Restoring Conklin House - a point of historical pride

In August of 2024, when a developer was requesting code changes to allow variances from current code for a plot of land in north Sisters, the Three Sisters Historical Society (TSHS) wrote and submitted a plea to preserve and protect the remnants of Sisters' oldest homestead and what we now call the Conklin House. An excerpt from the 'brief history' which TSHS sent to the city with their plea:

Photo provided

The Conklin House site in Sisters.

"JJ Smith's 1886 homestead went from Pine St. (east) to Locust St. and Cascade to ways north of Barclay. Alex Smith, who bought the property in 1898, together with his brother Robert, platted the town of Sisters in 1901, from Elm St. to Larch, and Cascade to Adams Ave. In 1904 Robert Smith sold a lot in the southeast corner of the original homestead, at Locust and Cascade, to the Sisters School District #9 where a two-room schoolhouse was built for $1,800."

Additionally, in our Sisters 2005 Comprehensive Plan, "In 1888 the Camp Polk post office was moved to the village of Sisters and given the name of its adopted town. This post office was located on the homestead of John Smith, who had filed homestead rights in 1886 and received title in 1891."

The TSHS piece goes on to indicate that with the arrival of the 1911 Trunk railroad, John Dennis purchased the remains of the homestead and built the 1912 Hotel Sisters. Then Frank Shaw purchased the property to the east side of Locust St. and established the Sisters Fair from 1914 to 1917. The two-room school house on Dennis' property was moved and enlarged to be on the west side of Locust, and also housed the exhibits during the Sisters Fairs. Time passed. The Hitchcock family owned the sawmill, and Ethel Hitchcock in 1949 bought the property north of the old school house, and eventually her son, Maurice Hitchcock, developed the airport. The Hitchcock and Dennis heirs sold the properties to Harold Barclay in 1953. The Conklins purchased the property in 1970, and created the guest house.

According to the TSHS the City of Sisters' 2003 Survey of the buildings in town designated the Conklin House as an historic structure. According to Oregon Law as of 1997 all historic and cultural designations were initiated at the request of the property owners through the comprehensive plan text amendments. Additionally, in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan updated in 2021, in Goal 3 - Maintain the Unique Community Character, the fourth bullet states, "Preserve history, historical sites, and avoid demolition of older homes."

Given this long history from an 1886 homestead to 2025 - 139 years, the many prominent Sisters families who developed that property, and the excellent current site of the Conklin House - how is it that we are going to ignore its previous historical designation, ignore its import through influential families to build up our town and community, ignore our planning commitments, and allow it to simply disappear? Would it not be better as a City and collective community to buy the property from the current owners, restore the Conklin House to its former beauty with manmade pond and developed gardens, and establish it as an active historical museum and small park, gifted to the TSHS to maintain with continued funds sourced through applicable county and state programs? It would be a point of pride for our town, would it not?