Salem in 1911

World Events

• The Mexican Revolution, led by Madero and Pancho Villa, ends as Porfirio Diaz resigns and flees to France. Political conflict continued until the adoption of a Constitution in 1917 .
• Physician, writer and philosopher Sun-Tat-Sun (known afterward as the Father of the Nation) is elected Provisional President of a democratic government in China as Manchu dynasty falls.
• Marie Curie wins Nobel Prize for chemistry.
• U. S. Supreme Court finds Standard Oil Trust violated Sherman Anti-trust Act. The monopoly broken up and 34 companies established.
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City kills 146 immigrant (mostly women) workers unable to escape as the doors were locked by owners to prevent unauthorized work breaks.
• Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu in Peru.
• Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition reaches the South Pole.
• Bobby Jones wins is first golf title at the age of 9.
• New American Books: Jennie Gerhardt, Theodore Dreiser; Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton; Canzoni, Ezra Pound.

In Salem

• In this photograph, President William Howard Taft stands in an automobile, surrounded by not-so-Secret Service. In the background is the Eugene Breyman house on the northeast corner of Church and Court Streets, now the site of Statesman Journal. The president appears to be facing the Breyman Brothers Spanish American War Memorial at the entrance to Willson Park. Hallie Parrish Hinges (featured in the 1903 entry) leads a chorus of school children as the president gazes down on the group.

After leaving office, Taft spent his time in seeking world peace through his self-founded "League to Enforce Peace." In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft Chief Justice of the United States, fulfilling Taft's lifelong dream. Taft served in this capacity until his death in 1930.

When you visit
The Eugene Breyman residence, like that of his brother Werner (a block south), has been demolished. This house, greatly renovated, was moved to Summer Street during the conversation of the original residential block to commercial use. In the 1990s it was demolished for the construction of the State Lands Building.
The 1904 Spanish American memorial remains the Cottage Street gateway into Willson Park. The park was created in 1854 when William Willson, pioneer of the Methodist mission, donated a portion of his land to build the new Oregon territorial capitol building. The capitol would be located in the center of a long, open space designated on Willson's original plat as "Willson Avenue," just south of his house on the corner of Court and Capitol streets. (See 1881) It was Willson's wish to preserve open spaces within the growing town, similar to the village commons in the New England towns. The block between the capitol building and the Marion County Courthouse was declared a public square. It eventually became known as Willson Park.

Other events

Duniway-Lachmund Home on Court Street, 1911-1930s

Present State Street Location, 2014

• Louis Lachmund becomes mayor. Due to the construction of the North Capitol Mall in 1937, his home on Court Street was condemned, purchased by Willamette University and moved to the campus. A subsequent move brought it to its present location on State Street. When the Lachmunds left their home, they moved to the Jarman House, a 1929 Spanish Colonial residence designed by Beverly Hills architect Glen McAlister with gardens created by the local landscape firm of Lord and Schryver. This National Register property can be seen on SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour.
• An outstanding social event is the wedding of Margaret Boot to Asahel Bush IV, grandson of the newspaper publisher and founder of Ladd and Bush Bank. Her parents' home is on Birdshill Drive in South Salem neighborhood. The young couple became parents of Asahel V and Stuart Bush. Margaret died at age of 34 in 1934 after an illness of 3 years.
• D. A. White Warehouse is erected on Front Street. This company had numerous large feed warehouses, including one in Europe, but this the only one that remains a token of that enterprise of the horse-and-buggy era.  It is still standing in the same location and can be seen on the SHINE Historic Downtown Walking Tour.
• Eugene Ely, the Bird Man, an aviation pioneer, visits Salem and makes a successful flight. He mounts his fragile machine on Lone Oak track at the fairgrounds, turned on the juice and after skimming along the track, arose from the ground in front of the grandstand. He ascended about 400 feet and raced around the track, first with an automobile and then with a motorcycle. As a final performance, he circled the Capitol Dome. That October he died during a Macon, Georgia exhibition in a crash when his plane was late pulling out of a dive.

In the Capitol Journal:

• Salem's mayor was arrested for violating a traffic ordinance, His honor was charged with cutting a corner at the intersection of State and Commercial streets. The mayor pleaded that his horse was just a colt and that he could not control it. Judge Elgin remitted the fine and the mayor was richer by a $5 gold piece.
• Buren and Hamilton, Salem household furnishers, advertised heating stoves from $1.50 up. Their carbon heaters for both coal and wood were supplied with heavy grates and extra-heavy cast iron fire pots. All had large mica doors in front, giving the effect of an open fire. They were neat and free from superfluous trimmings.
• Barnes Cash Store offered old Civil War Springfield rifles of 45-70 calibers with a bayonet for $1.50. "A very appropriate decoration for Memorial Day".
• Secretary of State Olcott desired to oust State Printer Duniway from the Capitol. he requested an opinion from Attorney General Crawford on the subject. Crawford ruled that the state printer was occupying his quarters without authority, but so were the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the governor and the Supreme Court.

