Salem in 1930

World Events

• A worldwide economic Depression begins which will last for ten years.
• Constantinople's name is changed to Istanbul in the new nation of Turkey.
• Mahatma Gandhi, practicing "civil disobedience", starts a 200-mile protest march to the sea with 78 followers to protest British control of salt. In Allahabad, a speech introduces the possibility of a new nation, Pakistan for Indian Muslims.
• The Smoot-Hawley Tariff raised taxes on 20,000 products imported into the U.S., cutting trade and deepening the Depression.
• The planet Pluto is discovered.
• 3M markets Scotch Tape, Birdseye begins sale of frozen foods and Hostess Twinkies are in the grocery store. Toll House cookie invented.
• Blondie and Dagwood is a popular comic  in the newspaper. Academy Award goes to "Cimarron". The Pulitzer Prize goes to Years of Grace by Margaret Ann Barnes.

Along our downtown Willamette River shoreline before the creation of Riverfront Park

In Salem
In 1930 the misery of Salem citizens continues to increase from cinders and soot produced in wood-burning boilers in these downtown factories along the Willamette River. The council had passed Salem’s first anti-smoke ordinance in 1923, but enforcement lagged – cinder, ash, and soot continued to fall. In 1929 the Council, acting on the advice of its Smoke Committee, hired an engineer to test to air. His tests showed "the soot-fall" over downtown Salem to average 1,400 tons per square mile annually, only Pittsburgh, PA, ranked worse. Spaulding Lumber Company and Oregon Pulp (seen in the 1950s photograph above) were found to be violating Salem’s 1923 smoke ordinance. A series of photograph taken from a Goodyear blimp in 1947 shows how the problem persisted.
Cinders and soot were not the Salem Council’s only problem as the depression began. The city council began developing a municipal water service to replace the Oregon-Washington Water Services Corp., which was delivering not only water but also "vegetable growth" to the citizens. The Council ordered livestock – especially goats and chickens – ousted from the City unless neighbors agreed to the farm animals’ presence. (This information from SalemHistory.)

When you visit

The National Clean Air Act of 1963 finally cleared the air in Salem. Downtown shoppers only had to worry about drops of rain, not ashes. The industrial area along the river was transformed in the late 1990s into our Riverfront Park. At the northern edge of the park, the recently renovated Union Street Railroad Bridge and Trestle leads pedestrians across the river to West Salem and Wallace Marine Park. South of the bridge on Water Street, there is now the Gilbert House Children's Museum. Continuing south, the park features a statue of former Governor McCall, as a fisherman, a Picnic Pavilion, play fountain for children, a Carousel, a shallow amphitheater for celebrations and community gatherings and spacious open lawns. The park ends at the Eco Ball where Pringle Creek entrance into the river. New development of the former Boise Cascade property here will daylight the creek and provide additional walking trails. A bridge from the park across to the Willamette Slough to Minto Brown Park is anticipated. A self-guided walking tour of Riverfront Park is on SHINE.

Other Events

• The census shows Salem's population is 26,266.
• P. M. Gregory was elected mayor, heading a Mountain Water Party that captures the majority of City Council seats. They promised to develop a water source on the North Santiam River. Salem's water has such a bad reputation that visiting legislators insisted on spring water at the State House. (A Capitol Journal news item of the year before confirms this: "Secretary of state Hoss, because of the complaints about Salem's obnoxious drinking water, arranged to bring Bull Run water to Salem for legislators at a cost of $2 a day for transportation. Salem's water was held objectionable because of its taste, color, and odor.") However, negotiations dragged on through the following municipal administrations and it would be 1937 before clean water from Stayton Island was delivered to Salem residents.

Methodist Parsonage in original 1841 location

• This year the Methodist Parsonage is photographed in its original location near the Kay Woolen Mill water tower. In 1958 it will be moved to Mission Mill Museum property. The Jason Lee House is still located at 960 Broadway. In 1965 it will also be moved to Mission Mill property, now Willamette Heritage Center.
• Busick's Market on North Commercial Street at Marion had these specials: 100 pound sack of table carrots, 53 cents; 100 pounds of sacked onions, 65 cents; 100 pounds of potatoes, $1.15 and three pounds of blended coffee, 69 cents.

• The Capitol Journal reported that Gov. Julius Meier had selected an apartment on the fifth floor of the Royal Court as his Salem residence during his term of governor. Meanwhile, the remodeling of his office in the statehouse would partition off a space six feet wide for a cloakroom and lavatory at a cost of $1,500. The Royal Court (built in 1927) was also the temporary home of Gov. Hatfield and was host to President Nixon when he visited Salem. The handsome apartment house, still well maintained, is seen at the intersection of Chemeketa and Capitol Streets.

• The Johnson House is built on Lincoln Street. Otto and Modjesta Johnson, original owners of this Colonial Revival house, were the owners Women's Furnishings and Goods. Owners of the house in 1949 were Robert and Hulda Elfstrom. Mr. Elfstrom was mayor of the city of Salem from 1947 to 1950; he served in the Oregon State House of Representatives during the 1950s; in 1963 he was elected to the Oregon State Senate where he served until 1971. This Local Landmark in the SCAN neighborhood is now the residence of the President of Willamette University.

Salem in 1929

World Events

•  The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war, goes into effect, signed by most leading countries. It did not prevent WW II, but many of its provisions were included in the United Nations organization in 1945. Frank B. Kellogg is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this pact.
• The Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See sign the Lateran Treaty establishing Vatican City as an independent state within Rome.
• Herbert Hoover is sworn as 31st President as the stock market collapse wipes out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange (10 times greater than the annual budget of the federal government).
• The Grand Teton National Park is established by the U.S. Congress. It joins Yellowstone, Sequoia and Yosemite. The longest bridge in the world opens: San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge.
• In "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre" seven are murdered. "Speakeasies" flourish as not-so-secret, illegal bars.
• In New York, the Museum of Modern Art opens. Noel Coward and George Gershwin produce plays for Broadway. The Academy Award recognizes World War sacrifices with "All Quiet on the Western Front". The Pulitzer Prize: Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge.

In Salem 
The Roaring Twenties are about to end, but before the stock market crash this October two grand residences are built. 

The Jarman House : Gaiety Hill Neighborhood

One of these replaced an older residence, the 1907 Hughes house at corner of High and Oak Streets.
A new residence is built on the site of their home this year by Daniel Jarman, a retired J. C. Penney manager. He hired Los Angeles architect, G. C. MacAlister, to design a Spanish Colonial residence. The landscape plan of the gardens was designed and carried out by Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, Oregon's first women landscape architects. (For many years, they lived two blocks to the south at 545 Mission Street in a house Elizabeth built in 1932. The property had belonged to her father, a former governor.)
Louis and Margaret Lachmund purchased the house in 1938. A year before, their own house on Court Street had been acquired by the state for North Capitol Mall construction. (This house was first purchased by Willamette University and moved to the campus to serve as the president's residence, eventually it was moved to the 2400 block of State Street.) Louis Lachmund died in the 1940s, but Margaret lived remained on High Street until her death in 1972. A photograph taken probably in the 1960s shows how little it has changed in the more than 80 years since it was built.

