Salem in 1991

World Events

• US and UN forces enter Gulf War with operation "Desert Storm" to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Seventh months later, Iraqi soldiers in retreat set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields. These fires put out after extensive efforts.
• The 74 year-old Soviet Union collapses as 11 member nations become independent. Russia is renamed as the Russian Federation with Boris Yeltsin as elected president. The city of St. Petersburg regains its name. Yugoslavia is divided into Croatia and Slovenia. Germany regains complete independence from WW II occupying countries.
• Exxon pays one billion dollars to clean up Valdez oil spill.
• Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, retires. In the confirmation hearings for nominee Clarance Thomas, former aid Anita Hill testifies to his abusing her. Her testimony is disregarded and he is confirmed.
• The police beating of Rodney King is caught on tape and shown on world-wide on TV. Four Los Angeles police officers go on trail.
• The Academy Awards: "Silence of the Lambs"(US),"Mediterraneo (Italy) Prize-winning Books: Mating, Norman Rush and Rabbit at Rest, John Updike.

In Salem

Oregon State Archives Building

In 1991 the Cecil L. Edwards Archives Building was completed. Prior to 1946 Oregon had no Archive structure, no unified approach existed for preserving historical state records. The Secretary of State had custody of the records of the Legislative Assembly and the Governor. All other departments and agencies cared for their own records or placed them in the State Library, however many were presumably destroyed. Moreover, the fire that destroyed the state Capitol in 1935 consumed additional valuable records. The 1945 Legislative Assembly allocated a small amount of money to start the program under the State Library. David Duniway was hired in 1947 as Oregon's first state archivist and served for almost thirty years. He set up shop in the basement of the State Library Building, developing policies and procedures designed to improve government record keeping and preserve the most valuable documents. Eventually, the operation moved into a large warehouse with four floors of storage. Further growth and the need for climate controlled storage areas led to the opening of the current building.

When you Visit
In the Lobby of the Archives visitors are processed into the building and its records for individuals use. Archivists within the Reading room will help find the appropriate records.

North Capitol Mall Review 1937-1991

North Capitol Mall before 1984

North Capitol Mall was now complete except for one more building that would be erected in 2002-3, the Capitol Mall Office Building. This undated photograph (also featured in an earlier year)  was taken before 1984 when the state had not finished constructing buildings in the area within the dotted lines. The State Agriculture and Employment buildings are completed, facing south to Union Street. Residences remain in the blocks north, toward D Street (lower dotted line) between Capitol and Summer Streets. They will be moved or demolished for the Veterans' Affairs Building and for the Archives (see below).
At left center of the photograph above, where the Mill Creek crosses Capitol Street, stood the Cole house, now on Hood Street. To the north (toward the foreground of the photograph) was the Hinges/Kimball house, now a private residence at 1075 Capitol Street. The neighboring Parrish and Rockenfield houses, owned by the City of Salem, are at A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village. These properties are all designated as Local Landmarks.
Before the state construction, Parrish Street cut west across from Capitol Street, and many smaller houses on each side were moved to Williams Street. The small courtyard apartments on D Street (see them at left above dotted line) are in an adjoining Williams Street development created for them.
On the area between Summer and Winter streets, the State Lands Building was completed in 1990. Several houses on the east side of Winter Street escaped demolition: the historic Moon House and German Methodist Parsonage were moved to complex of older homes off D Street and completely renovated to retain their original integrity; the Stiff, Huntington, and McGilchrist house were incorporated as offices into the Capitol Mall Heritage Park at D Street between Summer and Winter Streets. This natural area south of "D" Street and bordering Mill Creek is landscaped for pleasant moments of reflection by this historic waterway. Grant Neighborhood is directly north of "D" Street.
Other events

• R.G. Andersen-Wyckoff becomes mayor.
• This busy activity of the Salem Public Library is interrupted this year by a major renovation that caused the facility to temporarily relocate for several months during construction. One handsome addition of the main floor was the Heritage Room, the result of the generosity and the foresight of the descendants of two Salem Area families. It honors Max and Martha Gehlar and Gov. Douglas and Mabel McKay. Handsome tables, chairs and cabinets were built by Dave and Bob Anderson as their contribution to the Heritage Room. The new Loucks Lecture hall was named for former mayor, Al Loucks, an active library supporter. Not so apparent to the public was the establishment of the library's database, with its Oregon Historical Photograph Collections (used generously in this feature).
• Jim Scheppke is appointed the State Librarian, a position he held for 20 years until his retirement in 2011. As a convenience for visits to the State Library and other buildings of the North Capitol Mall, an underground parking garage serving the North Capitol Mall is added at this time.
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  The World War I Doughboy at Oregon Veterans Memorial Park

