortar repair, structural roof webbing, a new beam and wood for shear required by the engineer, initial electrical & initial plumbing work, architectural design for handicap bathrooms, in addition to restoring 1895 historical features, such as the press tin ceiling and original wood floors, building a column, exterior wall, stucco, new roof TPO, gutters, facia board, and building the front access to the second floor have all been accomplished. We are at the final stages of construction work to obtain a certificate of occupancy, thanks to grants and the investment of time and money of our entire community. See progress photo and hear the original song “Never give in” in the below video.

Grand Opera House Stair Project

Opera House Stairs

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Completed Project

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Grand Opening

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Grand Opening

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Grand Opera House Electricity Installation

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FREE Family Fun & Celebration!

Come join the Drexel H Foundation in celebrating their heritage and a major milestone in historic restoration of the Grand Opera House built in 1895-96. There are now stairs at the back of the building leading from the second floor to the ground level. This is a major preservation milestone as the stairs are in the same historic configuration and location as shown by maps from 1914. Other improvements include upgrades to the building’s electrical system. All thanks to a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, project partners, sponsors, and committed volunteers.
On November 11th the foundation will host this celebration, and mark the one year anniversary of their free Level 2 Electrical Vehicle Charging station, Bike repair station, and outdoor amenities at the building. The 2 port EV station has hosted over 326 charging sessions, with 52 unique drivers users,  saved over 152 gallons of gas, provided 6,313 miles free for locals and tourists, and prevented 1,350 green house gases.
This day will also be filled with FREE fun activities including painting the sheep, an art builds community activity celebrating the Basques who helped shape our community throughout history. A drawing for free refurbish bikes. All who come to the celebration get a free ticket for the drawing and all those who have painted the sheep have a ticket for the bike drawing.
Those present have the opportunity to bring a sack of cans and bottles to be entitled to choose from the refurbished sports shoes and take a pair home for free. The Drexel bottle drop November fundraisers recycling helps pay for the Drexel programming. If you bring cans & bottles you also win an extra ticket for the bike drawing.
Everyone that comes that day to the celebration will enjoy snacks, music, and a ribbon cutting as part of this wonderful event which will take place on Saturday November 11th from 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.
 Drexel foundation also will be giving shout outs to those who have helped make these improvements down at the Grand Opera House as they work towards the goal of completing it for occupancy for an Art Center & informal welcome center.  Come celebrate our heritage and pick up a FREE self guided Vale tour map. These free tour maps highlight the Vale murals & public art and contain historic buildings QR codes of photos that take you back into time to see historic photos of Vales Historic buildings. It is all happening Sat. November 11th from 2:00 to 4:00pm at the Grand Opera House at the location of 147 N Main St. Vale OR, just one block from the Vale park There’s something for everyone.

Quintin Alvarado art in the park bike winner
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Quintin Alvarado art in the park bike winner IMG_1429 20231001_144124(0) 20230809_121129