The Lamport House : Nob Hill Neighborhood

• Another elaborate home built in this last year of the booming 1920s, was the Lamport House on Lower Ben Lomond Drive in the SCAN neighborhood. This expanded English Cottage style residence was designed by O. J. Fitch of Portland with Tudor revival details typical of the inventive residential architecture of the 1920s. The property included a garden, tennis court and swimming pool. Frederick and Eleanor Rogers Lamport were leaders in Salem’s political, social and cultural life between the World Wars. The house retains many of the original features although the property has diminished in size. It is in the SCAN neighborhood and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

When you visit
These are private residences in the SCAN neighborhood, easily seen from the streets where they are located. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other Events

Self Portrait of Kathrrine Gunnell

• Kathryn Gunnell photographed "Miss Salem" this year. A personal style was reflected in her photography, collected at the Marion County Historical Society (now Willamette Heritage Center). Her studio this year was Gunnell and Robb, located at 520 State Street. Subjects were exceptionally varied: they included graduating classes including those at Chemawa, Rose Parades in Portland, Elsinore Theater artists, black performers, Franchon and Marco traveling vaudeville troups (for which she was official photographer), baby pictures, sets of twins, "Miss Salem" of 1929, local buildings of note and occasional exhibits. As a student of that time remembered her, “Her style was striking. She had flaming red hair which she had done in high style. We kids thought she was wonderful.  She had this really smooth way of flattering everyone to get a smile.”

• Charles Sprague comes to Salem to be editor of the Oregon Statesman newspaper. Mr. Sprague became owner and publisher, establishing a reputation as one of the Nation's great editors. He served as Governor of Oregon from 1939 to 1943. He had become one of Salem's most respected citizens when he died in 1969. An English Tudor house was built for Charles and Blanche Sprague in 1920 to replace a house that was removed. The Sprague family lived here for 25 years. In 1956 it was sold to Chi Omega sorority of WU. It is now owned by the state and  use for a social services agency.

Salem in 1928

World Events

• Herbert Hoover sweeps into the White House with 444 electoral votes, defeating Al Smith ~ the first Catholic nominated to be president.
• Chiang Kai-shek is named Chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China.
• Famine claims 25 million lives in Soviet Union.
• Haile Selassie is crowned king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
• In England the women's voting age is lower from 3o to 21.
• The Kellogg–Briand Pact is signed in Paris, the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war.
• Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
• Mickey Mouse is introduced in Disney cartoon movies. Mae West is "Diamond Lil" on Broadway. The Academy Award goes to "Broadway Melody". 
• The Pulitzer Prize awarded to Scarlet Sister Mary, Julia Peterkin. The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to the three volume Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Unset. It remains a classic for its "powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages".

In Salem
An orphan before he was 10 years old, young Herbert Hoover was sent to Newburg in 1888 to live with his aunt and uncle. In the next year, his uncle, Dr. Henry Minthorn, opened a land-settlement office in Salem, and the family moved into a house at Hazel and Highland Avenue. (see below)

According to remembrances of Hoover Published in the Capital Journal, he was a quiet, serious teenager with few close friends and an intense appreciation for the outdoors. He was introduced to literature by local educator Jennie Gray who had the greatest influence on his life. With Gray’s help, Hoover left Salem in 1891 to attend Stanford University. In his successful career as a mining engineer, he made a considerable fortune before entering public service.
During his three years in Salem, Hoover became acquainted with another orphan his age, Charles McNary. Hoover's presidency is remembered for the beginning of the Depression era. His 1932 presidential campaign was unsuccessful, but it involved and influenced a ten-year-old Marion County boy named Mark Hatfield. Hoover's final visit to Salem was in August 1955 when, at age 80, he spent a night in Salem’s Senator Hotel. He died in 1964.

When you visit

Dr. Henry Minthorn was a leader in the Society of Friends (Quaker) community here in Salem. He was primarily responsible for the development of the Highland section of the city. The home where they lived still standing on Hazel Street, but too much changed to be recognized. (See above)
The Highland Friends Church that Hoover's family attended is at 580 Highland Avenue, however the handsome building has been sold to another religious institution.

Other Events

• The Hollywood Press, a weekly agricultural newspaper, is established. In 1932 it became the Capital Press.
• The Senator Hotel is built with 111 rooms, 3 tubs and 24 showers. It was in the 1915 Derby Building at northeast Court and High Streets, the location of bus parking at the former Transit Center at Courthouse Square. A photograph shows the hotel as it appeared in about 1957. The hotel was demolished in 1997.
• The Chemeketan Club is organized to promote use and preservation of our out-of-doors. A recent issue of their Chemeketan Bulletin contains pictures and accounts of 1930s hikes in the Salem area.William and Nora Anderson build their home on Court Street.
•  The Andersons owned a sporting goods business downtown and she was a prominent supporter of Salem's cultural life: the Anderson Rooms of the Salem Public Library are named in her honor. The house is now a contributing property in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District in the NEN neighborhood. In order to build their new home, the Andersons had to remove the Spayd cottage, already on the property, where they had lived since 1909.
• Grace McLauglin (or perhaps her parents, the Robertsons) whose home was across the street, offered to put the cottage in her back yard. It remains there, a significant historical property in that historic district. Mrs. Spayd and her husband had purchased the cottage in 1906 from August Wilhelm who bought the property in 1903 and presumably built the cottage.
• The Cole House is built on Capitol Street. Removed for the construction of the State Archives Building in the 1990s, it is now on Hood Street in the Grant neighborhood. It is a designated Local Landmark.

• A Tudor style house is designed by Clarence Smith for Hubert and Rose Stiff at 795 Winter Street. Mr. Stiff was general manager of the H. L. Stiff Furniture Company. The house was sold to Daniel and Edith Jarman in 1942 and Mrs. Jarman continued to live there after her husband's death until 1966. At that time the State of Oregon bought the property and it became the residence of Governor & Mrs. Tom McCall, then of Governor and Mrs. Victor Atiyeh. Bob Koval photographed at that location in 1978. It has recently been photographed in its new location on Winter Street. It was moved in the early 2000s for the construction of the State's North Capitol Mall Office Building. The former residence is now a state office is in this CAN-DO neighborhood. It is also a Local Landmark.

Franklin Home on Portland Road

• North of the city on Portland Road, Olie Franklin and his wife Maude, move into a new Colonial Revival home on 8 acres near their cleaning establishment. The new house is similar to their former home on High Street except a second story has been added.

Franklin Log Cabin

•  A few years later, a neighbor offers a log cabin on his property: it was moved to the Franklin back yard where it is today. A historical architect who examined it recently does not believe this is an authentic cabin of pioneer days, but a replica built in the 1920s to reflect nostalgia for early, pioneer years.

