Salem in 1932

World Events

• Adolph Hitler is leader of the NAZI party in Germany where harsh "Law and Order" policies require the death penalty for many offenses.
• The Chinese regular forces of Manchuria surrender to the invading Japanese army, but continue to fight in guerrilla campaigns.
• In July, Hoover orders the US Army to evict the Bonus Army of WW I veterans, assembled in Washington D.C. to demand their benefits. Troops do so the next day. 
• The tragic news story is the kidnapping and death of the Lindbergh baby.
• Americans celebrate Amelia Earhart's solo flight cross the Atlantic. Hattie W. Caraway is the first woman elected to the US Senate.
• Roosevelt's election in November brings in the "New Deal" government recovery programs.
• "Tarzan of the Apes" stars Olympic swimming gold medal winner,  Johnny Weissmuller. Academy Award: "Grand Hotel". Pulitzer Prize: The Store, Thomas Sigismund Stribling.

In Salem
The Elsinore Theatre presents a new type of popular diversion: sound for movies: no more captions as the actors speak! The Elsinore is an example of the 1930s "atmospheric" movie palace intended to be part of the entertainment. Built to resemble a Gothic castle in 1926, it was named for the palace in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The exterior was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, an architect who was founding dean of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts. One of his associates designed the interior. The upper balcony windows are made of stained glass pieces from a cathedral in Germany bombed in World War I.

When you visit
The Elsinore continued as a movie theater until 1993, when it was converted into a performing arts center and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. An extensive, community financed restoration was completed in 2002. The theater is featured on this website's self-guided walking tour of Salem's Historic Downtown. Tours of the theater can be arranged, but the best experience is to attend one of the performances which are listed on the Elsinore website.

Other events

• Douglas McKay becomes mayor. His first job off his father's farm was at the age of 13 to help support himself and his mother. Later he sold candy in Portland theaters, delivered papers, and drove a meat wagon. He quit high school to work at a railroad office. He attended Oregon Agriculture College (now Oregon State University) in Corvallis where he was elected student body president in 1916 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1917. That year he married Mabel Hill. McKay served in the First World War, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant. A severe arm injury suffered in the Argonne combat almost cost him his life. He saw the growing popularity of automobiles and in 1927 he was offered an automobile sales organization in Salem, then at Center and Commercial. He purchased the automobile agency, now Capitol Chevrolet. By 1929, his family was in their home at 395 Jerris Street. It would be the family’s only home in Salem. A natural-born politician, McKay was Salem mayor this year.
• Prices offered by canners for cherries drop to 2 cents a pound and 53 growers form the Willamette Cherry Growers Co-op.
• As a sign of things to come, a first view of television is seen at the State Fair. It will be twenty years before TV becomes developed enough for home viewing.

• Hannah Dautoff Hanzen is the first woman elected to the Oregon Legislature where she serves four terms. During these eight years, she became known as a spitfire who did her homework and was a match for anyone. She recalled later that she "was never looking for a fight, but...wasn't there to be stepped on, either...The year and issues change, but people don't change very much." In 1942 she cracked another all-male stronghold when she was elected Salem Municipal Judge, serving one term. Her marriage to Harry Hanzen led her to withdraw from her career, much to the disappointment of the police department whose members were ready to campaign for her second term. After retirement, Mrs. Hanzen served as president of the Salem Women's Club, corresponding secretary of the Oregon Federation of Women's Clubs, and Executive Secretary of the Marion County Bar Association. She also was an instructor at Willamette University. Her home at 2220 High Street SE, retains the original appearance (with the addition of a garage) and her beautiful garden is much as she designed it.

• Edgar and Ursula Pierce build a home in the Fairmount section of the city for the staggering sum (in those days) of $17,000. This stone English manor house, with its elements of Queen Anne style of architecture, is a unique residence in Salem. The family lived in the house from 1932 to 1935 and from 1940 to 1942, moving out temporarily when it became the rented residence of Governor Martin. Now remembered by both names, it is a National Register property (1997) in the SCAN neighborhood.
• A few blocks away, Dr. Charles G. Robertson builds an English Provincial house, designed by Clarence Smith with gardens created by Lord and Schryver. High on a dead end street, it has wide views over the city. Only its hipped roof and front gable are visible beyond the driveway entrance. It is also a National Register property (1982) in the SCAN neighborhood.
• Elizabeth Lord builds her home on the Mission Street lot adjacent to the site of her parents' home that had burned some years before. Across the street from the home of her friend, Sally Bush, the Bush hillside was an excellent site for experimental plantings. Many of the beautiful trees we enjoy there today date from the 1930s. The Lord residence that she shared with friend and landscape business partner, Edith Schryver, is in the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District. It is now the property of the Lord and Schrvyer Conservancy.

