SHINE on Salem

The 1913 railroad bridge across the Willamette River was restored for pedestrian use in 2009.

Salem's history began with an 1840 Methodist missionary settlement on Mill Creek. An interpretive plaque on Broadway Street, north of the creek, tells the story. Two years later, a school was built nearby: it became Willamette University. But it was a few blocks to the west, on the shores of the Willamette River, that the village grew. A ferry crossing was at the street that still bears the name. That intersection at Commercial Street was the location of the Territorial and then the 1959 State of Oregon government offices before the town of 1129 residents gained a charter as a city in 1860.

This website outlines the story of the city of Salem from that date.

Th read about any event or year, use the white box in the upper left corner of this page to search. Write in the name and click the spyglass symbol to the right. This is an index, so you may see several references before you scroll down to the information you want. Like searching in an encyclopedia, you may be distracted by the variety of information! If you want to browse, the most recent past year is below, the earlier years following in sequence.

At the end of each article, there is an opportunity to comment. We welcome suggestions and corrections. Anonymous entries will not be published as we can not reply to that viewer.

Thank you for reading SHINE in the Statesman Journal. We are indebted to the managing editor, Bill Church, and his staff, especially Michelle Maxwell, for introducing SHINE to so many viewers. The online issue you read here offers additional photographs and references to other articles on the Salemhistory website.

While you are here, take any of our six historic walking tours listed on the right column of this page. Created in 2008, we try to update them as historic structures and the cityscape change.

We hope you enjoy our "armchair" journeys through these years of Salem history.