Leaving Your Mark Brick by Brick!
WADA secured $200,000 from the Oregon Main Street Program in 2023, which was shared by the Long Branch Cafe & Saloon and the Old Post Office. The grant required matching funds of $60,000 to begin the work. A grant of $20,000 from the Wildhorse Foundation was received towards the matching funds for the Long Branch and $10,000 from the Wildhorse Foundation to match the Old Post Office funding. That is just the start of the restoration work.
There is never one grant that will cover everything. More grants are being sought with donations needed to help match those grant funds. Grants for restoration are highly competitive nationwide and limited within Oregon. WADA continues seeking grants and donations to complete both projects so that we can move forward to work on restoring more of the buildings downtown.
The reason that the Long Branch Cafe & Saloon and the Old Post Office were selected as our first projects was that they were “shovel ready.” They each had their engineer’s study and recommendations for restoration work. They had estimates for the work to be done — although the costs escalated due to inflation. Which is the reason we are looking at other ways to fund the projects. In order to assist owners in restoration/repair of their buildings, they must be considered “shovel ready” in order to be considered. WADA can assist with this. Please contact us for more information.
We estimate that there are 300,000 bricks that were used to construct the Long Branch by Isham Saling and Isham Reese back in 1874. There may be at least 200,000 bricks used to build the Old Post Office constructed in 1878. The bricks were manufactured by the local Weston Brick Co.
To complete the two projects that we are currently working on, we estimate that it will take approximately $200,000 for for the Long Branch Cafe & Saloon and $133,000 to stabilize the Old Post Office. Please refer to the brochures linked below for additional information about each project.
This adopt a brick campaign is a virtual campaign. Names will be listed on a plaque that will be displayed inside the Long Branch Cafe & Saloon and the Old Post Office. During the campaign, names will be published on this website. See link below.
The Adopt-A-Brick campaigns have their own brochure (see below) and their own online form to complete for donations to the restoration. All funds will be held and managed by the Weston Area Development Association (WADA). Funds exceeding the goal will be maintained for the respective building for future work that may need to be done.
Long Branch Cafe & Saloon Adopt-A-Brick Brochure (PDF Format)
Old Post Office Adopt-A-Brick Brochure (PDF Format)
Long Branch Cafe & Saloon Adopt-A-Brick payment online (Secure site)
Old Post Office Adopt-A-Brick payment online (Secure site)
Adopt-A-Brick Long Branch Cafe & Saloon Donors
Adopt-A-Brick Old Post Office Donors