Old Timer

Among the bungalows and craftsman houses of Gaiety Hill Historic Residential District, this house on the corner of Liberty and Mission streets was unique. It was the first house built in the Jones Addition of the late 1870s, the tract of houses developed after a bridge was built on Liberty Street to across Pringle Creek at the southern edge of Salem. Just a block to the east, Asahel Bush's mansion was built at about the same time. More than fifty years ago, Bush House was purchased by the city and is now a museum dedicated to him and his family. This modest house had been unoccupied in recent years. No records remain to honor the stories of the unknown families that lived in this modest residence for more than 125 years. The house itself was demolished this week.

Historic Preservation: Gone Missing

This 1920s bungalow at 440 Mission Street SE was demolished this week leaving a tangle of weathered lumber, shattered household debris and discarded foliage. Three of its neighbors along Liberty Street are also scheduled to be razed. Within the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic Residential District, their condition had deteriorated in the last several years because of no maintenance or occupancy. Finally, the Community Development Department of the City of Salem condemned all four for reasons of public safety. Historic houses like these, recognized on the US Department of Interior National Register of Historic Places, are community assets: they establish the character of our neighborhoods. All along the neighboring Liberty Street, there are many examples of residential historic preservation as either living or work space. Unfortunately, these were not valued in the same way.