Lehan Lectures: Watch Now!

In 2023, former Wilsonville Mayor and City Councilor Charlotte Lehan is hosting a four-event lecture series to share her institutional knowledge about some of the most significant events in Wilsonville's history. These lectures, presented at the Wilsonville Library, are free and open to the public. 

 Lecture 1: Jan. 3, 2023 (Watch)
A Brief History of Wilsonville's Origins
Lehan's "Wilsonville History 101 " begins more than 15,000 years ago with the Missoula Floods, and later focuses on how transportation -- on the Williamette River, via railroad, after Interstate 5 -- has shaped the City's evolution.

Lecture 2: Jan. 17, 2023 (Watch)
Villebois & the Controversial Siting of Coffee Creek Prison
After the closing of Dammasch State Hospital, City planners had a residential vision for the area that now includes Villebois. But the State of Oregon had earmarked the land to site the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Learn how the City come out on top.

Lecture 3: Feb. 7, 2023 (Watch)
Tapping an Unlikely Water Source: the Willamette River
In the mid-1990s, during Lehan's first of three terms as Wilsonville's mayor, a moratorium was placed on local development because the City had insufficient water supply to meet new demand. Learn more about how the City came to solve the problem by tapping the Willamette River, and why that decision was controversial. 

Lecture 4: Feb. 21, 2023 (Watch)
Trees, Trails & the Grahams Oaks Nature Park: a History of Preservation
Lehan's desire to preserve the land that is now Graham Oaks Nature Park is the singular cause that brought her into local politics, quite reluctantly.  She has been instrumental not only in that effort, but in other efforts to preserve and recognize some of the City's more significant trees.  Learn more about the work to protect and grow Wilsonville's green spaces.