The larger story
The Wallowa County Museum occupies the old First Bank of Joseph on Main Street, which the city gave to the museum in 1973 after moving its offices and the fire station out. The museum was dedicated in October 1976, opened in May 1977, and turns fifty in 2026. It opens from Memorial Day weekend into late September, Wednesday through Monday, for a small admission.
Its purpose, in the county’s words, is “to preserve and present items of interest from Wallowa County’s human past, representing both the Nez Percé who lived here for so long, the pioneers and settlers who arrived over a century ago, and their descendants.” Many of the objects came from John Harley Horner, an early county assessor who collected artifacts and stories as he rode the county and became its first historian. The old firehall next door was bought with the proceeds of the first county history book, and an expansion began in 2009.
The county names Jude Graham as curator and Lisa Collier as its supervising commissioner. The building has an older history of its own, on the First Bank of Joseph record. A 2025 state registration named First Bank Museum matches the county’s alias for the museum and is proposed, unconfirmed, as its registration. The county page speaks of donations to “our 501c3” while the Friends’ letter says the Friends hold that status; the two are left as their sources give them.
Also known as: First Bank Museum
Through time
1973
The city gave the former bank building to the museum, according to the county.