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

Salem in 1909

World Events

• China gives Japan railway concessions in Manchuria. Ito Hirofumi, four times Prime Minister in Japan and Resident General of Korea, is assassinated in the Harbin Railway Station in Manchuria.
• Albert I succeeded his father, Leopold II, as ruler of Belgium. He would prove to be a far different ruler than his father: sincerely religious, brave in defending his people in the WW I German invasion, promoting universal suffrage and education.
• British explorer Ernest Shackleton with his Nimrod Expedition reaches near the South Pole, but must turn back due to dwindling supplies.
• Robert Peary, Matthew Henson and four Inuit guides come close to North Pole. Henson actually came closest and planted the flag.
• Republican William Henry Taft is elected 27th. President of the U.S. after serving as Governor of the Philippines, U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of War.
• General Motors is founded by William C. Durant in Detroit, selling various assembled automobiles under different brand names.
• The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is founded.
• New American Books: Exultations, Ezra Pound. Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter, and Three Lives, Gertrude Stein.

In Salem

 Garfield School, designed by Fred Legg, is constructed at 528 Cottage Street following the American Renaissance style typical of schools built at that time. By 1959 it was the oldest school building in the district: Superintendent Schmidt suggested it be closed because of fire dangers. However, parent protests against closing this neighborhood school kept it open until 1973.

When you Visit

At that time, a zone change by the Planning Commission allowed it to be renovated and used as an office building. It was listed on the National Register in 1981.The school has retained its original appearance, and thanks to its being designated on the National Register of Historic Places, it may be shared the demolition that has doomed other buildings of that time. Its interior has been completely renovated, abolishing the classrooms, and is used for offices.
During the summer, many Salem residents enjoy shopping at the Saturday Market, just to the east, and park in the lot that once served the school itself.

Other Events

1915 Salem Police Department

• In 1909, Salem's Police Department lost it only officer killed in the line of duty.  Thomas M. Eckhart was 45 years old and the father of 5 children when he arrested George Meyers who had stolen a horse. While being led away to jail, Mr. Meyers pulled out a gun and shot Officer Eckhart. The Meyers conviction for murder was overturned and there is no evidence of any further incarceration at the state penitentiary. Neither our Police Department nor his family has any photograph of Officer Eckhart, although possible the men in the photograph above probably served with him. Mr. Eckhart had previously served Chief of the Salem Fire Department, resigning in 1901. He is buried in Pioneer Cemetery beside his wife Rose. More information from that website is here. His name is inscribed at National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C. Here is enlargement of his name.
• Recent additional information from Brian Goforth, Thomas Eckhart's great-grandson: "Following the second trial, Meyers was sentenced to the Oregon State Prison.  He was sentenced in 1911 (that's how long it took for the two trials to play out) and served about two years.  According to the newspaper articles, he apparently was a model prisoner and was given privileges such as work releases.  He was pardoned by the then-governor Oregon governor Oswald West in 1913.  The newspaper reported that Meyers went to Seattle and lived there for a time.  In 1915, again as reported in the newspaper, Meyers stopped in Salem to visit family and friends on his way to San Francisco.  He told people that he was going to San Francisco to get married.  According to the newspaper, when he arrived in San Francisco, he found that the woman he was to marry had married someone else.  He shot and killed her, then took his own life!  How's that for a twist of events?"

There have been no other "on duty" fatalities among our police for the 101 years since this event.
189 sworn police officers and 109 civilian employees currently staff our police department. It subscribes to the Community Oriented Policing model to bring police and citizens together to better fight crime. The Citizen Police Academy is a 13-week class, limited to 20 citizens, to inform and educate citizens in police practices.

• Due to the unhealthy drinking water, the City Council authorizes the purchase of the Salem Water Company. Citizens for a Mountain Water Company gain enough votes to secure a bond issue of $400,000.
• The Salem Fruit Union plant is operating on Trade Street (on the site of today's Pringle Park).
• US National Bank is constructed at Commercial and State Streets. (This is now Pioneer Trust.)
• Fred Legg designs a new Oregon School for the Deaf at its present location on Locust Street. The former school building on Turner Road becomes the Oregon Tuberculosis Hospital.
• Eaton Hall is built at Willamette University.
• The Korb family builds a home on 5th. Street in the present Grant neighborhood. The house is now rebuilt after a renovation project caused its collapse.
• Jefferson Pooler constructs three Court Street houses associated with the Spaulding and Griffith families. Charles K. Spaulding purchases these Craftsman house as wedding presents for his three adult children: Mrs. Roy (Beulah) Mills, Mrs. Lewis (Ila) Griffith and Walter, who married Nettie Miller. Dr. John Griffith, son of Lewis and Ila, still lives in his parents' former home. Another Pooler design is the Abrams House with Mill Creek directly at the back of the house: a bridge leads to the back lawn. The Pooler houses are all featured in the SHINE Court-Chemeketa Walking Tour.
• Daniel Fry, a Commercial Street druggist, purchases the house at 606 High Street, built in 1859 by Showalter Smith. This is now known as the Smith-Fry House. The Fry property included all of Rattlesnake Hill, which became known as Fry's Hill. Mr. Fry built houses around the base of the hill on High, Leslie and Church Streets as homes for his two adult children and as rentals for his employees. In later years (perhaps in the 1920s?), this neighborhood bordered by Church, Mission, Liberty and Pringle Creek gained a new name, Gaiety Hill. That designation is now given to this section of the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park National Register Residential Historic District. These historic houses can be viewed on the SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour,
• The building that had previously been Alvin Waller's 1853 Methodist Church was photographed this year. By this time it had been moved to a Liberty Street location was serving as Olmstead's Steam Laundry.
• George Chamberlain resigns as governor when he elected this year as a United States senator.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Oregon's House of Representatives, meeting in Salem, voted to abolish the murderous hatpin of over 10 inches in length. Milliners protested, saying the law would affect the sale of Merry Widow hats and ruin some milliners.
• Ye Liberty Theater advertised: "Educational and comic pictures only ~ we guarantee nothing sensational will be shown."
• Meyer and Belle Land Company offered a fine, five room house with bath, electric lights, water and a 66 by 50 foot lot for $1,150; cash down, $650.
• The stern-wheeler Pomona arrived at Salem with 100 hop pickers and their enormous load of baggage. The steamer had difficulty getting over the Willamette River shoal and put her donkey engine to work hauling over shallows with the aid of stilts.