Salem in 1927

World Events

• As the controlling Chinese Nationalists murder members of the opposition Communist party in Nanchang, the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army is formed.
• Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with control of the Soviet Union.
• Iraq gains independence from Britain
• Charles Lindbergh makes a solo flight across the Atlantic in his single-engined Spirit of St. Louis. There is a huge ticker-tape parade in New York city to welcome his homecoming. The Holland Tunnel opens linking NYC with New Jersey.
• The Iron Lung is invented for the relief of polio sufferers.
• The popular Harlem Globetrotters take to the road for performances. Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs.
• Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (CBS) goes on air with 47 stations.
• The Academy Awards are established with "Wings" winning best picture. The Pulitzer Prize goes to Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder.

In Salem
This year Lee Eyerly establishes his flight school in Salem at what would become McNary Airfield. In 1921 he had been Salem’s pioneer commercial pilot. Using the latest training methods, he opened a ground school and taught mechanical work, rigging, meteorology, and navigation. Salem high school administrators caught the spirit and were offering flight-training classes to students. By 1928, Eyerly's planes were doing cross-country business as well as passenger hops over the State House, thought by many to be a prospective landing place. By this time, Salem had progressed so that any major plane overhaul or rebuild job was possible. The successful Salem airport campaign was presented in the form of a charter amendment calling for issuance of $50,000 in bonds for the purchase of land and the establishment of the landing field.

When you visit
Commuter air service in Salem was briefly served by SeaPort Airlines in 2011. Seaport took off from a terminal with a newly completed 4.000-square-foot expansion, a $1.5 million project paid for by grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and the State of Oregon. A great way to see the airfield is to visit the Flight Deck restaurant. The dining area has large windows overlooking the airfield.

For residents who are interested in commercial air service in Salem, the Salem Airport Advisory Commission meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at Fire Station #6. The public is welcome.

Other Events

• Thomas A. Livesley becomes mayor.
• The new YMCA Building, just completed, is much larger than the neighboring Court Street residences of the Boise and McNary families. To the east, toward the State House, the street was lined with handsome homes of other prominent "Old Guard" familes. None have survived.
• The last of the Ford Model-T automobiles are produced this year.

From left: Commercial Street from State Street looking north

• Marion County conducted a Health Demonstration Project between the 1926 and 1930. The parade of 1927 (above), led by the governor, proceeded down Commercial Street while automobiles and spectators lined the route.
• Salem Lutherans of German descent begin worshiping in old 1894 Presbyterian Church on Church Street. They buy the church and rename it as the Lutheran-American Church to indicate the services will be English. According to church records: "Mr. (Max) Gehlar, the Sunday School superintendent was a leader and through his efforts the Sunday School became one of the most active and well attended in the city."
• Notice is received from Redlands, California that Libbie Patton has died at the age of 85. She was the second wife of two noted Salem pioneers: she married Joseph Holman (1815-80) in 1875 and Thomas McFadden Patton (1829-92) in 1889. In both cases, she was the second wife.
• Ercel Kay establishes the Salem Golf Club with the first nine holes completed on the former John Hughes Land Grant. The fee for playing was 25 cents.
• Outdoor activity may have been handicapped by the weather in July, as reported by the Capitol Journal, Ben Maxwell recalled. During that month, the government thermometer on the 23rd registered 108 degrees, an all-time high. The climax came that evening when an electrical storm rattled windows and frightened children.
• In this year of booming economy, Salem families are building new houses. In a developing residential section of Salem, Sam and Lottie Adolph build a Mediterranean styled home on South Commercial Street. Photographed in 1978 by Bob Koval, and again recently, the house retains its original appearance. It is a Local Landmark in the SCAN neighborhood.
• Two blocks south of the Adolph House, is the Colonial Revival home built by Leland and Mildred Geer. The house was sold to Rollin and Alice Page in the next year. Mrs. Page continued to live here after her husband's death in the late 1940s and the house stayed in family ownership into the 1950s. This is also a Local Landmark and is in the SCAN neighborhood.
• A third Local Landmark in this neighborhood is the Mediterranean Meier House on Rural Street, then at the city limits. Fred Meier purchased it in this year and lived there off and on for the next twenty years, renting it out periodically. In 1946 the house was sold to Harold and Eva Jory who lived there until 1953.
• The Rosecrans House is built on Chemeketa Street by D. A. and Etta Hodge for their daughter Margaret Rosecrans, a widow, and clerk for the State Highway Commission. Mrs. Rosecrans resided here until 1942 at which time it was sold to John and Lela Jerman. Later owners were Linn C. Smith and Lulu Marie (Jerman) Smith. There is also a 1978 photograph. This house is a Local Landmark in the NEN neighborhood.
• A famous pooch, resident of Silverton, died this year. Bobbie, the Scotch collie that was lost from his owner and made his way from Indiana back to his former home in Silverton, is honored in that city where he is buried in a child's casket.

Salem in 1926

World Events

• Crown Prince Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy ascends to the throne of Vietnam. He will be their last monarch of that country.
• Spain's General Francisco Franco participates in a failed coup against the republic, beginning the Spanish Civil War that precedes World War II.
• The United States Congress passed the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes. Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuel rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts. A weather map was televised for the first time, sent from NAA Arlington to the Weather Bureau office in Washington, D.C.
• Prohibition and prostitution are major sources of revenue for criminals breaking the law, Al Capone as a "racketeer" is at the height of his career.  The National Bar Association is incorporated this year.
• Gertrude Ederle is the first woman to swim the English Channel from France to England.
• Vitaphone premieres with the movie "Don Juan", starring John Barrymore. But the death of film actor and sex symbol, 31 year-old Rudolph Valentino, causes world-wide grief.
• A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh is published in London. American books: Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield and The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway.

In Salem
Thomas A. Livesley, an internationally prominent hop grower, created two of Salem's most admired structures. One is our only skyscraper, the 11 story First National Bank Building built this year on State Street downtown, The Capitol Tower, often called the “Livesley Building", the other is the former Livesley family home, "Mahonia Hall", built in 1924 on Lincoln Street in Fairmount Hills, It was once considered "out in the country" as a 1958 photograph shows. In the next year, Thomas Livesley will become Salem's "Good Roads Mayor". His priorities included bridge, street, alley and sidewalk improvements. Other major projects included expanding fire protection, new playgrounds, the Salem Airport, streetlights and traffic signals. His repeated efforts to establish a city council-manager form of government would be successful in 1947, the year of his death.

When you visit
The Livesley Building has had several owners, the present being Roger Yost. Its ground floor interior reflects the dignified banking atmosphere of the years when it was built and professional offices are still maintained in the floors above. The elaborate exterior decorations of the upper levels, representing stylized historical and mythical characters, are only partly visible from the street below. The Livesley home, Mahonia Hall, is now the governor's mansion, secured by a fence and guarded by state police. It is open to the public by invitation for special events and there are occasional tours guided by members of AAUW. Both buildings continue to reflect the life of Thomas Livesley and are his gifts to Salem's architectural heritage. They are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other Events

• Among the other new downtown constructions in this prosperous year: the New Salem Hotel/Hughes Building at the corner of Ferry and High Streets; the Elsinore Theatre with its beautiful lobby recalling a Shakespeare Castle courtyard at night; and the Bligh Building, now called the Pacific Building, which replaced the 1864 Cook's Hotel.

