Salem in 2011

World Events

• Osama Bin Laden dies in a raid by US Navy Seals on his Pakistani hideout.
• Japan suffered a 9.0 earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami and nuclear emergency.
• Use of social media triggered an "Arab Spring" of popular revolution in against dictators Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Syria.
• Global fiscal crisis hits European union, political stand-offs in US Congress and "Occupy" movements protesting Wall Street practices across America.
• Billions of viewers, worldwide, watched the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abby, London.
• Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford, meeting with constituents, survives a gunman who kills 6 others, wounds 13.
• US combat troops leave Iraq after 8 years, but Security Contractors will remain in Baghdad. Protests against the faulty intelligence that led to  this war damaged the reputation of President George W. Bush
• Academy Awards: "The Artist" (US), "A Separation" (Iran). Prize-winning books: Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward and A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan.

In Salem

A 2011 Welcome Information on State Street in our historic downtown.

Our downtown streets are blooming with attractive information signage thanks to a Preserve America grant, a federal initiative that encourages community efforts to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural heritage. Four Preserve America Presidential Awards are given annually to organizations, businesses, and government entities for exemplary accomplishments in sustainable use and preservation of cultural or natural heritage assets.
A Downtown Historic Marker Program to promote preservation and increase citizen awareness of the assets in the downtown historic district; a unique historical downtown logo which appears on the thirty-three historic markers installed on historic buildings in our downtown district; designing a downtown walking tour booklet printed in both English and Spanish (the first Spanish language historically focused walking tour in the state), along with creation of a new website, the "Salem Heritage Portal", that allows residents and tourists to explore downtown Salem online.
Since there were additional funds available, the City of Salem was also able to complete the following projects: (1) Replace a historic marker memorializing Salem's old city hall; (2) Replace two historic markers on the recently renovated Union Street Pedestrian Bridge; (3) Install an interpretive panel in the Salem Convention Center describing the significance of the key intersection of Commercial and Ferry Streets; (4) Translation and printing of our downtown walking tour into Spanish; and the installation of way-finding signs. These signs are of two designs (created by Rick Yurk of BAM): eight Welcome Information Centers (similar to the one pictured above) and 46 colorful directional posts as seen below. (By 2014 these way-finding signs are found in every part of the city.)

We are indebted to the staffs of the Community Development Department, the Urban Development Department, and the Urban Renewal Agency Board as well as the many other professional and volunteer members of the Task Force who made this concept a beautiful and useful reality.

Our special thanks to Debra Meaghers and Courtney Knox for their help in compiling this entry. Additional photographs of Preserve America projects by Todd Klocke.

When You Visit

The eight Welcome Information Centers are found in the following intersections: Front and Court Streets, Ferry and Liberty Streets, Liberty and Court Streets, Chemeketa and Liberty Streets, Marion and High Streets, State and High Streets, Trade and Church Streets and at Church and Center Streets. Each has a map on one side and information about that location's historic significance on the other.
The 46 Way-Finding Directional Posts are located in a wider area, bounded on the north by the newly revitalized Broadway District at Market Street, to the south to Bush Park,
from the east by the Willamette Heritage Center on 12th Street, and on west to Riverfront Park on Front Street.

Other Local Events

• Democrat Gov. John Kitzhaber begins his third term and Salem mayor Anna Peterson takes office.
  

At the top of the hill, the Straub residence still stands.

• The Salem-Keizer School Board names the new West Salem middle school for former Gov. Bob Straub and the adjoining elementary school (both on former Straub family property) for the Kalapuya tribes. This is the first school named in honor of a native culture. His family home on the property was preserved.

The John Carson home on High Street as it appeared in the 1940s

• On February 11th, Wallace P. Carson, Jr., the third generation of his family in Salem, is honored as the 61st Citizen of the Year. Judge Carson was Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court for 14 years. The family home at the intersection of Bush and High Street was demolished for construction of the Christian Scientist Church.
• Truitt Brothers announces that the long-established cannery will lay off about 100 employees in their front Street packing plant this year.
• In April, the City Council approved a deal with SeaPort airlines to provide commuter air service to Portland, Seattle and Newport. (The service was ended after only 2 months.)
• Yoshikai Elementary School librarian Kristen Truman is named Oregon School Librarian of the Year. (Along with other local school librarians, she lost her position in September.)
• The City Council voted to pay the owner of the Willamette Queen sternwheeler $250,000 up give up use of the Willamette Slough. This August agreement will enable the city to construct a footbridge over the slough connecting Riverfront Park to Minto Brown Park.
• In October the Occupy Salem movement, part of the national protest that claims our political process favors the wealthy over the average American, camps in Willson Park for two nights until forced to leave.
• The names of four contenders to make Courthouse Square repairs are made public by Marion County commissioners.
• The renovation of the Boise Cascade property has proceeded to a point where Pringle Creek, flowing into the Willamette River, is almost completely "daylighted". Plans for a trail from the Civic Center, under the Commercial Street bridge to Riverfront Park are being formulated.
• Rich Harcourt, President of Oregon Artists Series Foundation, leads in creating "Sculpture Now", a program of Oregon Artist's Series 5th Annual Exhibit. Opening in the Salem Conference Center Plaza in September, it features five city-owned sculptures, plus seven others by artists throughout the Northwest.
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• The City Council accepts the recommendation of the Historic Landmarks Commission to designate the Stirniman house on Myers Street South as a Local Landmark.
• Former Oregon governor and former US senator Mark Hatfield, who grew up in Salem, died at the age of 89,
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