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

Salem in 1908

World Events

• Japanese emigration to U.S. is forbidden under terms of the "Gentlemen's Agreement" by administration officials of Japan and United States, easing the fear that a legal treaty against Japanese might cause hostilities
• Sentiment against Chinese labor in America grows as part of the fear that cheap Asian labor was taking America jobs.
• Young Turk Committee of Union and Progress issues ultimatum to Sultan Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Constitution of 1876: it is done the next day.
• Tunguska Event (or Russian Explosion) in Siberia is believed to be caused by air burst of meteorite or comet 3 miles above the earth surface.
• Grand Canyon National Monument was established due to Roosevelt's enthusiasm for preserving America's natural assets.
• Henry Ford introduces the Model T, the first affordable automobile.
• Related inventions: Fountain pens become popular after Walter Schaffer patents a vacuum ink filler. The Hoover Company acquires manufacturing rights to an upright portable vacuum cleaner.
• New Books: The Circular Staircase, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame and Room with a View, E.M. Forster.

In Salem
The Oregon Electric Railway runs between Portland and Salem with a terminus at the Hubbard Building on the corner of High and State Streets (as seen above) in the hub of our city. A block to the north is the City Hall. The Grand Hotel, the Grand Theater and the Marion County Courthouse are just steps away. One block to the east is the First Methodist Church and the Post Office. Beyond that are Willson Park, the State House and Willamette University. Truly, this is the center of the city. There are 35 daily trips, each taking an hour and a half and costing twenty-five cents.

When you visit
The building remains, painted a light color. The Grand Hotel Annex and Theater are still there. Gone are the City Hall, the classic Courthouse, the Post Office and the State House of those years. The trains and even the rails are also gone: victims of the Depression years and the growing convenience of the automobile. The trains stopped running in 1935 and the rails were gradually removed. In 1972, the final Trade Street rails were dug out for the new Civic Center and improvements to Willamette University campus.

Other events

• Local boy, A. C. Gilbert, wins an Olympic Gold medal. He qualified for the 1908 Olympics in London, but his victory there was disappointing. After a controversy with the judges about his use of a pole of his own invention, he used the same pole as his rival, E. T. Cooke - and still won. However, the judges ruled that Cooke had reached the same height in the preliminaries, and that the two should share the medal. Cooke graciously let Gilbert have the medal which was presented to him by Queen Alexandria of England.

The Chinese float in the annual Cherry City Parade

• The local Chinese community, active in Salem life, enter a float in the annual Cherry Festival Parade.
• Eaton Hall is built on the Willamette University Campus. This classroom building was built with a $50,000 grant from Mr. A.E. Eaton, the owner of Union Woolen Mills.

The Gottlob and Wilhelmina Pade House

• On 15th Street, the Pade House is built by Gottlob and Wilhelmena Pade, recent immigrants. This was also home for their son, Bernhardt, a partner in Simon and Pade grocery store. He operated Pade’s Market until retirement 1965. After his death in 1975, his widow, Leona, lived here until 1985. She was well known for her garden of rare plants. This Local Landmark is also in the NEN neighborhood.

Walter and Grace Gerth House in West Salem

• Another 1908 house to become a Local Landmark is the Gerth House. Walter and Grace Gerth operated their Edgewater Street store for 35 years, from 1911 to 1946. During this time he served several terms as mayor of West Salem, built the first two-story commercial building in West Salem, started the first grocery delivery and loaned the city money to pay its bills.
• An ornamental concrete block house is built at 1724 Chemeketa Street using Sears Modern Home Plan #52. This year the Sears catalog had 8 pages advertising machines that could stamp out blocks that were "cheap, quick and practical" building materials. This house was probably built by C. B. Stone, who had purchased the lot in 1907 and was listed in the City Directory of 1909-10 as a "cement worker" with a next-door address as his residence. See it in the Court-Chemeketa Walking Tour.
• The Oregon State Institution for the Feeble Minded opens in December. Renamed as Fairview Training Center, it continued as a Salem institution until its closing in 2000. A 1920s photograph shows the LeBreton Cottage (the 1908 administration building), the 1919 Hoff Cottage and the 1910 Chamberlain Cottage. All were, despite their names, sizable buildings resembling hospitals.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Spectators pronounced the fistfight witnessed on State Street in front of the Spa as "one of the finest". Even the street car stopped to allow combatants, who were slugging it out in the mud along the tracks, to continue their battle.
• W. B. Gibson, who had operated a barber shop at 147 Commercial Street for the past three years, moved to a larger and more elegant quarters at 364 State Street. His new shop would be one of the largest outside Portland with 11 chairs, two suites of bathrooms and club and card rooms in the basement.
• This newspaper advertized for a carrier boy on a route that required he own and ride a pony.

