KNAPPTON, Wash. The Knappton Cove Heritage Center has received a $2,000 grant from the Kinsman Foundation for improvements to the front entry to the museum housed in the old quarantine hospital building, the lazaretto/pesthouse. Cement walkways and graduated steps from the front parking area now provide a much safer entry to the museum. Additional necessary funding for this project was supplemented by individual donations.

Through the years, the Kinsman Foundation has provided funding for several preservation projects on the old hospital building, including a new roof, repaired foundation and a heating system. They are to be commended for historic preservation support so necessary to save this significant building, the last remaining Pacific Northwest quarantine hospital.

The U.S. Quarantine Station at Knappton Cove operated from 1899-1938, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the Columbia Rivers version of Ellis Island in New York. Thousands of immigrants and crew members passed through a required health inspection at the mouth of the Columbia.

The Knappton Cove Heritage Center is an all volunteer nonprofit that maintains a museum on the site, with an emphasis on the U.S. Public Health Service and its mandate to protect the nation from ship-borne infectious disease.

The museum at Knappton Cove is open summer Saturday afternoons from 1-4 p.m., by appointment and for special events. For information, go to www.ColumbiaRiverQuarantineStation.org , email knapptoncove@gmail.com or call 503-738-5206.