Salem in 1997

World Events

• Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron in Palestine after a 30 year absence to celebrate Israel's return of West Bank Palestinian cities.
• The United Kingdom lease on the territory of Hong Kong expires. Its administration is taken over by the People's Republic of China.
• The Nobel Peace Prize is shared by Jody Williams (US) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (Switzerland) for their campaign to ban and clear anti-personnel mines around the world.
• Madeleine Albright becomes the first female US Secretary of State.
• Diana, Princess of Wales, with her companion Dodi Fayed, dies in a Paris auto crash in the Pont de L'Alma tunnel. (The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown, 2007.
• Pathfinder sends Mars photographs back to earth.
• In London, DNA on a Neanderthal skeleton supports the theory of an African Eve of 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
• The F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
• Timothy McVeigh is convicted of multiple murders in Oklahoma City bombing in previous year. Andrew Cunanan shoots and kills fashion designer Gianni Versace outside his Miami home.
• Academy Awards: "Titanic"(US), "Character" (Netherlands). Prize-winning Books: Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier and Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Milhauser.

World Beat Festival 1997

In Salem

The Salem Multicultural Institute is founded in February of 1997. Two moms with young daughters saw the need to create a positive, tangible response to growing concern about racial tensions in Salem. This grass-roots effort grew out of meetings in living rooms and coffee shops into a meaningful celebration and year-round community volunteerism, taking the form of a festival, celebrating all of the many cultures that make Oregon such a wonderful place. Their first event, World Beat, was held in Riverfront Park in the next summer. The photograph above is from the 1998 Statesman Journal files with the caption, " Middle Eastern dancer Naia of Eugene whirls across Riverfront Park's outdoor stage in the World Beat Festival and the official dedication of the park."
Held annually at this "front yard" of Salem, the summertime festival has grown from the amphitheater park site, shown above, to encompass the whole 23-acre park with more 250 exhibitors and performing arts groups, 400 volunteers and 70 sponsors involved with the festival annually. The average annual attendance has reached approximately 30,000 guests.
The Institute continues to follow its original vision: to create an environment of openness for all people. SMI aims to be family-friendly, economically inclusive, and culturally authentic. Although a voluntary donation is welcome at all entrance gates, the Institute does not have an entrance fee for its World Beat Festival or for its exhibits at the Reed Opera House World Beat Gallery or lecture series. SMI also hosts an annual Multicultural Ball each October in the Reed Opera House Ballroom.


When you visit

World Beat Gallery in Reed Opera House 2014

 In 2006, the Salem Multicultural Institute moved their office downtown and opened the World Beat Gallery at the Reed Opera House with an exhibit entitled Diversity in the Philippines. The gallery has since hosted other cultural exhibits, including Holidays Around the World, Black Voices from Salem’s Past, Scotland and Her People, Windows into China and three series about international marriage customs. The Performance and Lecture series, which began in 2007, encourages local ethnic communities to showcase cherished traditions in the intimate, historic setting of the Reed. A small staff coordinates the work of volunteers, curates the exhibits and organizes the year-round events