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

• 
  

Salem in 1906

World Events

• The All-India Muslim League is founded as a political party to advance the creation of an independent Pakistan.
• Mt Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples. Funds that were to be used for holding the 1908 summer Olympic games there were diverted to reconstructing the city.
• San Francisco suffers an earthquake and resulting fire which destroyed over 80% of the city.
• US Marines begin a 2-year occupation of Cuba after revolt against the government.
• President Theodore Roosevelt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in ending the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5).
• The sailing vessel Peter Iredale wrecks at Clatsop Spit off Oregon coast, eight miles south of Columbia River Channel. The remains are still visible.
• "Allergy" is introduced as medical term for hypersensitive reactions.
• The first Victor Victrola, a wind-up record player, is manufactured in Camden, New Jersey.
• New American Books: The Four Million, O Henry; The Jungle, Upton Sinclair.

In Salem
Prune orchards brought prosperity to the south Liberty Street, Sunnyside and Rosedale areas. After being gathered, fruit was taken to dryers to be washed and stacked in trays. The prune drier closest to downtown Salem was located in the Candalaria area, where the Falk family had a prune orchard. Another orchard and drier was near the Hilfiker's orchard. Between 1905 and 1930, nearly seventy driers could be found within a radius of about 2 1/2 miles from Liberty and Reese Hill Road. The driers (see above) were barn structures with furnaces. Many of the driers were near springs; otherwise a well had to be dug for water and power used to pump it.
This was the area of the Smith Donation Land Claim, purchased by Ferdinand Ewall and developed as Ewall Fruit Farms, located at the south end of the Commercial Street Car line. Fred Thompson purchased the northern section of the Smith land for his Salem Heights development. Because the buildings south of Salem Heights were so few, it was called "String Town."

When you visit
By 1982, housing developments had taken over most of the land formerly used for prune orchards. This is now an established residential area of Salem with businesses along Commercial Street. However, as late as 1935, when the State House burned, Candalaria was still such a rural area that there was consideration of reconstructing the Capitol building there on the heights.
There are at least four historical residential properties still in their original location in this South Salem neighborhood, all but one are still private homes. The 1878 Falk House is probably one of the oldest and, in spite of many exterior alterations, has been designated as a Local Landmark. In 1909, the Boot family purchased a home on Birdshill Drive. The original 1901 farmhouse has also been remodeled and the property divided so it now contains a fraction of its acres as a prune orchard. In 1905, Fred Thompson built a residence for his parents on Liberty Street. The structure has had many uses since that time, including as The House of Design and is now a popular business location as McMenamin's Thompson Brewery and Public House. On Mountain View Road, another home that once within an orchard is the one associated with the Calaba family.

Other Events

• A photograph taken this year from the State House roof shows Willson Park and downtown looking toward the Willamette River. This was a popular site for early photographers seeking an aerial view, especially of the residential neighborhood to the north and looking west toward downtown from tower of this prominent capitol structure. Foreground, old Bandstand. The Post Office is the nearest building in the center with Marion County Courthouse just beyond. The Odd Fellows building is to the right. Methodist Church to left.
• The Vaudette Theater in the Wagner Building on Court Street brought the earliest movies to Salem.
• Two prominent constructions in downtown are the Ada and Mark Skiff Block with its Queen Anne feature and /Meyers D'Arcy buildings.
• On Court Street the Constable House is completed. It replaced an earlier 1870s structure, probably built by James Joseph, and may incorporate elements of the original dwelling. In 1902, it was sold to Charles O. and Sarah E. Constable for the amount of $1,650. The residence is now in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District in the NEN neighborhood and is featured in the SHINE slide show walking tour of that district.
• East of town, in the present SESNA neighborhood, Mr. Potter, a carpenter, constructs a fine, two-story residence. Divided into apartments many years ago, it has recently been renovated to its former dignity.

Photo of early pioneer graves used by courtesy of Elisabeth Walton Potter

• Jason Lee's body is interred in Salem's Lee Mission Cemetery with the same gravestone as the original burial site in Canada. The cemetery was established in 1854 on the land grant to Methodist missionary wife, Elizabeth Winn Parrish. The first burial while it was family property (1842) was of Jason Lee's second wife, Lucy Thompson Lee, who died in childbirth in Salem's first residential structure of Salem (now the Jason Lee House, relocated to Willamette Heritage Center). At about the same time, the remains of Anna Maria Pittman Lee, his first wife and their child who died at birth were re-interred here. Their 1838 burial had been at Mission Bottom, the first settlement location approximately ten miles upstream along the Willamette River, but due to flooding the site had been abandoned in favor of Chemeketa (Salem).

From the Capitol Journal:

• Claude Barker, a young religious enthusiast in North Salem who went for 34 days without food and only occasionally sipping hot water, broke his fast by eating popcorn and canned tomatoes. During his fast, his weight dropped from 180 to 130 pounds.
• This newspaper defined the Fourth of July as "patriotism expressed in noise". It also stated "With vaudeville and the city council, Salem people will not lack for amusement this summer."
• The Board of Trustees of Willamette University ruled that hereafter no faculty member would be allowed to become unduly active in local politics. Removal of W/ P. Drew, professor of Latin and Greek, had settled the issue. Professor Drew had been active in agitation to close Salem saloons.
• The Capitol Journal listed these Salem owners of automobiles: Charley Stege, H. B. Thielsen, H. S. Gile, John Maurer, T. A. Livesley, Dr. O. B. Miles, Joseph Albert, George Graves, Jack Peterson, C. I. Kurtz and George Pearce.
• Wong Him, prosperous merchant in Salem's Chinatown, was much troubled. His beautiful wife of Oriental origin had fallen victim to the seductive wiles of Lee Foo, Chinese fan tan gambler. Lee Foo, described as a "dandy", had departed to points unknown with Mr. Him.

