Salem in 1958

World Events 

• Drought, weather conditions and the political policies of Mao Zedong cause the "Great Famine" in China,  starving 20 million people.
• Van Cliborn wins Tchaikovsky international piano competition in Moscow easing Cold War tensions. Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier in USSR.
• Queen Elizabeth gives her son Charles the title Prince of Wales.
• Eisenhower sends Marines sent to Lebanon, citing United Arab Republic as responsible for violence.
• The word Aerospace comes into use. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is created by Congress. Authority for all aviation in the US is transferred to the new Federal Aviation Administration.
• Hoola Hoops become popular. Plastic Logo bricks are patented. The first House of Pancakes opens in California, the first Carrefour store in France.
• Elvis Presley is inducted into the Army. Roy Campanella of baseball fame is paralyzed by an automobile accident. 
• Academy Awards: "Gigi" (US), "My Uncle" (France). Prize-winning books: The Wapshot Chronicle, John Cheever and A Death in the Family, James Agee.

In Salem
The plan for constructing the fourth state structure on the North Capital Mall, the Labor and Industries Building, is well underway. The fourth section of Piety Hill, the houses on the block east of Winter Street between Chemeketa and Center Streets will be demolished or moved. This will be the enterprise that captures the most public attention as it requires the Presbyterian Church, then on the northeast corner of Chemeketa and Winter Streets facing Chemeketa Street, to be put on rollers and moved diagonally across Winter Street to face east. The move began in the winter of 1958 and continues for many weeks, the progress intentionally slow so as not to damage the sanctuary.
A number of houses on the west side of Winter and north side of Court Street have been purchased by the church and demolished. This included structures prominent in Salem history for the families who lived in them:
299 N. Winter Street, W. T. and Mattie Rigdon, son Lloyd (1890-1947)
267 N. Winter Street, George Pearce and daughters Helen and Dorothy (1892-1955)
245 N. Winter Street, Joseph and Josephine Albert (dates of house unknown)
785 Court Street, Otto Krause and earlier Robert Fleming (1870s-1954)
745 Court Street, Max Buren and earlier residence of Charles and Fannie Bishop, J. J. Murphy that had been moved to Willamette University to be the president's residence. (1880-1955)
 The Pearce sisters had moved out of their family home in 1955, after purchasing a residence at 490 Oak Street on Fry Hill. One confessed to a friend that she wondered what her late father, George Pearce, would think of them moving to such a large house. The sisters had a sentimental affection for their "auto house", one of Salem's first garages, and brought it with them to be placed in the rear of the house. It is a tradition among parishioners of the church that after the church moved, the sisters sat in the pew that was directly above the location where their house had been.

The last section of Piety Hill is demolished,

When you visit
The church is located on the southwest corner of Chemeketa and Winter Streets, above the former site of the Rigdon and Pearce houses. To the south there are other buildings replacing the Albert/Fleming houses and, around the corner on Court Street, another wing of the church where the Bishop and Buren (1907-1966) houses were located. The house on Oak Street where the Pearce sisters moved, has been the home of the Kohne family for thirty years, but has retained its historic name. Although it has had alterations, the Kohnes honor the history of the house.
The Colonial style manse of the church was also moved. Built in 1926, the first pastor to occupy the manse was the Rev. Ward Willis Long and his wife, Evangeline. Their daughter was born there. The house is now a private residence located at the northeast corner of 18th and Court Streets. It is a contributing property in the Court-Chemeketa Historic District of the NEN Neighborhood and can be seen on the SHINE walking tour of the district.

Other events

• Mark Hatfield is elected governor of Oregon.
• The early parsonage of the Methodist Mission is moved from its original location for the construction of the water tower at the Kay Mill complex. It will be permanently located on the Mission Mill property, now Willamette Heritage Center.

This Lincoln store survives, but in a new building

• The community of Lincoln was once a busy port transit center for wheat being shipped to other landings. In 1958 the town has almost disappeared, but an old house serves as a store at the crossroads where Wallace Road meets Zena Road. A few miles west in Spring Valley, the Presbyterian Church celebrates its 100th anniversary.
• Eola School, also established in the 1850s, celebrates its 100th graduating class. Eight students pose for a photograph with their teacher.

• Our Southern Pacific Freight Station, located in a building predating the 1918 station itself, is still doing business this year. In 2010, fifty years later, the structure is in poor shape although the roof has been repaired through the generosity of the local roofing industry. The freight station was included in the recent nomination of this railroad property for the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, the building will find a new use as the Salem Greyhound Bus Station due to a generous private donation for its renovation.
• Donut Daze, a product of the Salvation Army sold at a shop near the Gilbert House on the riverfront, is popular with residents and especially state employees.
• Walton House, a property bequeathed by William S. Walton to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, becomes the rectory. It has since become a hospitality guesthouse for out-of-town patients, family or loved ones of hospital patients.