Salem in 1925

World Events

• Kristiania, the capitol of Norway, reverts to its original name of Oslo. After a fire destroyed the city in 1624, it had been rebuilt and named for King Christian IV.
• London's first enclosed double-decker buses are in service.
• Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master, begins a silence that lasts for 44 years, until his death. He communicated with an alphabet board or hand signals, interpreted by his disciple.
• A dog-sled serum run to Nome (The Great Race of Mercy) brings diphtheria antitoxin across the Alaska  territory to combat an epidemic.
• The Butler Act in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution in public schools. Biology high school teacher, John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory. "The Monkey Trial" of Dayton was the most celebrated of the time, attracting the famous lawyers Clarance Darrow and William Jennings Bryan (who died 5 days after the trial.) Scopes is found guilty and fined $100.
• A Thompson sub-machine gun can be purchased for $175 from the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog.
• An exhibition in Paris introduces the Art Deco style of architecture, design and decoration. New books: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald and An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser.

In Salem
Cornelia Marvin celebrates her 20th anniversary as Oregon State Librarian. Through her career she had traveled by team and wagon to speak to farm groups, teachers and clubs, encouraging support for the development of free public libraries. The Legislature had appropriated funds for the purchase of trunks, each including 50 books, to begin traveling library service. Three years later, Cornelia Marvin married Governor Walter M. Pierce. She came under heavy criticism, as women were not expected to have careers of their own, much less be influencing state legislation. Numerous newspaper articles of that time debate about whether Mrs. Pierce was stepping out of her place by continuing to work in state government. She retired the next year. It is appropriate to remember Cornelia Marvin Pierce's determination to make libraries "the hub of the wheel of knowledge" for everyone.

When you visit
Cornelia Pierce lived to see the creation of the Oregon State Library building in 1939. It was the first of the state buildings to be erected on the North Capitol Mall and occupies a prominent position just across Court Street from the Capitol itself. Governor and Mrs. Pierce lived only a few blocks away, adjacent to the Methodist Church. He declined a second term as governor, but was elected to the US House of Representatives, serving from 1932 to 1943. They retired to a Rt. 4. home in the Eola community. He died in 1954 and Cornelia three years later. There is a photograph of the exterior her home and one of her living room, both taken in 1957.

Other Events

• Salem Cherry Growers Association is established.
• During the first part of the 20th century, Salem's canning industry grew from one plant to over ten and canned cherries were an important part of this Salem produce. With improved refrigeration, rail shipments of fresh cherries increased. One of the largest shippers was Salem Cherries Growers Association formed this year. Their fresh packing operation was set up the Max Gehlhar dryer in West Salem.
• Curly's Diary was originally built in 1925, in the old part of Salem on Hood Street. There, Mr. Hans (Curly) Hofstetter converted an old garage into a milk processing plant. The business successfully served the community and became a well-known institution. Unfortunately, economic conditions in 2006 forced it to close.

The "Little Gem" on Water Street near Riverfront Park

• The Little Gem Grocery Store was probably started this year. Originally located at 17th and Chemeketa Street on the corner of a 1906 residential property, it served as a small neighborhood grocery for many years and finally became an artist's studio. In 1998, when the property owner wished to extend his front porch, the neighbors were allowed to move it temporarily to another property where it was repainted and restored so it could be moved to its present location. It is now owned by the city and is a part of the Gilbert House Children's Museum.
• Dr. Carl and Cleo Cashatt built a bungalow on High Street across from Bush's Pasture. They lived there until 1942. Subsequent owners have preserved its exterior integrity and the original interior features. It can be seen in the SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour.
• A residence was built this year by Margorie Kay Huntington and her husband, Hollis. The house was originally just to the north of her parents' property on Court Street. Through the expanion of state property for the North Capitol Mall, the house has been moved several times. It is now a part of the Heritage Park on D Street.

• Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon (edited by Scott McArthur, 2006) recalled two Capitol Journal articles this year about the value of a public school education for young boys. One asked if a parent had the right of educate his own child, or is the child in Oregon a ward of the state? The question was raised by by T. S. Watts, farmer in the Salem Heights district who did not send his ten-year-old son to public schools. His contention was that the boy was receiving as good instruction, or even better, than in the public school. The boy read Emerson with understanding, wrote a good essay and was well mannered. In the second, Kenneth Cole, aged 6 1/2, never went to school a day in his life but knew the alphabet and figures. He set all the headlines for the Falls City Enterprise without help. Only one correction was required.
• On Fairmount Hill, Clarence Smith, a noted architect, designed an English cottage for Burt Ford and his wife Margaret at 490  Leffelle Street in the SCAN neighborhood. Mr. Ford was a partner in the law firm of Ross and Ford. Mrs. Ford continued to live here well into the 1940s. The house is now designated a Local Landmark.
• Local businessmen started Salem's first Golf Club venture this year by donating $250 each to purchase the John Hughes Land Grant to develop a first class golf course. One man, Ercel Kay, the grandson of the founder of Thomas Kay Woolen Mills of Salem, brought it all together. When the golf course first opened to the public, the green fees were 25 cents for the nine holes and 40 cents for the full 18 holes. In 1965, son of Ercel, and great-grandson of the Mission Mill owner, Thomas Kay, bought the course from his father.