NEWBERG — Champoeg State Heritage Area’s visitor center will close Oct. 6-10 for building improvements.

The center will reopen Oct. 11 with limited access to its information desk and gift store.

The center’s entire museum exhibit area, closed for renovations since Aug. 21, will remain closed to the public until mid-November.

New exhibits to replace ones originally displayed in 1977 and refurbished in 1983 will be installed beginning Oct. 13.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is using state lottery dollars allocated for facility repairs and improvements to upgrade the visitor center in time for Oregon’s sesquicentennial observance in 2009.

The museum area is the center’s focal point with exhibits tracing the history of the Champoeg site, including its location for meetings leading to the founding of Oregon’s pre-statehood provisional government in 1843.

Building improvements beginning Oct. 6 will include upgrades to the center’s heating and ventilation systems with energy-efficient fixtures.

Workers also will install new carpeting.

Updates on the reopening of the center’s museum area will appear on the state parks website: www.oregonstateparks.org (click on park and campground advisories).

Champoeg State Heritage Area is seven miles east of Newberg off Highway 99W, and 27 miles south of Portland off I-5.