Salem in 1950

World Events

• US military under General MacArthur land at Inchon to aid South Korea after North Korean forces invade, but retreat after defeat by Chinese at Yalu River. MacArthur threatens to use nuclear weapons in Korea. Senator McCarthy accuses State Department employees of being Communists.
• President Truman sends U.S. military "advisors" to Vietnam to aid French colonial forces against Vietnamese Communist nationalists. 
• After Russia detonates an atomic bomb, Truman authorizes development of the more powerful hydrogen bomb. Klaus Fuchs is convicted in London as a spy for Russia, having revealed top secret atomic bomb data.
• Chiang Kai-shek moves his Chinese government to Taipei, Taiwan.
• Ralph Bunche is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for (in part) his 1948 mediation during the partition of land between Palestine and Israel.
• Florence Chadwick swims the English Channel. The first 500-mile NASCAR race is held at Darlington Raceway.
• Diners Club card is first use of a credit card.
• Nat King Cole is popular vocalist. "Peanuts" comics is introduced. Academy Award "All About Eve" (US), The Walls of Malapaga (France, Italy). First National Book Award: Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm. Pulitzer Prize: The Way West, A. B. Guthrie, Jr.

In Salem
In the late 1940s, Salem's downtown had spaces on the street for automobiles to park in front of stores, but did not have parking lots to accommodate the increase in personal cars since the end of the war. One innovative proposal was to demolish the Holman Building (top photograph above) and make room for parking above a new auto maintenance and repair shop. Those residents who were concerned by the loss of Salem's heritage which this building represented, formed the Marion County Historical Society with the mission of preserving it and, more widely, interpreting the city and county's cultural resources. Its first president, David Duniway, led the fight to preserve the historic Holman Building, reminding the public that for the first years of Oregon statehood (1859-1876), the legislature meet here and most of our basic laws were debated on this site. But he was not successful, the building was demolished and the Marion Car Rental and Park (lower photograph) was built this year.

When you visit
The Marion Car Rental and Park is located on the northwest corner of Ferry and Commercial Streets, a busy intersection for traffic entering Front Street going west from Ferry, or continuing south on Commercial. It is diagonally across the street from the Conference Center. To learn more about the Holman Building and the other historic buildings that were once on this important corner of the new city, read the interpretive panel on the stair landing inside the Conference Center.
This structure is located at the southern extent of the Downtown Historic District and is considered to be a property that contributes to the history of the district. It is now recognized for the integrity of the mid-20th century design and its importance in offering convenience to downtown shoppers 60 years ago when suburban developments were making many downtown business centers obsolete. In 2014 the facility is empty.

Other Events

• The city's population has reached 43,140.
• Our second Municipal Judge, Peery T. Buren, is elected.
• Salem replaces San Jose, California as the largest canning area in the world.
• The ground floor facade of the Capitol National Bank is renovated: two columns of polished Scotch granite are replaced when James Payne, the architect, attempts to retain the "dignity and architectural beauty of the original design while at the same time achieving adequate and efficient quarters for the work of the association on the ground floor." Placing the modern front onto the building required holding up the stone top stories, consisting of over 100 tons of stone, with steel beams to allow the introduction of a large picture window and double doors to provide more light. See this unique building on the SHINE Historic Downtown Walking Tour.
• The Cherry Festival is recorded for the last time.
• A building that houses the Rainbow Inn Cafe at 163 S. Commercial Street collapses, revealing a staircase not in use, according to A. N. Bush, since the 1860s.
• The pre-1871 Werner Breyman house had been moved from State Street (present site of the Micah Building) around the corner on Cottage Street in 1924. By 1950 it had a third floor added and been renovated into an apartment house of 20 units, the building much different in appearance from the original Victorian residence. It will later be demolished for a Willamette University building.

• The Deaconess Hospital became Salem Memorial Hospital in 1947. An early 1950s photograph shows this Winter Street four story, white building which was torn down in the 1960s. The Salem hospital (Salem Health) continues to grow and is now the second largest employer in town ~ next to the state establishment. A fine, 58 foot mural illustrates the hospital's history: look for it inside the Winter Street entrance of the B Building.
• One of Salem's most popular vocalists, Hallie Parrish Hinges, known as the "The Oregon Nightingdale", died this year at the age of 82. Granddaughter of Josiah Parrish, a Salem Methodist missionary pioneer, she sang for three visiting presidents as well as numerous local celebrations. Her childhood home has survived two moves that were due to a series of North Capitol Mall constructions. It is now it 1075 Capitol Street, NE.
• Willamette University builds McCullough Stadium on Bush's Pasture property purchased from the Bush family in 1946.  The facility replaces Sweetland Field. This acreage, the lowland south of Mission and east of the hill on which Bush House stands, was purchased by the university when the city balked at the price of the entire Bush estate. It is a convenient venue for the university and fits in well with the sports fields, Soup Box Derby lanes and the woodlands to the east at Pringle Creek.
• South of city, the Independence Bridge is built spanning the Willamette. Governor Douglas McKay dedicates this bridge on December 18. During the dedication ceremonies Verd Hill, age 74, dies suddenly of heart failure.
• From the Capitol Journal: The Rev. Wesley Turner, pastor of Leslie Methodist Church (since demolished) summoned members of civic and reform organizations to discuss possible action against presentation of the movie "Stromboli" at local theaters. The film was the result of a famous letter from Ingrid Bergman to Roberto Rossellini, in which she wrote she admired his work, and she wanted to make a movie with him. However, the film is best remembered for the affair between Rossellini and Bergman that occurred during this time, as well as the resultant child out of wedlock.  (See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006)