Historical Home Faces Bulldozer in Oregon

[Caoimhe]

As our population grows more and more each year, we hear occasional stories about how we are losing our cultural heritage.

That is about to happen to a 122 year old home. Keep in mind, when this home was built, the area around it was wild territory. Oregon was barely even a state, and the areas east of the Cascades in Oregon were "pass through" areas, all labeled marginal. There was no railroad within a few hundred miles. Cattle Drives came through what was known as "the basin", and with the Homestead Act, people began looking into building homesteads to "prove up" each 40 acre parcel. Through the years all those original homesteads have been lost in the Madras area, except one. A homesteader built what's now know as the "Hering House" overlooking Willow Creek in 1884. The basin was an intermittent source of water and grass in the otherwise arid high desert. A few years later, this home ended up in the hands of Carl Hering, whose wife, Helen, was a school teacher for many years and lived there until her death in 1999. This old home has lots of stories to tell. It is also right across the street from a group of public schools and should be preserved for educating children on local history. Why is it being bulldozed? You guessed it... $$$

The story behind the story (you won't read this in the article) The developer of a large 40 or so acre subdivision on the edge of town also bought the piece the Hering Home resides on. It is physically across a street from the main subdivision. He started developing the larger portion, and knowing that the planning dept. requires that he set aside a percentage of his project for public park he decided that he would break the Hering parcel up and leave the House and a small amount of land around it as public park. At least that's the story. So in very little time, he builds cheap duplex after cheap duplex, leaving the Hering parcel, across the street, alone. Then, he decides to sell this parcel instead of developing it himself. Guess who he sells it to? Yes, another developer. This time, the new developer doesn't HAVE to set aside as much area for park, because the area being developed is so small. They circumvented the rules and now this old beautiful home is about to be bulldozed. The local Historical Society is very poor and like the article says, trying to fund a new museum.

With calls from concerned history buffs, we can save this house! Just tell them you read about it in the paper. When I read about this I decided I would post this on DU, as I am so positive that I can find at least SOMEONE who cares! Please read the article:

http://www.madraspioneer.com/MAPNews0.html

By the way, the town's name is Madras, spelled like the one in India but pronounced more like mattress, with the emphasis on the first syllable.