HERITAGE TOURISM CLASSIFICATION STUDY
(Partially Developed Heritage Tourism Site)

Area Description
Located in eastern Oregon, Baker City sits one mile south of Interstate 84. It was originally a gold mining community and a through point on the Oregon Trail. It has a population of 5,000 and many more visitors annually who are interested in visiting the convenience stops, the interpretive center and historic downtown.

Heritage Resources
The two main resources are the Victorian era building stock in the downtown area. This eight block area boasts restored bank buildings, stores and restaurants.

In 1994 , as a means to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Oregon Trail, the Bureau of Land Management constructed an interpretive center. The center at Flagstaff Hill, located north of the interstate and about four miles from the downtown area, is dedicated to interpreting the overland experience of the emigrants to Oregon.

How Visitors Interact with Resources
The main street experience is a typical American main street. It offers pedestrians with a very pleasant blend of visual stimulation and potential to eat and stroll. There is little in the way of extraordinary interaction mechanisms, but none are truly required to enjoy the resource base downtown.

The interpretive center offers a very different range of interaction mechanisms. Still most are visually oriented with interpretive panels and displays.

Visitor Experiences
Visitors to the Baker City resources have normal experiences facilitated for them. In general they are quite unremarkable, but they do not need to be to achieve key benefits.

Benefits
The benefits to the host community depend on the resource. Visitors to the interpretive center do not benefit the community in a direct way at all. Given its location it is too easy for visitors to come to the center and not spend any money in the area. The host agency to the interpretive center, the BLM, gets benefits from visitors to the center by virtue of interpretive information about the agency and its actions.

Benefits to the downtown area from visitation are more tangible. The revitalization of the downtown area has been accelerated by a reinvestment of the dollars spent by residents and visitors into the building stock.

Visitors to Baker City can benefit from visiting the major resources by having their experiences be positive memories, by purchasing books or locally made crafts or enjoy a variety of meals.

Lessons to be Learned
Baker City has become a revitalized and vibrant community. Certainly the visitation to the Interpretive Center has not benefited the community to the anticipated level. This is largely due to the location of the center as it relates to the downtown area. Nevertheless, the visitors to the downtown area have helped continue the momentum for revitalization. It could become a more fully developed heritage tourism community if the benefits from the visitation to the center at Flagstaff Hill could become more concrete to the community.

Contact
Executive Director
Baker County Convention and Visitors Bureau
490 Campbell Street
Baker City, OR 97814
Phone: 541-523-3356
Email: bakervc@oregontrail.net
Website: http://www.visitbaker.com