PreservationWORKS is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to honoring, maintaining, and promoting irreplaceable historic resources in the Corvallis/Benton County area. We collaborate with citizens, organizations, institutions, and government to develop effective cooperative means for preserving this heritage. History
PreservationWORKS organized in 2004 as an all-volunteer educational org
anization, dedicated to preserving the past to enrich the future. Initial work focused on heritage tours, workshops and community-building events like preservation month. Early work also included research and testimony that helped shaped the Historic Preservation Provisions of Corvallis' Land Development Code to preserve Corvallis architectural legacy. PreservationWORKS provides testimony regarding specific projects and public policy, and actively supports preservation month programs. In 2012, PreservatonWORKS launched the Neighborhood Photo Survey in response to mounting losses of historic assets in near-campus neighborhoods prompted by burgeoning OSU student growth. PreservationWORKS enlisted the help of thirteen neighborhood associations and recruited more than 60 volunteers to survey 2400 properties within 934 acres surrounding OSU. This community-wide snapshot informed public decision-making and spoke to PreservationWORKS' ability to successfully coordinate a complicated and comprehensive project. The OR State Historic Preservation Office incorporated all the Photo Survey data in their online searchable database. This vast archive forms a cultural record of Corvallis that will be incredibly valuable to future community leaders and researchers.
