When the Jenkins Estate turned 100 last summer, the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District celebrated the historic site as a jewel of the district.
But the jewel comes with a price: The district has lost money on the Aloha estate for years and plans to hire a concessionaire to handle rentals and events there and perhaps at Fanno Farmhouse, saving the park district staff time and money.
The district could select a company as soon as this summer to manage the properties and pay a portion of its proceeds back to the district.
"It's kind of a conundrum," said Joe Blowers, president of the district's board of directors. The district has to figure out how to maintain the buildings without draining money that goes toward district priorities, he said.
The district's acquisitions of its three historic sites — the Jenkins Estate, the Fanno Farmhouse and the John Quincy Adams Young House — saved each from destruction, and the district has no plans to sell any of the sites.
Yet the district's focus on parks and recreation centers outweighs its commitment to regional history.
The district does not offer educational tours of its historic sites, nor do the sites include interpretive displays. Historic sites are hardly mentioned in the district's 60-page 2006 Comprehensive Plan.
And restoration of the John Quincy Adams Young House, which would be necessary to open the site to the public, will not begin unless volunteers can raise the full cost of the project.
With lower-than-expected rental revenues and a comprehensive plan rewrite under way, precedents could be set this year for the district's approach to its historic sites.
Jenkins Estate
Park District's Historic Sites
Location:
8405 S.W. Creekside Place, Beaverton
History:
The Fanno Farmhouse, the oldest structure in Beaverton, was built in 1859 by Augustus Fanno, a teacher and onion farmer. Abraham Lincoln signed the property's land claim, the first in Washington County. The farmhouse was donated to the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District in 1982 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Future:
The district may hire a concessionaire to handle rentals of the Fanno Farmhouse. The district also holds a history-themed summer camp at the house, which is likely to continue, said Bob Wayt, the district's spokesman.
Location:
8005 S.W. Grabhorn Road, Aloha
History:
Most of the buildings on the Jenkins Estate were built for Belle Ainsworth Jenkins, daughter of Portland shipping magnate J.C. Ainsworth, before and during World War I. The park district bought the estate for $525,000 in 1976. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and restored for $178,000 in 1989.
Future:
The district intends to hire a concessionaire to handle rentals of the estate. The district will continue to run Camp Rivendale, a day camp on the site that serves at-risk youth and children and adults with disabilities.
Location:
12050 N.W. Cornell Road, Cedar Mill
History:
John Quincy Adams Young (no relation to President John Quincy Adams) built the house around 1863 after traveling the Oregon Trail in the late 1840s. Young converted the house into a general store and post office for Cedar Mill, a community Young named after the sawmill he co-owned. The park district acquired the site in 2005, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Future:
The John Quincy Adams Young House needs restoration and is closed to the public until about $600,000 can be raised to move and restore the house.
The park district was losing money on the Jenkins Estate even before the recession hit in 2008, said Doug Menke, district general manager.
The district spent around $260,000 on the estate in the fiscal year that ended in 2012, down from $315,000 the year before, mostly due to cutting the estate's administrative staff to 1.5 full-time positions.
Those amounts do not include maintenance costs, which the district is likely to continue to provide.
But even with the spending cut, the estate's revenues fell short.
Last fiscal year, the district expected to earn $258,000 from the Jenkins Estate but received just $246,000. The year before, the district had budgeted for $386,000 and earned only $254,000.
While wedding rentals are steady, business rentals have fallen, Menke said.
Hiring a concessionaire would move rentals off the district's balance sheets and could make the site profitable for the district.
The turnover, which the district plans to do in October, could result in a layoff at the district, Menke said.
The fate of the estate's few events that are open to the public, including Chocolate Fantasy and the Mother's Day tea, would be up to negotiation with the concessionaire, he said.
Camp Rivendale, a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities and at-risk youth held on a portion of the property, would continue to be run by the district.
Renting out district facilities for private use is "very appropriate," Blowers said, but "it shouldn't be our primary or even our secondary purpose for existing," he said. "It should be way down on the ladder."
John Quincy Adams Young House
Across the district from the Jenkins Estate lies the John Quincy Adams Young House — small, nondescript and closed to the public.
The district acquired the Cedar Mill site in 2005 but has not committed money toward its restoration. That cost — estimated to be around $600,000 — would have to be raised by volunteers.
"We're tremendously grateful to the board for preserving the house," said Virginia Bruce, a member of the Friends of the John Quincy Adams Young House.
But within the district, "there's certainly no interest right now in spending the kind of money that needs to be spent," she said.
Maintaining the site until money can be raised is "absolutely not a burden" for the district, said Jim McElhinny, the district's director of park and recreation services.
The Friends of the John Quincy Adams Young House plan to revive their dormant fundraising efforts this spring, Bruce said.
The parks district has an affiliated fundraising organization, the Tualatin Hills Park Foundation, but it is primarily focused on increasing the district's programs and access for disabled people. "It doesn't really leave much room for the historic community," Bruce said.
Cedar Mill residents would support opening the house — once the community's post office and general store — for education and historical interpretation, she said.
"I have a vision of a parade of fourth-graders passing through the house" while learning state history, Bruce said.
'Our tertiary mission'
The district is in the tricky position of being the only local organization with the money and ability to buy and preserve historic sites.
With the hiring of a concessionaire to manage site rentals, the district's attention to its three historic sites — together, just 3 percent of the district's 2,200 acres of parks — is likely to decline.
"On its very basic level, if we don't preserve these places, who else is going to do it?" Blowers said. "It kind of falls to us. I don't think it's our primary mission or even our secondary mission, but maybe it's our tertiary mission."
Still, the district treats its historic sites mainly as parks and rental venues.
Gail DuBois, the only full-time administrator based at the Jenkins Estate, has her hands full renting the site for weddings and business meetings. If the estate offered historic tours for students, she said, "that's all we'd do all day long."
Each site's grounds are open to the public, allowing all three — especially the 68-acre Jenkins Estate — to serve as public parks in their neighborhoods.
"For the most part, it doesn't work at cross purposes to our missions," Blowers said. "If they're only functioning on a secondary level as a park, they're still really valuable."
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