The Deschutes Historical Museum will be open for free on Saturday, June 17 in celebration of Juneteenth and in conjunction with Juneteenth 2023 celebrations at Drake Park.
On display for the first time will be photographs new to the museum’s archives of the Clarence and Ophelia Phelps family, the first Black family to homestead in Deschutes County in 1917. With them were their daughter Rozelia, Clarence’s brother Ernest, and Ophelia’s mother Mary Gardner. The photographs were recently shared with the Deschutes Historical Museum by the Phelps’ granddaughter, Carlene Jackson, after years of correspondence with Ms. Jackson while museum staff researched the family’s history and identified the location of their homestead property in Tumalo.
“The Phelps story is remarkable as they homesteaded and were able to buy land in Central Oregon while the Black Exclusion Laws were still on the books,” relayed Executive Director Kelly Cannon-Miller. “Ophelia Phelps also made history in the early 1920s serving on the school board for Cloverdale School, during the same time period that the Ku Klux Klan attempted to gain a foothold in Bend.”
The Phelps’ acquired their land through the Tumalo Irrigation Project, which failed to produce enough water to sustain all those who bought into the project. By the 1920s, the family had moved into Bend. Clarence and Ophelia were also founding members of the Deschutes Pioneers Association.
Hours for the free day are 10 am to 4:30 pm. For more information about the Deschutes Historical Museum and this event contact us at info@deschuteshistory.org or call 541-389-1813.