•  Located on the southeast corner of High and State Streets, the Capitol Theater of the Bligh Building was constructed adjoining, to the east. Its distinctive dome feature over the entrance was even more attractive when it was lit at night. This building was demolished in 2000 and now is marked only by the outline of the rear wall as you pass the site, now a parking lot, on State Street.
• Among the residences built near downtown this year: the David Eyre home on Summer Street, moved in 1939 for the construction of the North Capitol Mall, and now in the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District at High and Mission Streets; the Baumgartner home on Winter Street, now on Summer Street after two previous moves; the Collins-Busick House on Court Street; and the Steeves House, a block to the east. The Court Street residences are in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District of the NEN neighborhood.
• The Shipley House on Washington Street, built this year, is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gardens of the Shipley house were designed by well-known nurseryman Ernie Lufer. When the Depression forced the closing of the Shipley business, this English Cottage style residence was sold to Cora Kay, the widow of Thomas Kay, the mill owner. (Her home had been demolished for the construction of the Oregon State Library.) She lived here until her death in 1944. The landscaped grounds with the original underground watering system and rock gardens were restored in 1984 by Mrs. Kay’s grandson, W. K. Huntington for the present owners.
• Across the Willamette River in West Salem, the First Methodist Church, after many years in construction, is finally completed. 
• On Ferry Street at 19th, a beloved Congregational minister and civic leader is honored with the construction of Knight Memorial Church. Plutarch Knight's obituary of 1914 (excerpted here) lists an amazing number of accomplishments. He came to Salem in December of 1857 and attended Willamette University from 1857 to 1860.  He was reporter and editor of the Statesman from 1862 to 1864, was also state librarian and city recorder, read law, and was admitted to the bar in this same period of years. He was ordained a Congregational minister at Oregon City in 1866, and was pastor of the Congregational church of Salem from 1867 to 1883, sixteen years. He was superintendent of schools for Marion County from 1870 to 1872 and in charge of the Oregon school for deaf mutes from 1871 to 1892. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon him by Willamette university in 1890. He platted Knight's addition to Salem in 1888; bought Capital Park addition in 1889; Central addition and part of Capital Home addition in 1890; Simpson addition in 1891. Mr. Knight was the moving spirit and the largest original stockholder in the Capital City electric railway, started in 1890. As a minister, a writer, a public speaker, a public spirited and useful citizen, as a businessman, Mr. Knight has kept the esteem, respect and confidence of the people among whom he has led such a busy, active and useful life.

Salem in 1925

World Events

• Kristiania, the capitol of Norway, reverts to its original name of Oslo. After a fire destroyed the city in 1624, it had been rebuilt and named for King Christian IV.
• London's first enclosed double-decker buses are in service.
• Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master, begins a silence that lasts for 44 years, until his death. He communicated with an alphabet board or hand signals, interpreted by his disciple.
• A dog-sled serum run to Nome (The Great Race of Mercy) brings diphtheria antitoxin across the Alaska  territory to combat an epidemic.
• The Butler Act in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution in public schools. Biology high school teacher, John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory. "The Monkey Trial" of Dayton was the most celebrated of the time, attracting the famous lawyers Clarance Darrow and William Jennings Bryan (who died 5 days after the trial.) Scopes is found guilty and fined $100.
• A Thompson sub-machine gun can be purchased for $175 from the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog.
• An exhibition in Paris introduces the Art Deco style of architecture, design and decoration. New books: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald and An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser.

In Salem
Cornelia Marvin celebrates her 20th anniversary as Oregon State Librarian. Through her career she had traveled by team and wagon to speak to farm groups, teachers and clubs, encouraging support for the development of free public libraries. The Legislature had appropriated funds for the purchase of trunks, each including 50 books, to begin traveling library service. Three years later, Cornelia Marvin married Governor Walter M. Pierce. She came under heavy criticism, as women were not expected to have careers of their own, much less be influencing state legislation. Numerous newspaper articles of that time debate about whether Mrs. Pierce was stepping out of her place by continuing to work in state government. She retired the next year. It is appropriate to remember Cornelia Marvin Pierce's determination to make libraries "the hub of the wheel of knowledge" for everyone.

When you visit
Cornelia Pierce lived to see the creation of the Oregon State Library building in 1939. It was the first of the state buildings to be erected on the North Capitol Mall and occupies a prominent position just across Court Street from the Capitol itself. Governor and Mrs. Pierce lived only a few blocks away, adjacent to the Methodist Church. He declined a second term as governor, but was elected to the US House of Representatives, serving from 1932 to 1943. They retired to a Rt. 4. home in the Eola community. He died in 1954 and Cornelia three years later. There is a photograph of the exterior her home and one of her living room, both taken in 1957.

Other Events

• Salem Cherry Growers Association is established.
• During the first part of the 20th century, Salem's canning industry grew from one plant to over ten and canned cherries were an important part of this Salem produce. With improved refrigeration, rail shipments of fresh cherries increased. One of the largest shippers was Salem Cherries Growers Association formed this year. Their fresh packing operation was set up the Max Gehlhar dryer in West Salem.
• Curly's Diary was originally built in 1925, in the old part of Salem on Hood Street. There, Mr. Hans (Curly) Hofstetter converted an old garage into a milk processing plant. The business successfully served the community and became a well-known institution. Unfortunately, economic conditions in 2006 forced it to close.

The "Little Gem" on Water Street near Riverfront Park

• The Little Gem Grocery Store was probably started this year. Originally located at 17th and Chemeketa Street on the corner of a 1906 residential property, it served as a small neighborhood grocery for many years and finally became an artist's studio. In 1998, when the property owner wished to extend his front porch, the neighbors were allowed to move it temporarily to another property where it was repainted and restored so it could be moved to its present location. It is now owned by the city and is a part of the Gilbert House Children's Museum.
• Dr. Carl and Cleo Cashatt built a bungalow on High Street across from Bush's Pasture. They lived there until 1942. Subsequent owners have preserved its exterior integrity and the original interior features. It can be seen in the SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour.
• A residence was built this year by Margorie Kay Huntington and her husband, Hollis. The house was originally just to the north of her parents' property on Court Street. Through the expanion of state property for the North Capitol Mall, the house has been moved several times. It is now a part of the Heritage Park on D Street.

• Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon (edited by Scott McArthur, 2006) recalled two Capitol Journal articles this year about the value of a public school education for young boys. One asked if a parent had the right of educate his own child, or is the child in Oregon a ward of the state? The question was raised by by T. S. Watts, farmer in the Salem Heights district who did not send his ten-year-old son to public schools. His contention was that the boy was receiving as good instruction, or even better, than in the public school. The boy read Emerson with understanding, wrote a good essay and was well mannered. In the second, Kenneth Cole, aged 6 1/2, never went to school a day in his life but knew the alphabet and figures. He set all the headlines for the Falls City Enterprise without help. Only one correction was required.
• On Fairmount Hill, Clarence Smith, a noted architect, designed an English cottage for Burt Ford and his wife Margaret at 490  Leffelle Street in the SCAN neighborhood. Mr. Ford was a partner in the law firm of Ross and Ford. Mrs. Ford continued to live here well into the 1940s. The house is now designated a Local Landmark.
• Local businessmen started Salem's first Golf Club venture this year by donating $250 each to purchase the John Hughes Land Grant to develop a first class golf course. One man, Ercel Kay, the grandson of the founder of Thomas Kay Woolen Mills of Salem, brought it all together. When the golf course first opened to the public, the green fees were 25 cents for the nine holes and 40 cents for the full 18 holes. In 1965, son of Ercel, and great-grandson of the Mission Mill owner, Thomas Kay, bought the course from his father.