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

Salem in 1905

World Events

• The Trans-Siberian Railway opens with travel between Moscow and the furtherest far-eastern outposts of Russia.
• The "Bloody Sunday" massacre of peaceful protestors in front of Winter Palace in St. Petersburg inspired the unsuccessful revolt later that year  and is the forerunner of the 1917 Russian revolution.
• The French law of separation of church and state is passed assuring neutrality of the government, freedom of religious practices and public powers of the church.
• In Dublin, Sinn Fein is organized as a political party promoting independence for all Ireland from British control.
• During research at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich, Einstein publishes his "Special Theory of Relativity".
• International Rotary is founded.
• In Nevada, 110 acres of the Mohave Desert, adjacent to the Union Pacific Railway tracks, are auctioned off. This will be downtown Las Vegas (in Spanish "The Meadows"), incorporated in 1911.
• Rayon yard, less-expensive than silk, is manufactured.
• New Books: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and White Fang by Jack London.

In Salem
The school board authorizes Salem's first high school, built on the block bounded by Marion & Center Streets and High & Church Streets. Central School, originally at that location, was moved for the new construction. The modern, rectangular stone building had a system that circulated air in the classrooms every 6 minutes. It had 16 large classrooms, a library, and laboratories. In the basement were restrooms, a furnace room and a bicycle room. This year the third floor held an unfinished gym, assembly hall and stage. These rooms were eventually finished, with the gym and assembly hall completed in Italian style décor. Salem High School was dedicated in ceremonies held on the evening of January 1, 1906.

When you visit
The school was razed in 1954 to make way for Meier and Frank Department Store (now Macy's) in our urban center.

Other events

• Mrs. John Albert (Mary) dies after injuries in one of Salem's first automobile accidents according to Pioneer Cemetery records of her death and funeral.  She was the daughter of pioneers, Joseph and Almira Phelps Holman, and mother of noted photographer, Myra Albert Wiggins. "The machine which was responsible for the accident was that of J. H. Albert, and, as Mr. Albert explains, the disaster was due to toe water, and, consequently, steam, having become exhausted while the car was climbing the steep incline leading to the old Rynearson rock quarry. When the car stopped and began to run back, Mr. Albert saw what was about to happen, and he applied the emergency brake, which refused to work, and he then steered the machine upon the uphill side of the road which it mounted and rolled over upon its side, precipitating the occupants... into the rocky road." Although the injuries did not seem life-threatening, she died four days later.
• The Calaba farm home is built on Mountain View Drive in the present South Salem neighborhood. Twenty years later, in 1926, this property was still outside the city and was listed as the home of Anna and Frank Calaba. Jerry Calaba, their son, grew up on this farm and later showed neighbors the location of the former old barn and well. He lived here until 1974. His brother Rudy was a prominent Salem realtor with Ohmart and Calaba. In 1977, City View Cemetery purchased the property and has since rented it. It is in the South Salem neighborhood.
• Grace Breckenridge, the original owner of a 1905 Elm Street bungalow in West Salem, worked for nearly 40 years as a bookkeeper for the State Board of Control, retiring in 1956. When she died in January 1965, her will revealed that all but $2,000 of her $23,000 estate was bequeathed to the State of Oregon. The balance was to be used to buy an organ for the House of Representatives. The new organ was ordered and received in August 1965. This organ is still in place today and is played at the governor's inaugural ceremonies. The property is a designated Local Landmark.
• John Reynolds and his wife Mary build a home on the southeast corner of North Liberty and Hickory Streets. Reynolds was Dean of the Willamette University Law School 1902-7. Later owners were Harriet Chenoweth and her husband, farmers; John Stapleton, co-owner of Stapleton and Cummings Grocery; L. R. Peebles, a carpenter, who owned it between 1911-19. He may have built the building in the rear that appears to have been used to develop photographic film. This Local Landmark is in the Highland neighborhood.

Collins-Byrd House

• A Queen Anne/Eastlake style house, built by George Collins in 1887, is moved this year. Its second owner, Dr. William H. Byrd, has it transported on rollers from its original location at corner of Court and Church Streets to its present location on the corner of Chemeketa and 14th Streets. Dr. Byrd gave the house to his son Clarence in 1921 as a wedding present. Clarence Byrd's daughter, Winifred Byrd, who lived there as a child, left Salem to become an internationally acclaimed musician. She received high praise as a concert pianist from Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony, who called her "the feature of the concert and one that will not easily be forgotten. She seemed a fairy figure, clothed in a unique shade of blue, with an air and profile delightfully childlike, but an intensity and remarkable fire and passion in her playing." Winifred's niece, Martha Byrd Blau lived in the house for many years. The property contributes to the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District in NEN neighborhood and is featured on that slide show walking tour on this website.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Salem police again raided bawdyhouse row on peppermint Flat. (So-called because this section of downtown Ferry Street was along Pringle Creek where peppermint flourished.) E. E. N. was again arrested for frequenting a house of ill fame. Professor H. H. D. who beat out the melody on the piano in one of the houses, was taken into custody after argument and festive Fanny D. was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.
• Small boys and those old enough to know better are hanging around the S. P. depot to spend their time catching rides on freight trains.  Every day at noon and after school large numbers of boys between 10 and 18 years of age can be seen loitering around the tracks.