Other events

• Raul Ramirez is the first Hispanic to be elected as Marion County Sheriff. A star athlete and student leader, eighteen-year-old Raul Ramirez was ordered to report to his Woodburn High School principal’s office. There he found the local Police Chief waiting to talk to him. "I didn’t do it," thought Ramirez, sure he was about to be blamed for something. As he explains it, "Back then, law enforcement was not a friend of the Hispanic community. "
  Until then, Ramirez's goal was to be a physical education teacher and work with youth. But his meeting with the Police Chief that day changed his life -- and his future career.
  Police Chief Bob Prinslow wanted Ramirez to help police build relations with teen-agers. "I needed him," Prinslow later said. "There was a lot of juvenile crime at the time and I wanted a leader to help me. Raul was a natural." Ramirez became the department’s first police cadet and was later hired as a part-time dispatcher. Prinslow was the Marion County Under Sheriff when Ramirez was hired as a deputy. The two have remained friends and Prinslow watched proudly as Ramirez replaced him as Marion County Sheriff.
• The Oregon Garden in Silverton is begun with a groundbreaking ceremony in June. It will open to the public in April 1999.
• The transit district, following ADA guidelines, converts buses for the use of disabled patrons.
• The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a minor league baseball team, is organized. They are a Short-Season Class A team in the Northwest League, and are an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. They play their home games at Volcano Stadium that seats 4,252 fans.
• A group of prisoners in the State Penitentiary dig a tunnel 24 feet long before their escape route is discovered.
• In January of 1996, Keiko, the killer whale star of Free Willy and Free Willy II, was moved from Mexico City via cargo plane into his new home at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Over the next 32 months, Keiko is rehabilitated at the aquarium, where more than 2.5 million people pay him a visit. In the fall of 1998, Keiko was moved to a pen in the waters of the North Atlantic off Iceland, rehabilitated for living on his own. He died December 12, 2003, after the sudden onset of pneumonia in the Taknes fjord.
• In 1997 several "Salem Public Library History" exhibits were mounted in the Heritage Room. In March, Tired Old Barns was the exhibit with over 40 Marion Court Historical Society photographs taken by Al Jones. Other collections on display included "Oregon Covered Bridges" and Salem Public Library History.

Salem in 1995

World Events

• World Trade Organization is established. UN tribunal charges Serbian commanders with genocide in Balkans.
• Oklahoma City federal building is bombed by Timothy McVeigh, killing 168 and wounding 680. 
• Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty signed by 170 nations. Iraq admits an offensive biological weapons program. 
• Israeli Prime Minister Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
• Astronaut Norman Thagard is first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle, lifting off from Kazakhstan. He breaks the record for space endurance (14 days) and docks with Russian space station.
• Actor Christopher Reeve ("Superman") paralyzed after fall from horse.
• O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of the murder of his wife, Nicole and Ronald Goldman in the most publicized trial in U.S. history.
• The DVD, an optical disc computer storage media format is announced.
• First full-length computer animated feature film, "Toy Story", is released by Pixar and Walt Disney Studios.
• Academy Award: "Braveheart"(US), Antonia's Line (Netherlands). Prize-winning Books: Sabbath's Theater, Phillip Roth and The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields.

Former students honor their historic local school on its anniversary. Almost 100 years of student activities are recalled in a booklet entitled “Swegle Elementary Memories Past Roots Present Traditions” compiled this year. Swegle School at 4485 Market Street was built until around 1900 when George Swegle sold one acre of land on Garden Road (Market Street) to the District for $80. His fathers had settled in Marion County on property that came to be known as the Swegle Garden District. The first section of the school as we know it today (the original school was removed from the property) was built in 1923-4. The new one-room school had a potbelly stove for warmth, an outside well and pump, outhouses, and a swing made of a wooden plank that could seat six to eight students at one time. Children often crossed the dirt road to eat their lunches in the meadow. A photograph of 1925-6 shows nineteen students, only five are girls. By 1938 the school had four classrooms, a gym used as a multi-purpose room. Three teachers were assisted by a full time custodian. There were enough students to field a sports program, but no money for uniforms. One year there were not enough boys for a full baseball team so two girls played (in their school dresses) as Swegle competed with other county schools.

When you visit ELNA
Swegle School has added classrooms and modern facilities, but retains the same high standards of education established by the founder and enjoys strong family support. It is in the East Lancaster Neighborhood Association neighborhood.
Another school was established in ELNA in 1995. Blanchet Catholic School was established in this year, carrying on the traditions established by Sacred Heart Academy and Serra Catholic high schools. In 2011, the school celebrated its 16th year with an Open House where student art work and Senior school memories and goals for the future were displayed. More information can be found at the school's website.
This area was annexed to the city in small sections, beginning in 1979 and continuing through the 1980s. Lancaster Drive, Sunnyview Avenue, Cordon Roar and Center Street are its approximate boundaries. Formerly a rural area, it is now a residential neighborhood with little trace of the original farms. One structure that remains from early Salem history is a farmhouse (above) on Swegle Road. Built possibly in 1904, certainly by 1917, it was part of the Zachariah Pollard Land Donation. The earliest known resident was Kenneth Hinkle who lived here between 1948 and 1980.

