A Short History of the Sidney Museum and Arts Association
In January 1971, twenty South Kitsap County women came together to form a non-profit organization called the Sidney Association. Their common interests and goals were to save historic buildings and records and to establish an exhibition and sales outlet for artists.
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n June 1971, the association purchased the log cabin located at 416 Sidney Ave. for restoration and use as a museum. It is still owned by the Sidney Museum and Arts Association (SMAA) and is open to the public for tours during the summer months. It features the Orchard family, a family of manniquins, in daily life and contains many artifacts from pioneer times to the present.
In 1972, SMAA purchased the 1908 Masonic Hall building located at 202 Sidney Avenue to be used as an educational art center. This building now houses a museum on the second floor that displays vignettes of the early days of South Kitsap County and includes a general store, school, doctor's office and hardware store. The first floor is an art gallery featuring local Northwest art for sale.
During this time, SMAA worked on getting the 1893 Sidney Hotel on the National Register of Historic Places. In the spring of 1973, a letter was received from Washington, D.C. stating that the Sidney Hotel was a National Historic Site. In 1975, SMAA purchased the Sidney Hotel and began a renovation project. In 1980, the hotel was sold by the association. It burned down in 1990.
In 2010, the Sidney Museum and Art Gallery building was added to the Washington Heritage Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. It currently is the only building in the City of Port Orchard to hold that designation.
The Sidney Museum and Arts Association is a non-profit 501C3 organization.