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Thursday, October 22, 2020
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
COVER STORY — ‘WE CAME BY BOXCAR’
VIRTUAL CELEBRATION & ENTERTAINMENT
SUPPORTS Maxville’s heritage
JOSEPH — “We Came by
Boxcar,” a virtual gala, live per-
formance and fundraiser, will be
presented Oct. 24 by the Maxville
Heritage Interpretive Center in
Joseph, which seeks to gather,
catalog, preserve and interpret the
rich history of the multicultural
logging community of Maxville and
similar communities in the Pacifi c
Northwest.
The event will take the audi-
ence on “a journey through timber
culture and heritage” exploring “the
untold stories of one of Oregon’s
Black and multicultural logging
communities.” Interpretive perfor-
mances and entertainment will be
highlights of the online program.
In its heyday, between 1924 and
1933, Maxville, about 13 miles
north of the town of Wallowa,
was the largest town in Wallowa
County. Unlike most timber towns
in the Pacifi c Northwest, it was
home to Black loggers and white
loggers who worked side by side
felling timber.
Many of Maxville’s loggers and
their families came from the South
and the Midwest in search of work
in the early 1920s. The Bowman-
Hicks Lumber Company, which
owned the town, brought the Black
workers and their families to Max-
ville even though Oregon’s exclu-
sion laws prohibited “free Negroes”
from moving to the state to live and
work.
Both Black and white loggers
from the South, local loggers and
homesteaders logged Maxville.
Through historical records, the
Maxville Heritage Center has
identifi ed Maxville loggers of Black
American, Greek, Philippine,
Guamanian, Hawaiian, Japanese,
Chinese, Latinx and Native Ameri-
can descent, among others. The
lumber town was home to 50 or so
Black Americans and their families
and had the only segregated school
in Oregon at the time.
Despite Bowman-Hicks’ en-
forcement of Jim Crow-inspired
segregation mandates, Maxville’s
isolation from mainstream society
encouraged the formation of inter-
racial friendships. Black and white
townspeople socialized and often
shared resources.
Economic conditions, especially
the Great Depression and conse-
quent downturn in the lumber
market, led to Maxville’s decline.
In 1933 Bowman-Hicks closed its
operations, and Maxville eventu-
ally became a ghost town.
When Bowman-Hicks ended
its logging operation in 1933, the
schools desegregated and the
remaining Maxville students at-
tended school together.
Some 60 years later, the children
and grandchildren of the original
logging families began researching
the history of the town and uncov-
ering the stories of their ancestors.
This effort led to the founding in
2008 of the Maxville Heritage
Interpretive Center, 103 N. Main
St., Joseph.
As stated on the organization’s
website, the mission of the Maxville
Heritage Center is “to serve Oregon
and the greater Pacifi c Northwest
by preserving resources and pro-
viding information and education
about this little-known chapter of
the American experience.”
Visitors to the website can
virtually experience the center’s
collections, exhibits and program-
ming. Its archives include historical
photographs, oral histories and
audio interviews.
“We Came by Boxcar” begins at
7 p.m. Saturday. There is no fee to
join the “gala,” which can be viewed
on the center’s Facebook page or
via Zoom. To register for the link
and more information, visit the
Events section of the Maxville
Heritage Interpretive Center’s
Facebook page. Information also is
available at 541-426-3545 or info@
maxvilleheritage.org.
The program is hosted by Max-
ville Heritage Interpretive Center
and Beyond Toxics, a non-govern-
mental charity organization based
in Eugene that “strives for a clean
and just Oregon.”
Maxville Heritage Center’s
governing board members repre-
sent national, regional and local
volunteers dedicated to educating
the public about the signifi cant
history of Maxville and similar
communities.
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Maxville Heritage Center Timber Culture Exhibit / Contributed Photos
In 1926, buildings to be used as schools were hauled to Maxville. The school for Black students (above left, circa
1926) was located on the north side of town, and the school for white students (above right, circa 1926) was on the
south side of town. Maxville’s schools were the only segregated schools in Oregon at that time. Despite such ethnic
separation, there is evidence that friendships were formed among all of Maxville neighbors (far left, circa 1937).
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