Salem in 1924

World Events

• Fascist Benito Mussolini, using secret police to crush unions and enforce extreme nationalism, is elected Prime Minister and then Il Duce (the leader) in Italy.
• At the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin purges his rivals to become ruler in the USSR.
• Congress passes the Immigration Act, excluding Asians. The Indian Citizenship Act grants U.S. citizenship to Native Americans born within territorial limits. With the close of the Apache Wars, all conflict with Native Americans ends after 302 years.
• The British Empire Exhibition opens in London with representations from its 58 nations. The International Olympic Committee is formed with the first modern games in Paris. (see movie "Chariots of Fire")
• J. Edger Hoover is named head of the U.S. FBI. Nellie Ross of Wyoming is named first woman governor.
• A tabulating company is renamed International Business Machines (IBM). A media company, MGM is founded in Los Angeles. Mercedes-Benz is organized in Stuttgart, Germany. Caesar Salad is invented in Tijuana, Mexico.
• Comedian Will Rogers is at the height of his career. The Pulitzer Prize goes to Edna Ferber for So Big.

In Salem
In Salem’s Crystal Garden Ballroom residents danced on Wednesday and Saturday nights to some of the best-known bands in the nation. Modern dancing was on the main floor and old time polkas, schottisches and two-steps upstairs. The building was constructed for Otto Klett who died in 1947. The next owner extensively remodeled the building for meetings, banquets and conventions in addition to the dancing. Ballroom dancing declined in popularity and the last “old time dance” was held in 1964. A 1961 photograph of the Crystal Garden Ballroom shows how little the exterior of the building has changed from its original appearance.

When you visit
According to an article written by Wilma Bonsanti for the Oregon Statesman in December of 1971, the crystal chandelier was stored in the home of Mr. Gwynn, a former owner. Of Czechoslovakian prisms, it was the twin to one hanging in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. The building retains its original appearance and has housed several businesses and a successful restaurant. Until recently, the lobby contained a framed newspaper clipping recalling this building's important place in a past Salem social life that included the whole family.

Other events

• The Willamette freezes, wrecking sternwheeler vessels. The freighter Relief, operating between Portland and Salem, was crushed by an ice jam at the Salem waterfront moorage, then listed further to its side and sank.

The Doughboy Memorial at Oregon Veterans Building

• To commemorate the service and sacrifice of Marion County members of the American Expeditionary Force in France during the recently past World War, a statue of the "Doughboy" is erected on the Courthouse lawn. The Courthouse was demolished in 1954, but the statue remained in place until 1991. When the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs building was constructed, it was moved to that military memorial park where it stands in a beautiful landscape near Mill Creek.
• The Circuit Rider, a memorial statue created by A. Phimister, was placed on the Capitol grounds. Robert Booth of Eugene, whose father was a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, donated it to the State of Oregon.
• Busick and Sons Grocery is established in the Bush-Brey Building on Commercial Street and will be a feature of Salem household shopping until 1970.
• Parrish Middle School is built facing Capital at D Street on land that was originally a part of the Josiah Parrish Donation Land Claim. The Chamber of Commerce had fully supported the school bond of $225,000 to build this first Salem junior high school and Dr. H. H. Olinger, head of the school board, urged the construction. The school opened September 29 with HF Durham as Principal. In 1948 the first remodeling took place when an auditorium, gymnasium, and three new classrooms were added. In 1974 Parrish had its Golden Anniversary; 200 former students and teachers attended. In 1994 students and staff moved out for one year while Parrish was updated. In 1999, during the 75th celebration, a time capsule was buried.

Nelson Home

• On E Street, an English Cottage is designed by Jamison Parker for Carl Nelson, a securities broker who went into wool and hops businesses after the crash of 1929. After the death of Mrs. Nelson in 1944, the house was sold. In the 1990s it became the Cottonwood Cottage Bread and Breakfast business establishment. It is a National Register property (1997) in the Grant Neighborhood.
• In the Fairmount Hills south of Salem, three prominent families have lived in a Spanish Colonial Revival home built for Curtis Cross at the top of fashionable Fairmount Hill. The second owner was Asel C. Eoff, the owner of Eoff Electric Company. The third owner was Dr. Ralph Purvine. Dr. Purvine was significant in both the medical and education fields in Salem, having been a physician at Willamette University and a founder of the Salem Clinic. Dr. Purvine’s daughter lived there for many years. It became a National Register property in 1982.

Mahonia Hall

• A neighbor of the Cross House is the former Thomas Livesley family home on Lincoln Street, a Tudor-style mansion designed by Ellis Lawrence and occupied by the Livesley family for 34 years. It was sold in 1958 and had four more owners before being purchased by the State of Oregon as the official governor's mansion. It is now known as "Mahonia Hall" after the state flower, the "Oregon grape".

From the Capitol Journal:

• Some substance, which many car owners believed to be little flakes of sulfur cast off from the paper mill, was wreaking havoc with the finish of automobiles parked along Salem streets. The small flakes ate their way through and right down to bare metal surface.
• Rev. H. D. Chambers, rector of St. Paul's Church, in a sermon condemned the movement among local churches to bring Billy Sunday to Salem. Said Rev. Chambers, " When the pulpit has to degenerate into a place of sensationalism and emotionalism in order to compete with worldly agencies, it is time to admit failure."

Salem in 1923

World Events

• During a western states Voyage of Understanding (during which he placed a memorial on a Oregon Trail site), President Harding dies suddenly in San Francisco. Vice President Calvin Coolidge succeeds to the office.
• Pancho Villa, after years of battles for control of the Mexican government and military, re-emerges on the political scene, but is assassinated in Chihuahua.
• Hyperinflation in Germany rises to such a height that their paper money is almost useless. The Weimar Republic collapses.
• Vladimir Lenin rules the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP). Aeroflot, the earliest airline, is incorporated in Russia this year. 
• Americans continued to enjoy "Jazz Age" economic prosperity. Yankee Stadium opens in the Bronx.
• The Hollywood sign is erected above the city. Warner Brothers Pictures is incorporated. Roy and Walt Disney found the Walt Disney Company.
• George Gershwin composes "Rhapsody in Blue". The Pulitzer Prize for a novel goes to The Able McLaughtons by Margaret Wilson. Sinclair Lewis' Babbit, published the year before, is activating social comment about the emergence of a "consumer society" in America.