Other events

• ODOT purchases the Salem Train Station. Since this year, the property has been successfully nominated as a National Register Historic District. Several attempts have been made to complete the original Salem freight building, adjacent to the station, that dates back to the earliest days of Salem train service. A proposal to move the structure to Willamette Heritage Center, directly to the north, was not successful. (In 2014, due to a generous private donation,  it was announced that it will be transformed into a Greyhound bus facility.)

• Orville Roth donated land immediately behind and adjacent to the West Salem Roth’s IGA grocery store upon which to build a new library. With large donations from West Salem residents, a federal grant through the Oregon State Library, and City of Salem general fund money, the new 6,000 square foot building was built. On September 25 the new branch library celebrated its grand opening ceremony and doors opened the next day for business.
• The main library facility on Liberty Street had historical photography exhibits including local Cemeteries (January-March), Diaries (April-May) and Railroads (June-August).
• Traces of an ancient Wooly Mammoth are discovered on the Turner farm of Tip and Mary Ann Hennessey. Surprised workmen, digging a trench for a gas company pipeline, found the remains of two tusks and a jawbone. Later, a paleontologist identified the samples. Buried about eight feet deep the prehistoric tusks were estimated to be about ten to fifteen thousand years old. There were indications that a lake existed in the area at that time. Perhaps the animal was drinking from this lake at the time of its death. It probably died of natural causes.
• Six local citizens were interviewed for the CCTV program, Legacy: Pioneers in Black Salem. The panel included Kathy Bailey, David Burgess, Willie Richardson, A J Talley, Claudia Thompson, and Jackie Winters. They expressed a variety of feelings about their experiences in Salem, ranging from pride that African-Americans are now spread throughout all areas of town and all different professions, to frustration that, as Dave Burgess put it, “Salem has not accepted minority populations, period.” He pointed out that blacks and Latinos face the same problem of gaining recognition and respect in a city that is still about 80 percent white.
• In Northgate neighborhood, Adam Stephens Middle School replaces one built by Adam Stephens in 1882. He had donated the land and the lumber so the original school could be built and was the first clerk. He also wrote and taught music. Stephens was so widely respected that the Hayesville community was very nearly named Stephensville.
• Mayor Gertenrich actively participates in the formation of the North Santiam Watershed Council. Salem became a member after much controversy that the "big city" would dominate the Council. The Pringle Creek Watershed Council is also created the year.
• Bob Packwood, a respected Oregon US senator since 1965, resigns due to the Senate Ethics Committee unanimous recommendation that he be expelled for ethical misconduct.  Democratic Congressman Ron Wyden won the seat in a special election.

Salem in 1912

World Events

• The Manchu Qing dynasty ends after 268 years, the Republic of China is proclaimed and officially led by Sun Yat-Sen's Kuomintang political party. (His wife is one of four Chang sisters educated in U.S.)
• Emperor Meiji of Japan dies, succeeded by his son , Emperor Taisho. Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gives 3,000 cherry trees to be planted in Washington, D.C. as a symbol of friendship.
• Woodrow Wilson is elected President. Elihu Root is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his strong interest in international arbitration and for his plan for a world court".
• The Titanic sinks after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic with a loss of at least 1500 passengers and crew.
• New Mexico (47) and Arizona (48) become the last contiguous states. Alaska is accepted as a territory.
• The Girl Scouts is founded by Juliette Gordon Law in Savannah, Georgia.
• W. C. Handy, known as the Father of the Blues, publishes "The Memphis Blues", giving attention to "southern rag", the "blues" of today.
• Edgar Rice Burrough's "Tarzan" and Sax Rohmer's "Fu Manchu" both appear in magazines.
• New American Books: A Dome of Many-Colored Glass, Amy Lowell and Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey.