  The 1924 World War I Doughboy statue is relocated to the memorial park at the Veterans' Building. It is now a part of a collection of military memorials north of the building and along Winter Street on the west side of Mill Creek. 
•  To acknowledge the health risks of tobacco use, the Salem Hospital becomes smoke-free. In the next ten years, smoking in Oregon's commercial establishments and all public buildings will disappear.
• Proposition 5 passes: Property taxes dedicated for school funding were capped at $15.00 per $1,000 of real market value per year, and gradually lowered to $5. Property taxes for other purposes were capped at $10 per $1,000 per year. Thus the total property tax rate would be 1.5% at the end of the five-year phase in period. The measure transferred the responsibility for school funding from local government to the state, to equalize funding.
• A local ballot proposal to fund a Willamette riverside park and hotel on city property purchased from Boise Cascade is defeated.
• The Willamette Landing condominium complex is completed on Water Street in North Salem offering housing directly on the shore of the Willamette River. The lack of interest in purchasing "condos" leads the owner to offer the units as rentals.

Salem in 1910

World Events

• George V becomes King of Great Britain and Ireland on the death of his father, Edward VII, Victoria's son.
• Asia: Slavery is abolished in China. The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty gives Japan control over that country and the Korean Emperor abdicates. (The treaty is not formally declared void until 1965.)
•  Neon lighting is displayed by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
• Haley's Comet is observed. (In Salem it was seen above Court Street from the upper balcony of the Cooke-Patton mansion.)
• The first public radio broadcast is a live opera performance from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. NOTE: Charles Herrold of San Jose, California is considered as the first radio broadcaster. Beginning in 1909, he was on air daily, transmitting from his Wireless College to friends listening on their crystal radios. He is credited with being a pioneer in recognizing radio for entertainment.
• African-American boxer Jack Johnson defeats white boxer James J. Jeffries in a heavyweight match. Race riots broke out across the U.S.
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is released in a horror film version by Edison Films. Notable new books: Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams and Howards End, E.M. Forster

In Salem
Forty years after his death, a memorial to one of Salem's most important early pioneers, David Leslie, was created this year with the Leslie Methodist Church, built south of the city limits at the corner of Commercial and Myers Streets, near the site of the present St. Paul Episcopal Church. The parsonage (seen above in a 2008 photograph) was also constructed in 1910.
The Reverend David Leslie was prominent in the small pioneer settlement that would become Salem. In 1845, he was elected president of the board of trustees for the Oregon Institute, a school for settlers' children. He held this position through the Institute's transition into Willamette University and, in 1867, laid the cornerstone of Waller Hall. Leslie also was one of the founders of Salem's Masonic Order chapter and the first chaplain of the territorial legislature. He received a sizeable portion of the Mission land claim, a section stretching between Mission and McGilchrist Streets. From Pringle Creek, the Leslie land grant extended to the Willamette Slough.

The 100 acres that included his home, barn and orchard were sold to Asahel Bush in 1860, nine years before his death. Leslie's former home was moved to Mission and Cottage streets for the construction of the Bush house in 1877-8, but his barn was preserved. Reverend Leslie's family life was punctuated by tragedy. His first wife, Mary Leslie, died in 1842 and was the first to be buried in a cemetery that was part of his land claim. Four of his five daughters by this marriage preceded him in death ~ two by drowning in a canoe accident. Rev. Leslie married a widow, Adelia Judson Olley, and had two more daughters, but both died in childhood.

The Leslie name is now remembered with a residential street near his property and Leslie Middle School, relocated from its original site on Howard Street to 3850 Pringle Road South.

When you visit
In 1981, the Leslie church closed and was demolished a few years later, making space for commercial buildings we see today as we drive south. However, in 1984, the parsonage was moved to 1305 Cannon Street SE to serve as a doctor's office. Across Cannon Street is another relocated historic residence, the former home of Dr. Carleton Smith, moved here from 1153 Oak Street in the former University residential area. Dr. Smith served in WW I, was our first City Physician, a professor at Willamette University and was a state legislator. Both of these beautifully maintained Local Landmarks are in the present Morningside neighborhood.

The Leslie family is buried with Mary Leslie near her original grave in what is now Pioneer Cemetery.

