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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN WEEKEND, OCTOBER 5, 2019 Staff photo by Kathy Aney The historic Helix City Hall is under renovation. Preserving the past Small group of Helix residents making progress on preserving city hall By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian HELIX — Blood is pumping once again in the heart of Helix, as a small group works diligently to preserve one of the last historic buildings in town — the Helix City Hall. “At one time, Helix was a bustling metropolis,” said former Helix mayor Jack Bascomb. “There were six saloons, three hotels, three churches. It was the center of the grain industry.” Bascomb is the president of the Helix Advancement Partnership Network, a non-profi t organization, which com- menced restoration efforts on the build- ing last month after 15 years of trial and error. In the heart of Helix, there was once an opera house. Trains whistled along the railroad tracks which rolled through Helix. There was a newspaper, a fl our mill and a general store. And little by little, it started to fade away as highways in Eastern Oregon improved and big box stores became more prominent. Today, the population is a little under 200, according to the last census. The Helix City Hall building got its start as a schoolhouse back in the 1900s. Sometime before 1955, Bascomb said, the school sold the building to the city for just $1. It eventually became home to the library, city hall and a single-room his- torical museum jam-packed with relics of centuries past. The building is a historical relic itself. Before any renovations began, the place had knob and tube electrical wiring and no air conditioning. In 2012, the basement fl ooded and the city discovered the whole building was being held up by basement level door frames. Bascomb said they nearly lost the building then. “We want to preserve the character of Helix,” Bascomb said. “And we need a meeting place for people to do things.” In the past, Helix City Hall was home for a local robotics team and for kids’ dance classes. Right now, library shelves are crammed into adjacent rooms as the fi rst leg of the renovation journey becomes fi nalized — new insulation, wiring, heating and cooling in the Helix Library. The room next door will soon become a community classroom. Students at Helix Schoo l, now the historic Helix Contributed photo City Hall, pose in a vin The Helix tage photo. Advancement Part- nership Network was founded in 2004, quickly learned, and started gaining more community you don’t do that.” nity Foundation totaling support in the mid-2000s, as residents They quickly learned that grant fund- $28,000 helped the group fi nally begin donated $7,000 to get the ball rolling ing doesn’t necessarily work that way. construction. The city put $110,000 into on renovations for the Helix City Hall “When we started applying for grants, restoration before the partnership started. building. we were mostly unsuccessful,” Bascomb But there’s still a long road ahead. The efforts were spearheaded by a said. “Since we couldn’t do big, we tried Wood estimates it’s going to take at least former principal at Athena-Weston Mid- really small.” $350,000 to complete the whole building, dle School, Mary Pilgreen and former They started with community dona- which still has its original single-paned mayor, Harry Scheuning, who is lovingly tions. They were shooting for $6,000 but windows. She said the project could get dubbed “Mr. Helix.” residents got $7,000 together. completed in two or three years. Pilgreen passed away unexpectedly Terry Case, who is the HAPN secre- “I don’t want to lose our momentum,” from heart failure in 2008. tary, said his family gathered $1,000. His Wood said. “Her death took the wind out of our grandmother taught at the building when On Halloween night, the group is sails,” Bascomb said. it was a schoolhouse in the early 20th planning on throwing an open house for The project was derailed again when century. the library. Scheuning passed away in 2014. Soon enough, small grants started “In the 2000s, people were excited “When we fi rst started, we wanted rolling in. But then a larger grant from the about this,” Bascomb said. “But now to do the whole building at once,” said Wildhorse Foundation, totaling $20,000 they’re ready for us to show them Cindy Wood, HAPN treasurer. “We and another from the Oregon Commu- something.” Contributed photo The historic Helix City Hall got its start as a school in the 1900s. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Jack Bascomb, former Helix mayor and president of the Helix Advancement Partnership Network, in- spects a new barn door inside the Helix City Hall, a historic building under renovation. Staff photo by Kathy Aney The historic Helix City Hall houses the community library which has been in existence since 1914. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Staff photo by Kathy Aney The historic Helix City Hall building features many wide doorways with thick wooden frames. Helix librarian Annette Kubishta and cabinet maker Dan Eve- land, of Walla Walla’s Cabinets Will Travel, talk about cabinets he will make for the Helix City Hall.