• Dr. W. L. Mercer bought the Knerr property on Summer Street a few months ago and is now putting up a modern residence. The doctor is living on the property in a tent but is wide-awake and has a telephone number on the canvas.

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

Salem in 1904

World Events

• A surprise attack at Port Arthur in Manchuria by Japanese navy destroys Russian fleet and begins war with Japan. (Co-incidentally,"Madame Butterfly" opera debuts at La Scala in Milan this year.)
• Theodore Roosevelt is elected as President. He proclaims U. S. will intervene if any Latin American government  proves "unstable or incapable".  (Prize-winning Roosevelt biography: Mornings on Horseback, David McCulloch, 2007)
• US Army engineers renew work begun by France on the Panama Canal.
• Fires destroy Alesund, Norway, 1500 buildings in Baltimore, and much of downtown in Toronto, Canada.
• Louisiana Purchase Exhibition World Fair is open all year in St. Louis, Missouri.
• The Ford Model A is replaced by the Model C, but autos continue to be built in their original location, Ford Mack Avenue Plant in Detroit: price for two-seater "runabout" is $800.
• Longacre Square in New York City is renamed Times Square ( for New York Times newspaper) and the first New Year's celebration is held there on Dec. 31.
• Best New American Books: The Sea-Wolf, Jack London; Cabbages and Kings, O. Henry; The Golden Bowl, Henry James. Scottish writer, James M. Barrie creates Peter Pan as play for the London stage.

In Salem
The Breyman Brothers Fountain is erected on Cottage Street at the western edge of Willson Park. The cast-iron statue and fountain were designed as a memorial to the soldiers of Spanish-American War. Because of its practical function in its early years, it became widely known as the "Breyman Horse Trough" (there is also a lower basin for dogs on the opposite side). From the Breyman brothers' residences, both near Cottage on State and Court Streets, they could see the fountain from their front porches. Their sister Louisa Waite, from her residence at the Winter and State Street corner, could admire it as well.

When you visit

The State House of this photograph burned in 1935 and was replaced with the present Capitol, facing north and in a different architectural style. At the fountain, you will notice the statue and lamps, originally bolted to the top, have been lost: a descendant of the family thinks this section fell off and then was melted down for the World War II scrap metal effort. The Breyman Brothers Fountain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Werner Breyman's residence was to the south, at the corner of Cottage and State Streets ~ the Micah Building is there now. Eugene Breyman's residence was to the north at the corner of Court and State Street ~ that, too, is gone. The area between their homes was at the rear of the old Post Office and they could see each other's house across the expanse of lawn.

Other events

• Frank W. Waters becomes mayor. In November of this year, the mayor persuaded the Salem City Council to grant the Salem Woman's Club the use of the east end of the city council chamber for a library, "provided it should not cost the council anything."
• Chinatown, on the east side of Liberty between Court and State Street, is razed after having been condemned by the city because of concerns for health and safety. The community continues for another twenty years along the west side of High Street between State and Ferry Streets.
• A house is built on Chemeketa Street family property for Elizabeth Watt, daughter of Joseph. After her death in 1925, the house was involved in the lawsuit to restore it to her heirs. This NEN neighborhood property still contains Garland Hollowell's greenhouse, built for his beautiful garden of 31 years (1936-67).
• On Garden Road (now Market Street), the Harris family builds a residence using the plan of a house the family had in Idaho. The home site had been a part of the John Baker Donation Land Claim and a later purchase by the Harrises increased their farm to 20 acres extending to the fairgrounds. Mr. Harris was one of the first farmers to raise Angora goats in Salem. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Harris, the house became the home of their daughter, Minnie, and her husband Emil Graber. Mrs. Graber continued to live in the house into the 1950s. This NEN neighborhood house is now a Local Landmark.

Alford-Bartleson House

• A turn-of-the-century farmhouse, now almost downtown, is the Alford/Bertleson house on Leffelle Street in the SCAN neighborhood. This rural frame residence was built by Michael Alford, and then became the home of John Bertleson and Jessie from 1922 to 1934. He was a well-known local printer. Of note are the stone chimney, veranda porch and multilevel, steeply pitched gable roofs. It is a Local Landmark.
• Across from the Eyre residence, a home now only known as "Grandmother's House" is built on 21st. Street. Many of the most prominent Salem families lived in this area of Salem at this time, but the owners during the first thirty years in the life of this house are unknown. By 1958 Fannie G. Diamit was living here. Her granddaughter remembers the house well. In 1991 a family with three daughters moved here, also enjoying happy memories of this home. Additions have been made to the rear of the house, but the front has remained essentially the same architecturally. Of special interest is the decorative metal frieze lining the roofline of this porch. It is in the SESNA neighborhood.