 In Salem
In 1912, postcards were all the rage for Salem travelers wishing to share the novelty of new places seen in their adventures. The Patton brothers, Edwin Cooke and Hal had lived in Japan as children when their father was US Consul in Kobe. They knew the value of this business and opened Patton Postcard Hall in 1908. A narrow room filled with cards, it was located between the Patton and Gill Buildings on State Street. In this 1912 photograph, E. Cooke Patton, is working with an unknown lady assistant. Patton postcards were among the finest produced at the time with a German photographer and the colors applied with artistry.
Local collectors have preserved many of these postcards.

When you visit
No architectural traces of this pioneer family remain in Salem. The Postcard Hall disappeared during the expansion of US National Bank east along State Street in the 1960s. The Patton Building, adjacent to the bank, was demolished in the same construction. Their home is also gone. The brothers' grandfather, Edwin Cooke, had built the Cooke-Patton mansion on Court Street, opposite the State House. They lived in the house all their lives, first with their parents and then settling in with their wives after they married. Luella, Cooke Patton's daughter, was born there and lived with her family until she married and moved to 23rd Street. The house became among the first to be demolished for the construction of the state office buildings beginning in 1937.
(Luella lived to be 109, dying in 2007.)

Other Events

• Equal suffrage won voter approval in Oregon; women are allowed to vote for the first time in the December 2 city election. Smoking is therefore not permitted at polling places as the City Council determines a smoke-filled environment is not suitable for women. However, women were declared ineligible to serve on juries.
• Salem's first Oregon National Guard unit occupies the new Armory on the corner of Ferry and Liberty Streets.

Carnegie Library now Willamette University Civic Law Center

• The establishment of a Carnegie Library in Salem, sponsored by a committee of local women, opens on State Street. After the library moved into the Civic Center in 1972, the YWCA used the building. It is now the Civic Law Center of Willamette University.
• The handsome Masonic Hall is completed on the northwest corner of State and High Streets. It was designed by Ellis Lawrence, founder of the University of Oregon School of Architecture, who was also the architect for the Hubbard Building and the Elsinore Theater.
• The Jason Lee Memorial Church and the nearby Highland Elementary School are built this year in North Salem. Both are still serving their original purposes one hundred years later and are designated as Local Landmarks.

The Dome Building of Oregon State Hospital

• The Dome Building of the Oregon State Hospital is erected on the north side of Center Street. It was designed by Edgar Lazarus who also known for his Vista House on the heights above the Columbia Gorge. The beautiful building, originally used as a receiving ward, has a curved canopy descending over the entrance, fluted cast-iron columns, a flat roof with saucer dome and two-story wings to the north and south. Located on the north side of Center Street, it is not part of the current hospital renovation. It gained recognition in 1975 when used for scenes in the Academy Award winning film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Oregon Sate Hospital Historic District.
• Walter Gerth, an early booster and mayor of West Salem, opens a store. The family home is now a Local Landmark on Gerth Street.
• Through 37 years, 1920-1957, Louis Olson and his wife Ida lived in a spacious 1912 bungalow at 1490 McCoy Avenue. This beautiful home is in the Grant neighborhood. Mr. Olson had a variety of occupations: packing superintendent at King Foods on Front Street (now Truitt Brothers), patrolman with the Salem Police Department, weightmaster with the State Highway Department, elevator operator and engineer at the Masonic Temple and, finally, caretaker of that institution.
• The Waller-Chamberlain House is moved to its present site on Court Street. It is considered the oldest residence in the Court-Chemeketa Residential Historic District.
• Wilbur Boothby dies at his residence, 171 Court Street. His life and many outstanding local achievements are recognized in contemporary newspaper accounts and a lengthy obituary. Born in Maine in 1840, he had come to Oregon in 1864, after various enterprises in California. His first business a sash and door factory. As a contractor and designer, he built the ornate Marion County Courthouse, the State Hospital, South Eldridge Block (now Greenbaum's Quilted Forest), Bush House and many other local buildings. His wife, the former Miss R. A. Dalglsish, died in 1910, leaving a son and daughter. The Rev. P. S. Knight conducted his funeral service at the home and Boothby was buried in the I. O. O. F. Cemetery ~ now Pioneer Cemetery.