Salem in 1984

World Events

• Democrats pick Geraldine Ferraro as VP running mate with Walter Mondale. Republican Ronald Reagan easily wins re-election.
• President Reagan makes a historic visit to China, making a step toward friendlier relations between China and U.S., but the question of Taiwan as the official (democratic) Republic of China is unsolved.
• Bishop Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Bruce Mccandleuss and Robert Stewart make first untethered space walk. Kathy Sullivan is first woman to space walk.
• Apple's Macintosh is introduced.
• The Bell telephone system is broken into independent companies.
• The U.S.S.R. boycotts the summer Olympics in L.A. in response to the American-lad boycott of Moscow in previous summer games.
• Chicago White Sox defeat Milwaukee Brewers in longest game of major league history: 25 innings of 8 hours, six minutes.
• The Canadian entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, is founded.
• Academy Awards:"Amadeus" (US),"Dangerous Moves (Switzerland). Prize-winning Books: Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories, Ellen Gilchrist and Ironweed, William Kennedy.

Marion County Historical Society in the former Thomas Kay Mill Office

In Salem
In the late 1940s, when proposals were made to demolish both the building that housed Oregon's capitol at statehood (the Holman Building, demolished in 1949) and the proposal to demolish Marion County's 80-year-old courthouse (which happened in 1952), many Salem residents became concerned at the loss of their heritage. Eventually, on July 11, 1950, they formed the Marion County Historical Society. The organizational meetings were held in the fireplace room of the 1912 Carnegie-aided Public Library at the corner of Winter and State streets. Led by its first president, Oregon State Archivist David Duniway, and secretary, Salem Public Library Director Hugh Morrow, the society promoted historic preservation in Marion County as well as held educational programs and published booklets of Marion County history. It led preservation efforts for historic buildings such as the Jason Lee House, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill and Historic Deepwood Estate.
It accomplished all this with a small membership and no home of its own: meeting notes record that it met for many years wherever a room in a church or business was available the next month. About 1980, the society began a museum in a small room of Mission Mill Museum. This effort expanded in 1984 when the society purchased the mill's old retail store and converted it into an office, library and small exhibition hall. In 1999, it received a certificate of commendation (one of less than 100 awarded) from the American Association for State and Local History, and the NonProfit Member of the Year Award from the Salem Convention and Visitors Association.

When you visit
In January of 2010, the Marion County Historical Society merged with Mission Mill Museum to form the new Willamette Heritage Center on the campus they have shared for a quarter of a century. Mission Mill Museum will curate and produce exhibits and store the collection of artifacts that have been donated to MCHS and Mission Mill in the past. The former MCHS will become the library of local historical materials and genealogical records for both institutions. At the present time, documents and photographs are being archived and indexed for use at the historical society facility. When funds are available, they will be scanned for a website and available online. The library is open to the public for research Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday by appointment. Admission is paid at Mission Mill Museum.

Our thanks to Kyle Jansson and Elisabeth Walton Potter for their contributions to this historical information.

Other Events

• The Pioneer above the Capitol is re-gilded this year. Scaffolding is built around the statue above the structure.
• Former mayor Vern Miller dies this year. Wes Sullivan wrote a tribute: "As mayor, Dr. Vern Miller led Salem to maturity as a city. Sitting in his tiny, windowless mayor’s office in a nineteenth-century City Hall in 1965, he had visions for Salem that went beyond its just being an adjunct to the statehouse. He had the courage and dogged determination to turn these visions into reality. He brought to his office as mayor the caring and the integrity that made him a fine and respected surgeon. And where he led, people followed."
• Edith Schryver also died this year. A diminutive young lady traveling to Europe by ship was placed by mistake at the Children's Table in the Dining Salon. When she requested a glass of wine and was refused, the adult Edith Schryver insisted on being moved to another table. There she met Elizabeth Lord who would become her lifetime companion and partner in their landscaping enterprise.
• A less noticed death was that of 84-year old Ray DeAutremont, the last surviving of three brothers who led authorities on a nearly four year, worldwide manhunt. After conviction, they were incarcerated in the Oregon State Prison here in Salem, sentenced to life imprisonment. Their crime, known to history, as the 1923 "Last Great Train Robbery" was the hold up of the southbound Southern Pacific #13 near Ashland, Oregon. Four men killed and not a dime to reward the efforts of Ray, Roy and Hugh DeAutremont. Hugh, the youngest of the three, was paroled in 1958 and died less than six months later. The younger twin, Roy, died in Oregon State Hospital in 1983. Ray, the oldest of the twins, had won parole in 1961.
• The original spire of the First United Methodist Church is replaced. This landmark continues to give Salem a presence as one approaches from the west and reminds us of the missionary goals that inspired the early settlers and the eventual creation of the city.

Former riverfront industrial properties transformed into a park

• The City of Salem purchases 22 acres of prime river front property from Boise Cascade for the purpose of implementing a Salem Riverfront Master Plan, which included a conference center, hotel, outdoor theater and commercial/retail space. The plan also included an under-crossing at State Street. A citizen initiative later rejected the plan. However, Salem's former industrial site from Leslie Street to the south to Union Street at the north has, by 2012, changed radically in use and appearance. (See the current Riverfront Master Plan) The 12.95-acre site previously owned by Boise Cascade south of Riverfront Park, is now under renovation and construction. Future plans include a mix of uses including rental housing, commercial/retail and parking. A pedestrian path will lead under the Commercial Street Bridge, connecting the Civic Center Park with the Willamette River along Pringle Creek. Riverfront Park and the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village have made the waterfront a community asset for informal social occasions and for recreation.

