'We got really ripped off': Calls for accountability emerge following demise of Banks' historic Wilkes House

PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) -- Calls for accountability — and pushes for preservation — are surfacing after a 150-year-old home was crushed to the ground in Banks.

With tensions palpable just four days after the historic Wilkes House was razed, some councilors asserted during a Tuesday, July 9, meeting that there was little they could have done to prevent the demise, despite recent outcries from the Banks Historical Society.

Originally docketed as a conversation around efforts to preserve the home, city leaders instead held a moment of silence for the destroyed property, which was built by the area’s first permanent Euro-American settlers in the 1870s. On the other side of the dais, community members raised photos of the historic house throughout the meeting, paying tribute to the history that now sits as a pile of shattered timber.

Mayor Stephanie Jones shared a prepared statement regarding the house, saying that plans from community advocates were unclear and blaming the destruction, at least in part, on funding issues.

“The presentation at the June city council meeting was a mix of history, questions and accusations which we had no advanced knowledge of to be able to respond to,” Jones said. “The biggest takeaway was that the historical society was not going to move the house, and they wanted the full property preserved. This was a large contrast from the presentation in October of 2023, which had them moving the house and talking to the property owners.”

Read more at PortlandTribune.com.

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