TRANSFORMING OUR CAMPUS
From 2024 to 2026, CRMM will undertake multiple, coordinated projects that collectively create a richer, more expansive, interactive, and accessible experience for our visitors, both indoors and outdoors. We will construct a new, over 24,500 square foot exhibition and education hall filled with dynamic, interactive displays centered on hundreds of artifacts and boats currently in storage. Guests will see up close, and in some cases go aboard, historical objects never before seen by the public. Additionally, we will remodel 11,000 square feet of existing gallery space to upgrade existing exhibits and add two fascinating, new Indigenous exhibits. This once in a generation transformation will result in a world class cultural and educational experience in rural Clatsop County that will serve both residents and visitors from around the world.
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Phases I, II and III are complete with new exhibits open.
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ntsayka ili/i ukuk - This is Our Place
A collaboration with the Chinook Indian Nation to share Chinook maritime traditions and culture as lived today through the photography of Amiran White. |
Cedar and Sea:
The Maritime Culture of the Indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest Coast |
MARINERS HALL PROJECT DETAILS
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The Mariners Hall modernization and expansion initiatives will collectively create a richer,
more interactive, and accessible visitor experience.
more interactive, and accessible visitor experience.
A purpose-built classroom to better serve our highly impactful education programs, and a space filled with interactive exhibits designed to spark interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math).
Mariners Hall will connect to the legacy building via a covered walkway. Thoughtfully planned landscaping, way-finding and orienting will create an integrated campus environment utilizing outdoor spaces and interpretation to enhance the visitor experience.
Campus parking will be increase from 170 to 205 spaces.
Mariners Hall will connect to the legacy building via a covered walkway. Thoughtfully planned landscaping, way-finding and orienting will create an integrated campus environment utilizing outdoor spaces and interpretation to enhance the visitor experience.
Campus parking will be increase from 170 to 205 spaces.
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This project will transform CRMM from an important regional museum to a world class museum.
We will break ground in November 2024 and open in Fall 2026. CRMM owns the project site.
Our collaborative planning and design process teams the architect, exhibit designer, general contractor
and museum staff holistically to achieve the best possible value and impact.
Mariners Hall Fundraising as of 12/19/2024: $27.9 million – over 89% has been raised towards the $31.5 million goal.
CRMM is a fully accredited museum and registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. CRMM has operated debt-free since its founding in 1962.
Project Information: Executive Director Bruce Jones, [email protected] (503) 741-5914 (mobile),
or External Engagement Director Caroline Wuebben, [email protected] (503) 325-2323
We will break ground in November 2024 and open in Fall 2026. CRMM owns the project site.
Our collaborative planning and design process teams the architect, exhibit designer, general contractor
and museum staff holistically to achieve the best possible value and impact.
Mariners Hall Fundraising as of 12/19/2024: $27.9 million – over 89% has been raised towards the $31.5 million goal.
CRMM is a fully accredited museum and registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. CRMM has operated debt-free since its founding in 1962.
Project Information: Executive Director Bruce Jones, [email protected] (503) 741-5914 (mobile),
or External Engagement Director Caroline Wuebben, [email protected] (503) 325-2323
Join us on this journey as we transform our campus from parking lot and a few distant buildings into a collective of experiences that will change how people visit and explore the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
We are redefining the Museum experience.
It's about the human experience, the mariner, hence Mariners Hall, to show we are focused on the people that built these boats and other craft, operated them and maintained them, and how it impacted our community.
Bruce Jones, CRMM Executive Director
Bruce Jones, CRMM Executive Director
A HISTORY OF INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENT
Furthering a vision that traces to our founder, Rolf Klep, Mariners Hall continues a transformation that began with the 2002 expansion of the 1982-built main museum, the 2013 restoration of the historic Astoria train depot into the Barbey Maritime Center, and the creation of the Warnock Commons and Model Boat Pond in 2020, among other improvements. Columbia River Maritime Museum is proud to have been a leader in Astoria’s renaissance, and to provide a world class educational and cultural experience serving Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington and beyond.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We are proud to be able to continue to honor the City of Astoria’s Riverfront Vision Plan by preserving our lengthy expanses of open riverfront for viewing and walking for the public, as well as our guests, and we are improving these experiences with an extensive new landscaping plan. With Mariners Hall’s new, state of the art, dedicated classroom, we will be able to offer even more educational programs for our local and regional school districts. And our transformed campus will provide even more opportunities for hosting community events and gatherings.
CHINOOK INDIAN NATION COLLABORATION
In 2024, CRMM embarked on a collaboration with the Chinook Indian Nation to create a new, permanent exhibit in our existing exhibition hall, relating the living culture and stories of those who maintained a thriving maritime culture here for thousands of years before the arrival of the first people of European descent. We are also developing ideas for a Chinook presence in the new Mariners Hall building. We are excited for this opportunity to work with our Chinook neighbors on these vitally important exhibits.
OUTDOOR PLAZA & COLUMBIA RIVER OVERLOOK
A new plaza at the Mariners Hall entrance will provide a beautiful resting place and entrance to the new hall. A protected, landscaped area at the east end of Mariners Hall adjacent to the classroom will provide an area for rest and outdoor activity during suitable weather for the thousands of school children who visit CRMM annually on formal programs.
NEW EXHIBITS
New gallery space provides long awaited opportunities for never before told stories using some of the dozens of boats and thousands of artifacts held unseen in our collections storage warehouses. From the salmon tender Duke, built in 1902 at Astoria’s Wilson Brothers Shipyard, to the classic wooden yacht Merrimac, built in 1938 at Astoria Marine Construction Company, a variety of recreational craft, a WWII lifeboat built at Portland’s Gunderson Marine, a Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter, and a 60 foot long, George Pocock racing shell, Mariners Hall will be filled with fascinating objects and the stories of the mariners who sailed them.
INTERACTIVE STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) SPACE
Maritime displays offer endless opportunities to explain STEAM concepts and demonstrate real world applications. With a goal of engaging young and old alike in STEAM, 2,400 square feet of Mariners Hall are dedicated to interactive STEAM exhibits. These exhibits can both inspire young people to the many rewarding careers available in maritime industries, and fascinate all our guests with the beauty, complexity and functionality of shipboard systems and design.