In Salem
The building boom continues. The downtown block between Liberty and High on Court Street takes on the present-day appearance as one of the more enduring downtown landmarks, The Bligh Building, is completed. T. G. Bligh, already a successful hotel and theater owner in Salem, bought the northwest corner lot at Court and High Streets the year before. At that time there was a one-story, wood-framed dwelling and office building owned by the Salem Elks fraternal organization. In the same year he died in an automobile accident. Franklin D. Bligh took over the family hotel and theater business and completed the one story, Mission Revival Bligh Building on an important corner of downtown. Anna Bligh owned the building until 1927. In 1926, Olson's Florist opened.

When you visit
In the 2007 photograph above, the Bligh Building (with green awning) is on the corner. Two 1909 commercial establishments are adjacent: next door is the D'Arcy Building (see Peter D'Arcy profile and his 1888 home) and to the left of that is the Meyers Building.
Frosty Olson, who created the floral business that still operates in the Bligh Building, lived at 4285 Claxter Court in North Salem. His extensive greenhouses were destroyed by the 1962 windstorm and he retired that year. His beautiful English cottage remains, but is in danger of loss due to the changing commercial needs of its Northgate neighborhood.

Other events

• I. B. Giesy becomes mayor.
• Blue Lake Beans are first planted in our area, soon becoming the best selling among all beans canned.
• Christians of Japanese heritage begin worship services at the home of Suyekichi Watanabe. By 1936 this congregation has established the Brethern Hazelgreen Church.
• Linus Pauling marries Ava Helen Miller in the home of her cousin, Nettie Spaulding on Court Street. He will win two unshared Nobel prizes: in 1954 in chemistry for molecular bonding; in 1962 the Peace Prize for work in international control of nuclear weapons and against nuclear testing in the atmosphere.
• Dr. Harvey Clements builds a Georgian Colonial house on 14th Street, the site of where Salem pioneer, Joseph Holman, had built his first, 1840s log cabin house and constructed the first bridge across Mill Creek. It can be seen in the SHINE Court-Chemeketa Walking Tour.
• The Methodist Old People's Home, built at a cost of $65,000 at Center and 16th Streets, was dedicated June 15.
• Ralph and Beryl Cooley build a home at 888 Summer Street. Ralph Cooley was employed by the Bishop's Clothing Store in Salem for over 50 years; in 1960 when he served as manager of the store, he was honored for half a century of employment. The Cooleys sold the house to the State of Oregon in 1967 as the North Capitol Mall expanded to D Street. The house was moved to a new location on Chemeketa Street and is well preserved as offices by the new owners. It is now a Local Landmark in the NEN neighborhood. (This link shows the house in both locations.)
• As his train passed through Oregon in July, President Harding suffered an attack on ptomaine poisoning and remained in bed with no public appearances. (After a partial recovery, the president has a relapse and died August 2.)
• The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in Egypt began an architectural fad that is evidenced in the Rufus and Letha Harris home on Stewart Street. The Mediterranean style residence is stucco decorated with cast iron acanthus leaves. Mr. Harris was a printer, coming to Salem in 1900. He worked for the "Statesman" and was at one time in charge of the State Printing Department. He served with the YMCA in France during World War I and returned to Salem in 1920, eventually returning to printing. Owners of the property after 1933 were George and Catherine Shand, Floyd and Evelyn Scott, and Rose Whitlock. This is now a Local Landmark in the CAN-DO neighborhood.
• Dr. Chester Downs build a French Provincial residence on High Street on Fairmount Hill. Dr. Down's medical career was in general practice and orthopedic surgery. After the death of his first wife, Marian in 1944, Dr. Downs married Esther Parounagian Barnes (widow of newspaperman Ralph Barnes), and they lived in the house until 1964. It is now a Local Landmark in the SCAN neighborhood.

From the Capitol Journal:

• A sad Prohibition editorial column this year lamented: "In the good old days it was wine, women and song. The wine is now gone, everyone can't sing and the women are in politics."
• More bad news: Senator Eddy of Roseburg bitterly denounced the course of high school study in Oregon before the Salem Chamber of Commerce. "Our high school graduates cannot read, or write or spell," Senator Eddy complained. "Nor can they speak the English language. I should know as I have sent four of my children through high school."
• However: Oregon's Supreme Court ruled that the ability of a teacher in the public schools of Oregon is not to be judged on a basis of that teacher's ability as a football coach.
• Another blast at the educational system: A banner headline said: "Southern Pacific Wins." Use of railroad passes by heads of educational institutions in Oregon would be taboo hereafter, the story said. Senator Strayer pointed out that legalizing such passes would throw open the door to "thousands of educators cavorting around over the state spreading their propaganda."
• Halloween pranksters raised Councilman W. F. Buckner's fence at 1370 Court Street, greased the streetcar tracks at Commercial and Wilson streets and turned over woodpiles in the neighborhood of Mrs. F. G. DeVoe's home at 1526 Chemeketa Street.

Salem in 1922

World Events

• Mahatma Gandhi is sent to prison in India for civil disobedience. His campaign for ahimsa (nonviolence) inspired movements for civil justice throughout the world.
• Egypt gains self-government from Britain, Fuad I becomes king. Later in the year, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon are the first to enter King Tutankhamen's tomb in 3000 years.
• The Ottoman Empire is abolished after 600 years. The Turkish War of Independence was won under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, later given the name Ataturk.
• Inflation is so high in Germany that it takes 7000 marks to exchange for a single U. S. dollar.
• In the Tea Pot Dome scandal, Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall is convicted of bribery in leasing of U.S. oil reserves, becomes the first Cabinet member to go to prison. 
• Louie Armstrong joins "King" Oliver's band; temperance leaders declare jazz to be "moral decadence". The Eskimo Pie is invented.
• In Paris, Sylvia Beach publishes Ulysses by James Joyce. In many American homes, readers enjoy One of Our Own by Willa Cather, the new book of Etiquette by Emily Post and Readers Digest. 

In Salem
Our Salem Chamber of Commerce dates back to 1884 when the Salem Board of Trade was established. The Illehee Club and the Commercial Club, meeting on the second floor of the Burke Building, made up the first "chamber" organization in 1913. In the post-war prosperity of the 1922 the three organizations were incorporated, taking the name “chamber of commerce” because of their association with the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. The Chamber has been dedicated to the promotion of Salem and the community: working with the federal government bring a new post office to Salem, to create Silver Falls State Park, and to relieve flooding through a Willamette Valley Project. The Chamber began the Long-Range Planning Commission in the 1940s to collaborate with government entities on zoning, transportation, taxation and education. Each year, a Leadership Group holds monthly meetings in various parts of Salem that acquaint these active citizens in both the assets and the concerns of the municipal organizations. The Chamber has made Salem's cultural heritage an important part of its wide ranging community support. One aspect of this Chamber contribution is their collection of more than a thousand historical photographs now online in the Oregon Historical Photograph Collection of the Salem Public Library. The SHINE feature you are now viewing uses many of these photographs to illustrate the story of Salem.

When you visit

The Chamber moved into the former Rodgers residence on Cottage Street in 1956. A 1963 photograph of Court Street shows the building in the background and the damage to Willson Park from the windstorm of the year previous. This Cottage Street building served the Chamber until 1995; unfortunately, this handsome structure was destroyed by fire two years later. The Chamber is now located in a facility built at the southeast corner of Market and Commercial Streets.



