Salem in 1969

World Events

• President Nixon begins "Vietnamization" to disengage U.S. from Vietnam War, but combat continues. Peace talks break down. Nixon goes on TV to ask the "silent majority" to support his policies. A draft lottery begins for military service in Viet Nam.
• Golda Mier is elected as Prime Minister in Israel. George Pompidou is elected President of France.
• A Union Oil platform spill of up to 100.000 barrels of crude oil off Santa Barbara closes the harbor and beach. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson is inspired to organize the first "Earth Day".
• "The Eagle has landed": Neil Armstrong is the first human to step on the moon. The whole world watches on TV.
• Charles Manson indicted for "Helter Skelter" murders in Los Angeles.
• Woodstock Music & Art Fair attracted an audience of over 400,000.
•  Hijacking airliners increased in the 1960s. Longest (6,900 miles) was this year when a 19-year old Marine forced a California TWA flight to fly on to Rome where the culprit escaped, but was apprehended by police.
• The first automatic teller is installed in retail store. Soccer great Pele scores his 1000th score.
• Academy Awards: "Midnight Cowboy"(US), "Z" (Algeria). Prize-winning Books: Steps, Jerzy Kosinski and The House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday.

Western Baptist Bible College 1969, now Corban University

In Salem
This year a Bible Institute located in California since 1946, changed its name to Western Baptist Bible College and moved to Salem. One of the main buildings, seen above, was originally constructed for The Oregon Deaf-Mute Institute in 1884. However, the school's isolation, inadequate roads and proximity to the "bad influence" of the reformatory caused the school to be relocated to 52 acres in North Salem near the Fairgrounds.
In 1910, this building became the Oregon State Tuberculosis Sanitarium. Patients came slowly for the first years. Gradually the demand increased, causing a lack of beds in the necessary open-air pavilions as treatment required in those days. A waiting list of prospective patients developed. In 1963, the State Legislature combined this hospital with the University of Oregon Medical School Tuberculosis Hospital in Portland.
The facility was available for Western Baptist Bible College in 1969.

When you visit
This historic building is Schimmel Hall in the renamed college, now Corban University. It serves administration, the Emitte Center and as a dining hall. It is a historical property in the Southeast Mill Creek Association, anorganization founded in 1986, eleven years after that neighborhood was annexed to the city.

Other events

• An architectural model of the proposed Civic Center is produced for display. The photograph shown in the Statesman Journal (above) shows columned buildings that include a city hall and library with a fire station "across the street". It is hard to recognize our current civic center in this three-dimensional model. In 2014 there is a proposal to redesign the present Civic Center to make the structure more earthquake-proof and accommodate a new police facility.
• West Salem has its first residential housing development at Pioneer Village on Taybin Road. Polk County Housing Authority administered the project. This year a Planning Commission was established to promote the growth and orderly development of Salem.
• Wayne L. Thompson becomes Municipal Judge after the resignation of Dale Pierson. Judge Thompson is subsequently elected to the office and will serve until his resignation in 1990.

• On the opening day of the State Fair, Governor and Mrs. McCall ride in a hot-air balloon and cut the ribbon to officially open the Agriculture Exhibits and the Community hall. There is a pie-eating contest with boys competing to eat the most pie while their hands are behind their backs. The girls take part in a watermelon-eating contest. The Ronald McDonald clown character was the judge of both.
• The Marion County Fair gets a start when the Future Farmers of America and the 4-H club produce a show including livestock display and horse exhibitions.
• A demonstration against the Vietnam War is held at the State Capitol on Moratorium Day, October 17. Another photograph shows one man standing at the entrance speaking while others wait their turn. A folk singer appears to be playing his guitar.
• The Center Street Bridge is demolished in preparation for expansion and remodeling.
• The George Putnam University Center arises at Willamette University. It was named for the former editor and publisher of the local newspaper who left his estate to the university. At the time the building opened it contained the bookstore, mail room, information desk, offices and eating facilities.
• This year the voters created a community college district, covering more than 2,600 square miles in Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley. It includes Marion, Polk, most of Yamhill, and part of Linn counties. A contest was held to name the new school and entries were solicited from Salem Tech students, as well as from all the district high schools. In December the Board of Education approved the name Chemeketa, a Native American term for a place of peace.
• Salem Memorial Hospital and Salem General Hospital merge to make better use of buildings, equipment, and personnel, providing higher quality care and lower costs. All acute care services were consolidated on Winter Street.
• Charles A. Sprague, who came to Salem in 1929, became owner, editor, and publisher of the Statesman Journal, establishing a reputation as one of the Nation's great editors. His editorials were often reprinted in some of America's largest newspapers. Sprague gained a national reputation as an articulate spokesman for small-town values, fiscal conservatism, and internationalism. He held control of the paper until his death. A declared Republican, he nonetheless took an independent position on the issues of the time, reflecting a progressive view which was often at odds with leaders of his party. He served as Governor of Oregon from 1939 to 1943. A lifelong Presbyterian with what friends referred to as a stern sense of Calvinism, he neither smoked or drank, and his newspaper would not accept advertising for hard liquor. An avid outdoorsman, he climbed the highest mountains of the Pacific Northwest and, in his seventies shot the rapids of the Colorado River. One of the West's most respected citizens, he died this year in Salem.
• Nora Anderson, one of Salem's most active volunteers in promoting the cultural life of Salem, also dies this year. Her accomplishments included organizing the Salem Garden Club, assisting the Women's Club and its effort to found the Salem Public Library, promoting Salem's Junior Symphony, helping to organize the forerunner of the Assistance League and benefiting the Women's Medical Surgery Department at the Salem Hospital's General unit. Among her honors during her lifetime was the dedication of the first bench in Bush's Pasture Park, placed in a spot she enjoyed for its wild strawberries. She is possibly best remembered today for the Anderson rooms in our library. The home she shared with her husband William stands at 1577 Court Street and contributes to the Court-Chemeketa Historic District.
• Fire at Byrd Cottage of Fairview Training Center kills three residents.