Moving Salem History #3 and #4 of 12

photo above from the collection of Carole Smith

This historic 1934 photograph was taken from the lawn of the old Courthouse on High Street, looking north toward the former City Hall and Senator Hotel, now replaced by a parking lot and the bus center. The Grand Theater is across the street to the left. Now relocated are the World War I statue of the Doughboy (a traditional term for American infantrymen in earlier times) and the small house to the right.

The Doughboy soldier was erected in 1924, stored somewhere after the Courthouse was demolished in 1939. In 1991 the statue was placed in the Memorial Park of the Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs at 700 Summer Street.

The William Beckett house used for the Marion County Home Demonstration in 1934 was originally located on the corner of Liberty and Union Streets. Moved to the Courthouse lawn and completely renovated and refurnished, it was an example of Depression “how-to” remodeling for the average homeowner. It was sold to Larry Grote for $1,295 and moved to this Wilson Street lot behind his own home . It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Moving Salem History #2 of 12

The Josiah L. Parrish House was a 1860s two-story wood frame house built out in the country on what became 745 Capitol Street. In this 1978 Bob Koval photograph from the Salem Public Library Oregon Historic Photograph Collections, the tall and narrow sash windows, capped by a wooden cornice, suggest an Italian architecture style that was added later, circa 1910. For the expansion of the North Capitol Mall and the new Oregon Archives Building in 1990, the house was purchased from the state by the City of Salem and moved to its present location at A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village. The workers faced a challenge when the house became temporarily trapped under the Marion Street Bridge.

Moving Salem History #1 of 12

Trover Photograph, Courtesy Oregon State Library

In 1883 this historic house was built by the C. S. Rockenfeld on Court Street, across from the Capitol. In 1937 the state purchased the property (as seen here in 1930s photograph), then owned by Henry Bean, Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, and moved it to 755 Capitol Street to make room for state buildings you see along Court Street today. In 1991, during the further expansion of the Capitol Mall, it was purchased by the City of Salem and moved to its present location. In 1992 it was opened to the public as part of A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village.