Other events

• A new sanctuary replaces the 1854 St. Paul's Episcopal Church at the southeast corner of Chemeketa and Court Streets. The old building is moved to an adjoining lot on Chemeketa Street. An undated photograph of the Rev. George Swift and his wife shows them standing in front of the next-door rectory. When the church was dismantled in 1954, the rectory was moved to Davidson Street, south of Bush Park. It is now a private residence on Court Street and a contributing property in the Gaiety Hill/ Bush Pasture Park Historic District. It is featured on that walking tour slide show on SHINE.

• Barber Shops were popular places for men to get together for a shave and haircut while discussing the news of the day. This one could well be our own OK Barber Shop at 337 State Street, a business that may be the longest established barber in Salem.
• In 1922 the PGE Building at 241 Liberty Street offers offices on the ground floor and the Electric Apartments on the second. It has recently been renovated to its original appearance and the familiar 1950s Anderson Sporting Goods facade removed. During research a few years ago, Luella Patton Charlton recalled living in a front apartment on the second floor during the early years of her marriage, 1927-8. See these pictures on the SHINE Downtown Walking Tour.
• Hal Patton, Luella's uncle, gives himself a 50th birthday party and invites all the most Salem prominent men to attend and speak about their lives. The remarks of a respected Chinese American, George Sun, were recorded in a printed booklet. George thanks the community for his fair treatment over the years, but regrets he is not able to vote although his children have this opportunity. "Why I be here fifty-four years altogether, why I cannot vote. I ought to be citizen too. They must make mistake. Something wrong. Well excuse. (Great applause)"
  
• The YMCA organizes Salem's first public playground programs.
• James and Greta Hiatt build a duplex on Winter Street. Mr. Hiatt was a mechanic with the State Highway Department and Mrs. Hiatt was a teacher at Garfield Elementary School. It appears the Hiatts never lived here and the two units were leased as separate rentals. The Hiatts sold the property in 1964. Still an attractive, double residence, it is a Local Landmark in the Grant neighborhood.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Salem businessmen figured they were richer by $29,000 by tourists at the municipal auto campgrounds (now Pringle Park) during 1922. Salem's up-to-date campground was kept clean, furnished wood for fuel, hot and cold water for showers, laundry trays, lavatories, stoves, tables and benches. Charge per day was 50 cents for the first day, 25 cents thereafter. Supt. T. G. Albert reported 2,810 patrons newly registered during 1922 and 3,001 layovers.
• Englewood and the northwest section of Salem were up in arms against a huge State Hospital manure pile and garbage dump in the area.  This aggregation of filth, neighbors declsred, was a breeding ground for billions of flies and millions of rats. An outbreak of diphtheria in the community was attributed to these dumps. (An epidemic was spreading at the time.)
• The City Council refused T. G. Bligh permission to place an electric sign in front of his hotel. Alderman Patton (see Hal Patton above) stated that during the state fair Bligh rented inside rooms without baths for $1.50 and $2. a night. This, the councilman insisted, was a downright insult to every member of the council and justified refusing Bligh any privilege whatsoever.
• Justice of the Peace G. F. Unruh gave persons coming before him and found guilty of excessive speed an alternative: either go to jail or drive the "reform car" that bore a placard: "This man is being taught the rues of the road." Since introduction of the reform care, no traffic violators had been arraigned in Salem's police court.

(See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006)

Salem in 1921

World Events

• This year Communist political parties are founded in China, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Portugal, and Spain. (A Communist party had been founded in the U.S. in 1919 and in England in 1920.)
• Adolf Hitler is named leader of the Nazi political party in Germany, His fiery speeches attract large, enthusiastic crowds as he condemns the harsh penalties imposed by the victorious Allies. Rising prices cause major riots in Munich.
• In the U.S., a post-war stock market boom begins.
• The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated in Arlington Cemetery.
• Glider flights and racing car events are popular, baseball games are broadcast. The first Miss America Pageant is held. The Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, the first international women's sports event. The US  Figure Skating Association is founded.
• Franklin Roosevelt, nephew of Theodore and a rising Democrat politician, is diagnosed with poliomyelitis and he becomes permanently disabled.
• English novelist John Galsworthy publishes To Let, the last of the Forsyte Saga series. The Pulitzer Prize honors Alice Adams, a novel about a working-girl, by Booth Tarkington. A full-length, silent comedy-drama film, The Kid, stars Jackie Coogan.

In Salem
Commercial steamboats on the Willamette became less frequent. However, shallow draft sternwheelers still signaled for the raising of the lift span. In 1924 drifting ice damaged a ship at the foot of Court Street. These were perilous times for water commerce: higher costs during the Depression ten years later almost stopped river traffic. In 2002 Harvey Fox remembered when, as a youngster selling newspapers from his corner at Court and Commercial, he would listen for the steamboat signal at three o'clock in the afternoon twice a week. It announced the arrival of cargo from Portland. Harvey would rush down to the dock to sell his papers at 5 cents each. He also fondly recalls the delicious cinnamon bun he would purchase from the ship's bakery.

When you visit
Today an excursion stern-wheeler is the last vestige of what was once a vital link in Salem's commercial life: steamboat traffic on the Willamette. The lift span of the former Union Street Railroad Bridge is now locked place and the tracks have been transformed into a platform for pedestrians, bikers and emergency vehicles if they are needed. After an April 2009 opening, the bridge was temporarily closed for lead paint encapsulation, but opened again in May 2010. By summer of 2014, pedestrians walking west on the trestle could look down to the right approaching Wallace Marine Park and see new a path leading to Willamette River lookout. The river now accommodates only the Willamette Queen and recreational water craft.

Other events

• G.E.Halverson becomes mayor.
• The Gospel Mission serves the needy out of the Wade Smith building.
• The fire department establishes a two-platoon system so fire fighters worked every other day.
• The city's streetcars are losing money: Superintendent Billingsley announces a deficit of $43,000.
• The State fairgrounds are annexed to the city.
• The Salem Alliance Church begins service with six families. Mrs. Isabelle White is lay pastor.
• Charles Maxwell, and African-American citizen of Salem had a shoeshine business on State Street that attracted attention. This year a letter signed by the local Ku Klux Klan over a skull and crossbones was published in the Capital Journal which was addressed to him with the message that "We have stood you as long as we intend to stand you, and you must unload, if you don't we will come to see you." He did not leave town and his business grew to two locations. In 1928 he opened the Fat Boy Barbecue in the Hollywood section. With his wife and four daughters, he was admitted to the First Methodist Church as a member and one daughter was married in that church. However, another daughter, Maxine, was denied a room in a women's dormitory at OSU. Mr. Maxwell lost his business during the Depression.
• The Pringle School building is enlarged with the rooms and facilities that would remain until 1987.
  
• The Highland Friends Church is rebuilt on property developed by the Oregon Land Company. J. H. Minthorn, the owner, had donated land for the church. The bell, the side facing stained glass windows, and the decorative gable in the Gothic style with the inscription "1891" were taken from the old church to be used in the present structure. The church, now serving a different religious congregation, is a local Landmark in the Highland neighborhood.