It is possible that the original home, after it was moved, became the first building of the Oregon School for the Blind. It was demolished many years ago. The Leslie barn burned, but was rebuilt to continue being the offices, gift shop and galleries of the Salem Art Association.

Leslie Street is now only a fraction of its original length from the Willamette River to 12th Street, a major central section having been vacated for the Salem Hospital.

Other Events

• Census records show the Salem population at 14,094.
• Two schools are built in developing residential neighborhoods of North Salem, annexed to the city in 1903: Englewood School was constructed south of Garden Road (Market Street) and east of 17th Street, just north of the historic Jason Lee Cemetery. The Oregon School for the Deaf (in far grander buildings than are on the campus today) was established on Locust Street north of the present Market Street.
• Construction began for the Jason Lee Memorial Church at the intersection of Fairgrounds Road and Jefferson Street.
• A modest farmhouse is built on the narrow road leading to the Wallace property in West Salem now numbered 1340 Wallace Road, it is a Local Landmark, known as the Quarry House. There is no information about the original owner.
• At 905 5th Street, along Mill Creek in the new Grant section of Salem, an English cottage was built for Fred and Nellie Broer who lived there for more than twenty years. Its architecture resembles that of the Douglas Minto house at 831 Saginaw and may have been designed by the same person.
• The Endicott House is built at 675 Church Street, next door to the elegant D'Arcy House, twenty years its senior. This house was built for attorney Samuel M. Endicott who lived here with wife Emma until 1934. In 1945 the property was sold to Lenore Park who divided the house into two apartments calling it the Park Apartments. These houses are both in CAN-DO neighborhood have been designated as Local Landmarks.

 

Hinges-Kimball Home on Summer Street 1910

In the present location on Capitol Street 2010

• Nearby on Summer Street, the Hinges family moved into a new home. Mrs. Hinges was the daughter of pioneer Josiah Parrish, mother of Hallie Parris Hinges, a noted local vocalist. Moved for the construction of the North Capitol Mall, it is now located on Capitol Street. It is remarkable that the house exterior is so unchanged after more than a hundred years. (It has been painted since this photograph.) An aerial photograph taken this year shows the Piety Hill neighborhood of the Hinges home and so many other prominent Salem families of that time.
• South of downtown in the Fairmount area of the present SCAN neighborhood, the Cusick House is built at 415 Lincoln Street (See 1978 photo). This is a white, Edwardian-era mansion with wrought iron fencing and a large circular porch with square columns. Built by Dr. William A. Cusick, a prominent physician of the 1920s, it was occupied by his widow, Maria, for many years after his death. One of Salem's outstanding residences, it is a National Register property.
• In the present SESNA neighborhood, the modest Martin House is built at 1548 Lee Street. This property and surrounding lots were sold to J. W. Roork in 1891 and then, in the same year, this lot was sold to F. M. Rinehart. These were the first of many quick transactions over the next twenty years when the house had nine different owners. Jessie Martin bought the property in 1921 and continued to live here into the 1950s. Miss Martin was a teacher at the Park School. This is also designated Local Landmark.
• Further south, at the present 230 Hrubetz Road in the Faye Wright neighborhood, there is built a house that is now associated with the name Townsend, but most was probably the home of Frederick and Jeanette Kuebler. That family owned property in this rural area south of Salem and there is now a busy suburban road named for them.
• A remarkable photograph from this year shows stern-wheeler ships in the Salem harbor.

Salem's Moving History #7 of 12

Trover photograph, courtesy Oregon State Library Photograph Collection

This 1910 Bungalow-Colonial Revival home stood at the former 295 Summer Street (lawn in the center of the Mall today) until moved in 1940s for construction of the North Capitol Mall. It was originally the home of the Hinges family. The daughter, Hallie Parrish Hinges (1868-1950) was a well-known vocalist in Salem, being declared by Pres. Teddy Roosevelt during his visit here in 1903 as the "Oregon Nightingale". After 1926 it was owned by Samuel and Sara Kimball.
photo courtesy Oregon Historic Photograph Collections, Salem Public Library
The 1940s move of the Hinges/Kimball home by the state took it to 735 Capitol Street to be used as an office building. (Today the lawn area south of the Archives Building.) It was photographed in 1978 by Bob Koval. It remained here almost 50 years until the late 1990s when it was moved again for the Archives construction. It was placed three blocks further north on Capitol Street.

photo by Tom Green, Jr in 2008

Here is the same house, now in private ownership, as it appears in its third location at 1075 Capitol Street NE. Still a handsome building, this Local Landmark has survived two moves and almost 100 years!