The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA—The Kirkman House Museum opens to the public beginning Saturday, March 19, after a two-year COVID-related closure. Springtime hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The museum is located at 214 North Colville Street in Walla Walla, Washington.

Kirkman House was built in 1880 by William and Isabelle Kirkman, where they and their four children lived for most of the remainder of the 19th century.

When built, the Kirkman’s home was one of the grandest residences in Walla Walla and reflected the tastes of the day and the wealth generated by the family’s ranching business. This Victorian Italianate house remains the second oldest brick building in Walla Walla and is still one of the grandest.

The Kirkman House is an authentic example of the economic boom of the 1880s. It was a period of extensive growth for Walla Walla in downtown business buildings and fine homes.

The house has a rich history over its 140-plus year life. In addition to being a home for the Kirkmans, it also served as a boys’ dormitory for Whitman College from 1920-1924. During this time, Walter Brattain, the 1956 Nobel Prize winner for the co-invention of the transistor, studied in the home.

Later, the house was operated as an apartment house for more than 50 years. The house was placed on the National Historic Register in December 1974 and has been a house museum open to the public since 1981.

Between March and June, Kirkman House will display dresses worn by Isabella Kirkman and her daughter Fanny Ann. Dating from the 1880s, these beautiful but fragile dresses are rarely displayed. Other exhibits include a unique memorabilia collection from Adam West, a Walla Walla native beloved for his role as television’s original Batman.

Admission is $10 per person for adults, $5 for children aged 7 to 17, and free to Kirkman House Museum members, children aged six and under, and US military veterans. For more information, please see kirkmanhousemuseum.org, call (509) 529-4373, or email khm@kirkmanhousemuseum.org.