The Becke House

The Compton House

• Bungalows continue to be a favorite new home style as seen in the Becke House on the popular Summer Street of the Grant neighborhood. It was apparently built for Karl and Helen Becke, although they did not live there. The earliest owner-occupants were William and Gertrude Walker who resided here in 1934. Mr. Walker was associated with the Economy Grocery Store. The residence maintains its original appearance and is now a Local Landmark. Also on Summer Street, William Post built a home for Henry Compton and his wife Vera. Their son, Stuart Compton, remembers that in the 1930's Summer Street was not 99E and neighborhood boys played ball in the street. Only a few blocks of these once socially prominent “Summer Street” homes remain today, several of these moved north to their present sites as State buildings of the North Capitol Mall replaced residences. The present owner of the Compton house and his neighbors are preserving the dignified character of this Salem.
• Nearby on Winter Street, the 1921 Ford and Perry houses were built this year. Both were relocated to the Heritage Park on D Street in 2000 when the North Mall Office Building was constructed.
• A house for the Douglas Minto family is built next door to the original home on Saginaw Street. These houses are now National Register properties in the SCAN neighborhood.

Below - From Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006:

• Marion County Judge, George Bingham blamed dance halls and a craving for amusement as major causes for divorce. "The family is scattered. They are too busy hunting excitement...Pool halls young men frequent today are the very cradles of crime." Since 1895, the judge and his wife had lived at 1116 Mission Street, a house on an estate that would later, under the ownership of Alice Brown Powell, be named Deepwood.
• Twenty-six new members were installed into the KuKlux Klan at Salem. C. K. Pilkington, Kleagle of the Oregon Realm, said that Klan membership was increasingly rapidly in this locality and that 250 belonged in one local district.

Salem in 1920

World Events

• Irish fight for Independence begins; there are riots between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem; President Carranza is assassinated in Mexico.
• Congress refuses to ratify the Versailles Peace Treaty, objecting, especially, to the decision-making power of the League of Nations. The U.S. signed a separate treaty with the Central Powers.
• Republican Warren G. Harding is elected as President after a "front porch" campaign in which he rarely leaves his home in Ohio. He defeats two opponents: James Cox, Democrat and Eugene Debs, Socialist.
• The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gives women the right to vote, which they do for the first time in this election. The League of Women Voters established in Chicago.
• Anna Anderson in Berlin claims to be the late Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, youngest daughter of Nicholas II. After many interviews and mental examinations, her identity remained a mystery until DNA after her death in 1984 proved her to have been Franziska Schanzkowska. (See 1957 film "Anastasia", starring Ingrid Bergman.)
• The first licensed radio broadcast is made by KDKA of Pittsburgh.
• New books: The Pulitzer Prize goes to Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence.  Also introduced this year is This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In Salem
William G. Allen, a prominent Salem business man (Allen Fruit Packing) designed this house and his own crew built it. For brining, drying and packing cherries, he leased on half a streetcar barn on North Front Street in 1934 and after a year it was the largest processor of cherries in the Pacific Northwest. By 1937, several types of fruit juices were produced. During World War II, Allen processed potatoes for the armed forces. The fruit processing industry was crucial to Salem's prosperity in the during the Depression and years of World War II. 

When you visit
After nearly fifty years of owning or managing plants in Salem, he announced in 1952 that he was closing the Front Street plant. After retirement, he and his wife continued to live in this home at 901 Capitol Street until his death on New Years Day in 1954. An interesting feature of the living room is an inglenook framing the fireplace area. The office has become office space and has had a new tenant since this photograph was made in 2007. This former home will be a part of the anticipated Grant Historical District, a nomination being prepared in 2010-2014.

Other events

• O. Wilson becomes mayor and the census shows the city population at 16.679.

• Oregon Pulp and Paper Company starts operations on the property that later became Boise Cascade. The last negotiation with city gave the company right to the property at the foot of Trade Street. [Ben Maxwell added to the news report: "In early pioneer times, an Indian cemetery with very shallow graves was located here."]  A long time feature of the Trade and Commercial intersection, across from the Convention Center and Civic Center Park, the building was partially demolished soon after the 2006 photograph. A new development of the property was still underway in 2014.

The Pulp and Paper Company Building at Trade and Commerical, 1920

The same structure as Boise Cascade in 2006

• The new Lausanne Building replaces the greatly remodeled Willson residence, serving as a dormitory on Willamette University campus. Students participated in the demolition, using axes to splinter old woodwork interior features.
• To the north of the city, John MacDonald builds a farmhouse on a rural path accessed from Portland Road. In 1936, the railroad overpass was constructed, cutting off the former access: the new entrance road was named for the family. After the widowed Mrs. MacDonald left in 1948, the house had many occupants and was converted into apartments in 1968. The current owner-residents have remodeled what had become a business address.
• An English cottage is built for Albert and Doris Adolphson on D Street. They were proprietors of the Klasic Photo Shop. In the late 1940s, Franklin and Doris Silkey were residents. The property was acquired by the State in 1959. This Local Landmark is now a part of Heritage Park, a group of seven state-owed properties bordering the Mill Creek between Summer and Winter Streets in the CAN-DO neighborhood.
• Just a few blocks north, is the home of Wolcott Buren, a prominent Salem physician. Howard Belton, the Treasurer of the State of Oregon, lived here between 1961 and 1980. It became a rental property until the present owners bought the house. It has retained its original style with few alterations. The Buren/Belton house is in the historic Grant neighborhood.
• The probable first owners of a house built at 396 18th Street were Henry L. and Jennie Briggs who lived here until 1930 when it was sold to Russell and Valerie Bonesteele . Mr. Bonesteele was in the automobile business. He served on the Salem Hospital Board and other community boards including the Salem City Council. He became mayor of Salem 1959-62.

The Sprague House

• An English Tudor house was built for Charles and Blanche Sprague at 425 14th Street. He was then publisher of the Oregon Statesman and, in 1939, was elected Governor. After several subsequent political posts, he returned to publishing. The Sprague family lived here for 25 years. It was sold to the state and became part of a social services agency. Both houses are Local Landmarks in the NEN neighborhood.
• South of Trade Street, two previously rural streets are becoming residential. Church Street is filling with rental houses built by Daniel Fry, many for his employees at the Fry Drug Store on Commercial Street. 651 Church Street was an early rental home of Conde McCullough, designer of Columbia Gorge bridges and probably the one just north of his home. Along High Street, south of the Fry property and west of Bush's pasture, many new bungalows are contracted for construction as property owners move south of Mission Street. Both of these streets are in the present Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District. A walking tour of this district, including these two streets can be found on SHINE.
• A hilltop English cottage is built this year for Edward and Kathryn Piasecki, one of the first houses built in the Kingwood Heights area of West Salem. A boating tragedy on the Oregon coast near Newport claimed the life of Edward and another Salem attorney in August of 1952 when he was 72 years old. Kathryn Piasecki continued to live in the house until 1965. It is now a Local Landmark.