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)

Salem in 1889

 World Events

• The Dakotas, Montana and Washington become states.
• The Eiffel Tower, tallest structure in the world, opens for the Paris World's Fair, but critics declare it as "aesthetically displeasing" .
• The Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania kills over 2,200 residents. Fires rage in both Seattle and Spokane.
• The Coca-Cola Company is organized as Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
• The Eiffel Tower, tallest structure in the world, opens for the Paris World's Fair, but critics declare it as "aesthetically displeasing" .
• "Pizza Margherita, named for the queen, is baked in Naples, introducing that popular dish.
• New American Book: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain

In Salem

Two Queen Anne styled business blocks are constructed this year on the west side of Commercial Street between State and Court. Walter D. Pugh designed both structures, as well as the 1895 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill.
To the south is the Bush-Breyman Block (top), jointly constructed by Asahel Bush and Werner Breyman. Initially, a store selling drugs occupied the shop on the south while a clothing store occupied the shop on the north; there were offices above. Numerous Salem professional offices have occupied the second floor, including the law offices of former chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, Benjamin F. Bonham and both Charles L. McNary and his brother, John McNary. The American Red Cross and the Camp Fire Girls of Marion County also occupied second-floor.
To the north is the Bush and Brey Block, built by Asahel Bush and Mortiz Brey. Clothing stores were there: Dalrymple's, Krausse, McVoy, The Chicago Store (as above) and others. From 1917 until 1934, Buren's Furniture and Luggage Store occupied the southern-most portion of the block. The first upstairs tenant of the Bush and Brey Block was Myra Sperry, a photographer. Sperry sold her business to Cherrington and then to Tom Cronise who also used the studio. Upstairs businesses included several printers, hemstitchers and dressmakers as well as three savings and loan companies, a dentist, a lawyer, the Salvation Army (1935-1942), the Knights of Columbus (1947-1949), and the Order of the Moose (1953-1955).

When you visit
 These buildings have changed due to additions and loss by fire.
The Bush portion of the Bush-Breyman Block was damaged by fire in 1960, and subsequently demolished. The historical photograph shows the section that burned, leaving only the entrance to the upper floor. The contemporary photograph shows the south part of the original building. Also in the contemporary photograph, a red-painted column (behind the red car) marked the original end of the building. Retail businesses still occupy the ground floor with offices above.
The Bush Brey Block had a three-window addition at the south after 1915, also designed by Walter Pugh, who used the same materials and stylistic treatment to match the existing building. Clothing stores have been consistent tenants in the addition. J. L. Busick & Sons operated a grocery store at the rear two-story location at the Court Street intersection from 1924 until 1970. From 1972 to 1998 it housed the very popular Hindquarter and Night Deposit restaurants: after-hours home to legislators, lobbyists, and professionals, and number one high school prom destination.

Other events

• The booming economy in Salem encouraged similar commercial construction downtown.  South Eldridge Block is built on the east side of Commercial in the block between Court and Chemeketa Streets, probably designed by Wilbur F. Boothby. The Italianate business block originally contained 23 bays and extended the length of the city block. It has been historically associated with several generations of the Rostein and Greenbaum families, prominent local merchants. Greenbaum's Quilted Forest continues in business there. The northern portion of the building, containing businesses of two other well-known families, the Barnes Cash Store and Fry's Drug store, was lost to urban renewal and is now the entrance to Chemeketa Parkade.
• George Williams, a Civil War veteran who lost his leg at Gettysburg, is elected mayor and will serve two years. His father-in-law is Sebastian Adams, creator of a 23-foot, illustrated historical chart being sold nationally at this time. 
• The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Company is founded. It was the largest woolen mill in the state with 50 mill workers when, in November of 1895, fire destroyed the mill in an hour and a half. However Kay's ability and reputation brought immediate pledges for funds and the present brick mill was completed in one year. The Kay mill boomed during World War II, but unable to compete with synthetic fabrics, the mill closed in 1959. In 1964, the Mission and Mill Museum, Inc. (later Mission Mill Museum Association, now Willamette Heritage Center), was incorporated. In 1973 the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains one of the few North American mill museums where direct-drive waterpower is demonstrated.

• Patrick and Margaret Feely puchase land to build this handsome home at 1349 Center Street. The family continued to own this Queen Anne-styled house until 1945. Located in the NEN neighborhood, the Feely House is among the few residences of this era to remain a private residence in this neighborhood for so many years. It has been designated as a Local Landmark.

Ben Maxwell recalls from the 1889 Capitol Journal:

Whoever may pass westward toward Front Street at any time the breeze comes from the Willamette must be disgusted by the odor that arises from the decaying vegetable matter dumped over the river bank to faster and breed disease.

A Salem man, walking along 14^th Street between Chemeketa and Court Street, passed two ladies. When he stepped aside, a sidewalk board flew up and struck him in the face. The mishap threw all to the ground and all received bruises.

The price of cigarettes in Salem advanced to 10 cents a package from a nickel. The increase was a good thing since it will prevent many youngsters from buying them. At 5 cents, the little shaver could indulge in puffing, but at a dime, he would not smoke as many.

A number of Salemites attended the Mechanic’s Industrial Fair in Portland. A reporter saw a prominent gentleman throwing kisses and winking at a wax female figure on display in a principal booth.

(See Ben Maxwell’s Salem, Oregon edited by Scott McArthur, 2006)