From the Capitol Journal:

• "Hundreds of Salemites go to the 4:20 Sunday afternoon train to see a friend off. That is Salem's Sunday theater."
• Labor Commissioner O. P. Hoff compiled a list of occupations in Marion County. There were 53 attorneys, one architect, 202 carpenters, 43 doctors, 2,607 farmers and farmhands, 230 merchants, 5 photographers, 55 stage employees, 57 saloon keepers, 6 electricians and 1 peanut roaster.
• A local ad for Made in Salem stated that La Corona cigars were like Republican election returns ~ they leave a good taste and pleasant memories.
• Joseph Meyer & Son, proprietors of the White Corner and "home of good goods" introduced flashing red, white and blue electric lights as a December holiday attraction. This feature had not been seen in Salem.
• George pierce, Salem hardware merchant, was seriously injured at McMinnville by an explosion of gasoline beneath his automobile. A quantity of gasoline was spilled beneath his Stanley Steamer, but appeared to have evaporated. When Pearce lit the automobile's burner, the explosion occurred. [Mr. Pearce survived the accident, dying suddenly in his store in 1912: the victim of a heart attack.]

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

Salem in 1902

World Events

• British Royal Navy Capt. Robert Scott (with a marine and scientific team) will spend the year on the Discovery Expedition exploring the Antarctic.
•  General Leonard Wood, the U. S. military governor, calls for a Cuban constitutional convention by which it gains its independence this year.
• Mt. Pelee on the north end of Martinique erupted in worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century, killing about 30,000 people.
• The British build a Nile Dam (now the Lower Dam) to control flooding.
• The Gramophone Company in Milan sells a million Eric Caruso records.
• The first Rose Bowl football game (Michigan vs Stanford) is played in Pasadena, California.
• The first Trustee meeting of the proposed Carnegie Institute is held in office of the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington, D.C. This is one of over 20 institutions Andrew Carnegie founded around the world to promote art, science research, education, and international peace.
• Notable new books: The Pit by Frank Noris and Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle. For children: Just-so Stories by Rudyard Kipling and Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

In Salem
Here are our mail carriers posing on the delivery side of the new Federal Post Office, located between Church and Cottages Streets, just behind the Marion County Courthouse. The lawn in this photograph is along Cottage Street. The City Hall may be seen to the right, on the south west corner of High and Chemeketa Streets.
Thirty years later, the Post Office was entirely covered in ivy. In 1938, when a new post office was planned, this structure was sold to Willamette University. The stone building, minus the ivy, was put on rollers and moved east on State Street to the campus where it was deposited on a corner near 12th Street. The move took six months.

In its new location, this beautiful Post Office building became Gatke Hall, named for a distinguished professor, Robert Moulton Gatke, author of "Chronicles of Willamette, the Pioneer University of the West." You see the front of the building here or as you pass it on the SHINE "Salem in Oregon History" Walking Tour.

Other Events

• Salem's hop industry is booming: American Hop and Barley Co of London has an office in the Bayne Building. George Bayne had commissioned architect, William Christmas Knighton to design this building that has housed numerous retail stores and food-related business such a bakery and the Little King Restaurant. One of the most enduring is the OK Barber Shop in the western half of the ground floor: it preserves the history of the building with an appropriate atmosphere. This building is designated a Local landmark and is featured in the SHINE Downtown Walking Tour.
• Thomas Cronise, one of Salem's most gifted photographers, opens a studio in the Bush-Breyman Building on Commercial Street. In 1882 he had arrived in Salem and opened his own print shop, however, an allergy to printer's ink eventually forced Cronise to quit the printing business. In 1892, Anna Louise, Cronise's sister, moved to Salem and introduced him to photography. By 1893, Anna had bought a photo studio at the corner of State and High Streets. Anna and Thomas Cronise hired a young photographer named Howard Trover, who married Anna. The Cronise upstairs studio had a back room where the usual array of photographic equipment, backdrops and props were located. But the room had a skylight that allowed diffused north light to provide the soft, natural illumination so essential to fine portraiture. Cronise died in 1927, and his wife Nellie operated the business until her passing in 1930. His son, Harry, operated the business until 1972.
• The Fawk House is built on at 310 Lincoln Street on a prominent corner overlooking Lincoln and Fir Streets. It has a Dutch Colonial gambrel roof and a unique stone chimney that serves three rooms inside. Henry Fawk was a well-known contractor and livestock broker. Eventually, this was the boyhood home of Ross McIntyre, Surgeon General of the United States and physician to President Franklin Roosevelt. This SCAN neighborhood residence is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ira and Hattie Erb House

• Ira Erb came to Salem in 1890 from Ohio. He was a Civil War veteran and made his living as a carpenter. He met his wife, Hattie, after he arrived in Salem and they are recorded as living in their Queen Anne cottage on 19th Street home this year. He worked many years for various contractors, including Front Street businesses. He became a partner with Clarence Van Patton in a contracting business not far from home at 21st and Mill Streets. After she became a widow, Hattie Erb continued to live here alone until her own death in 1941. After forty years, this house was sold. It is now a Local Landmark in NEN neighborhood.

