About - The Powerhouse Center

Our Mission

The Bull Run Powerhouse was decommissioned in 2008. By then, the dams that once controlled its water flow had been blasted to bits with dynamite and the Powerhouse found itself under threat of demolition as well. It could have been leveled to the ground if not for three intrepid preservationists – Rick Michaelson, Karen Karlsson, and Jeff Joslin – who stepped in to purchase the Bull Run Powerhouse and its affiliated properties in 2011.

In their quest to change the site’s permitted land uses to promote public engagement, the group navigated tangles of red tape as they successfully petitioned to have the site rezoned from timber logging to an historic overlay. Today, the Bull Run Historic Corridor is the only historic corridor in Oregon that’s comfortably positioned outside the bustling confines of town and city limits, in a serene space where Industry meets Nature.

The Powerhouse Center on the Bull Run was formed as a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to preserve these iconic buildings and their historic holdings so they may be shared with the public. One of our board members, Bill Welch, was a driving force in creating our Museum and Archives Gallery and scores of volunteers have helped document Powerhouse history. Our organization has worked with a variety of community organizations, schools and non-profits towards public education and engagement, while also hosting film productions for tv shows like Grim and The Librarians. We’re especially proud of our role hosting community gatherings large and small – with a particularly treasured event being the Powerhouse’s 100 Year Anniversary Celebration in 2012.

During our 100 Year Anniversary Celebration, over 600 attendees toured the site in a single day. Interview booths were set up to record oral histories from those who had worked at the Powerhouse and the stories they shared added vibrant threads to our rich interpretive tapestry. Since then, we’ve compiled a wealth of historic interpretations through scopes as varied as the history of electricity, transitioning technologies, architectural trends, environmental and social impacts, and more.

In 2020, the Powerhouse Center’s Board of Directors created an Executive Director position filled by Powerhouse caretaker and historian, Clair Guy. Since then, we’ve grown our capacity for hosting tours and engagements, restored the historic machine shop to be in working order, replaced and patched leaky roofs (with tons of thanks to the Kinsman Foundation), constructed a website (hard to believe the Powerhouse didn’t have internet until 2020, but it’s true!) and even got the bridge crane that spans the Turbine Room up and running again.

And we are not done. Moving forward, we remain steadfast in our mission to preserve the Bull Run Powerhouse, promoting the wealth of historic perspectives it generates while energizing community near and far.