Barn Exhibit Hall newly painted in 2019 by volunteers from THS members, a Boy Scout Troup and the community. Funded by a grant from the Community Enhancement Project through the City of Troutdale. 

Our Barn Exhibit Hall was the brainchild of John Nasmyth, a member of the Troutdale Historical Society, who suggested the society needed a place to display and store farm equipment and other artifacts being donated. His idea of funding was to bring a check every time he had a notion to do something. Members went to work designing and building the barn. Dick Jones, who discovered the society through a tour of historic homes, contributed many hours to the construction of the barn. He is considered the main builder. He died before the building was complete and the barn was prepared for opening by Robert Strebin.  Ten years after the start of construction, the building was ready for use.

In 1998 the first exhibit opened entitled “Smelt Run! A Fish Story,” telling the story of Troutdale's smelt runs and coinciding with the society's 30th anniversary. Included in the exhibit were a collection of pictures, text and artifacts of the Troutdale smelt runs that once drew thousands of visitors to the Sandy River. That exhibit was followed by another on Lewis and Clark and the story of the expedition in the Sandy River area. The 2007 Troutdale's centennial exhibit was entitled “What Went By,” a tribute to the 100 year birthday of Troutdale. 

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Currently, the Barn Exhibit Hall features King of Roads - Byway of the People, marking the 100 year birthday of the Historic Columbia River Highway in 2016, an event that will be a state-wide celebration. Our exhibit details the construction of the first highway built as a scenic road in the United States, and the first to have a line painted down the middle of the road. It celebrates the local residents who helped build the road in Multnomah County and tells the story of the road's decline and its ultimate preservation.