Gwen Trice

Founder and Executive Director, Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center

Joseph, Oregon

8/23/21

     Gwen Trice’s father never told her about being one of the first Black people to live or work in the state of Oregon. During a time when the state’s constitution barred Black people from the entire state, he worked as a logger in Maxville, a small company town in Wallowa County, Oregon. After spending time away from Wallowa County, a hostile environment for Gwen growing up, she learned of her family history and decided to return to save space for people of color, both culturally and literally.

     Gwen is the founder and Executive Director of the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center, a local nonprofit located in Joseph, Oregon, that is dedicated to telling the story of her family and the other families that made up the town of Maxville. The museum showcases artifacts and stories from the residents, but Gwen did not stop there. She channels her seemingly boundless creativity into multiple storytelling ventures including a musical about Maxville performed around Oregon, and multiple documentaries interviewing residents of the town and their decedents.

    Gwen is currently working to rebuild the original administrative building from Maxville to use as an interpretive space to celebrate and share her family’s history while educating visitors about the history of this often-overlooked Black community. Gwen believes in telling these forgotten and erased stories because she wants to give everyone a story, including the people who didn’t know about their histories and those whose voices were lost when Maxville became a ghost town.

By Haley Post