From the Capitol Journal:

• A state law provided that unclaimed bodies from the asylum, penitentiary and poor farm be apportioned among the medical schools. Salem's medical school at Willamette University received about 25 cadavers a year. Dissecting rooms were located near the millrace. Bodies injected with arsenicals lasted from three to six weeks.
• An editorial stated: "No matter which faction controls the state convention or the legislature, the state has got to be cleaned up from the top to bottom."
• Councilman Russell Catlin, lately returned from Kansas, reported that seven cars of immigrants headed for Oregon were attached to the train that carried him homeward.
• Use of Salem's fire bell for alarms was dispensed with.Alarms would be sounded by the newly installed fire whistle. Toots from the whistle indicating the ward in which the fire was located.
• A new city charter proposal would limit the number of saloons, forbid the use of barbed wire for fencing. penalize the dumping of rubbish in Salem's streets and stop chickens from running at large in streets and alleys.
• In December, Charles Allen, Salem mail carrier, lost his horse and narrowly escaped drowning when he attempted at dusk to ford swollen and treacherous Mill Creek near Winter Street.
• (See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006)

Salem in 1899

World Events

• Russia increases control over Finland, declaring the right to veto their legislative rulings.
• U. S. takes possession of Wake Island. Philippine people demand independence and hostilities begin in Manilla. The war will continue until 1902.
• The Hague Convention establishes the first multinational treaties addressing the conduct of the military forces toward defeated opponents  and the protection of civilians caught up in combat. These treaties are based on the Lieber Code signed by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
• The Great Blizzard brings freezing temperatures as far south as Florida, bringing disaster to the Florida citrus crop.
• Marconi successful send a radio signal across the English Channel.
• Voting machines are approved by Congress for U. S. federal elections.
• Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" is copyrighted as ragtime music becomes popular.
• The Story of Little Black Sambo, by Scottish author and illustrator Helen Bannerman, is published as one of a series in The Dumpy Books for Children. This was the first story to portray black heroes in children's literature. It has undergone criticism of racism since the mid-20th century.

In Salem
This photograph from Ed Austin's collection was displayed as a part of the 1995 Railroads in Salem exhibit in the Heritage Room at the Salem Public Library. It shows a large crowd has gathered at the Salem station on August 10, 1899 to welcome the returning Oregon 2nd Volunteers home from the Spanish American War. The view, taken from the water tower (now Mission Mill Museum property), gives an interesting perspective of the early Salem layout south of this location. Note the street car to the right and the stub switch on the mainline in the foreground. A band was on hand to lead the parade downtown where table were spread for a welcome home luncheon.

When you visit
Unfortunately, we are not able to perch at the top of the water tower (which is still there) and take a comparative photograph in 2010. However, we can pick out some urban developments since that day. The area to the left was later occupied by a hop warehouse, and then the California Packing Company cannery. After the cannery closed, the Tokyo International University campus was built in that area. The station burned and was replaced by 1918 by the third railroad station, the one we use presently. The old freight depot (out of sight beyond the passenger station) survived again and is part of the Salem Railroad Station's listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other Events

• This year Greenbaum's Department Store opened at 240 Commercial Street. Now Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, it celebrated a 100th anniversary in 1999. It is located in the remaining section of the 1889 South Eldridge Block. In 1919 the local merchants partnership of Rostein & Greenbaum bought the building. In the second Greenbaum generation, Adolph continued the enterprise, changing it to "Greenbaum's Fine Fabrics" in the 1940s when the building was sold. When Adolph died in 1960, his sister, Irene Depenbrock, took over the business. She was responsible for purchasing the building in 1966 and so preserving it for the future of the business. Her daughter and son-in-law, Sylvia and Bill Dorney continued this family business into the present commercial life of our historic downtown.
• Maud Hill, who had walked from Missouri to Oregon as a child, marries John Zackary, the great-grandson of the noted pioneer, Tabitha Brown, often called the "Mother of Oregon." When the marriage ended with the death of her husband in 1917, Maud made a home for her family on Front Street, laboring as a laundress to raise her five children. She died in 1954 and is remembered with honor by her descendants.
• In 1899 Steusloff Meats has a prominent downtown location at 284 Commercial and an impressive display in the interior. However, just five years later, in 1904, a new concrete building was completed for the business at 399 Court Street. In 1947-8, the exterior of the building was altered and then sold by the Steusloff family. It housed the popular "Sally's", a ladies' clothing store for several years. A Starbuck's coffee shop now occupies this northwest corner of Court and Liberty Streets.
  This change in Salem's downtown architectural style was also reflected modifications of the Pearce and Breyman buildings one block to the west at the Commercial and Court Street intersection. Nearly all modernization efforts involved the removal of decorative detail, resurfacing of the exterior facade, and updating of the ground-level storefronts. These changes reflect the evolving, post-war feeling that becoming "modern" in Salem's commercial district would bring economic prosperity and dynamic growth.

A June ad in the Capitol Journal advised readers to stop smoking. No-To-Bac, it reported, removes the desire for tobacco without nervous distress, expels nicotine, purifies the blood, restores lost manhood, and makes you strong in health, nerve and pocketbook. 

In September, another advertisement extolled the use of Dr. Peau's Yellow Nerve Pills that were guaranteed to cure all nervous diseases, weak memory, headache, wakefulness and (as above) lost manhood. It noted that these pills could be carried in the vest pocket.

In August, the property of the closed Orphans' Home situated "near the state asylum", was being sold to the Salem Hospital. It had closed for want of funds and standing idle. It was planned that the property and buildings be deeded to the hospital with the provision that they should always be used for hospital purposes.
 Local businesses made the news:

Jos. Myers and Sons, Salem's greatest store, advertised blankets for hop-pickers for 29 cents.

Frank Dearborn's bookstore offered juvenile attractions: The Oliver Optic series, Henty books and the Sailor Boy with Dewey series.

Capital Lumber Co. was working a short day ~ a nine hour shift.

On a Sunday, a swarm of wasps and honeybees gained access to the Harritt & Lawrence Grocery Store and carried away 30 pounds of honey. On the next Monday, they made another raid and the store had to be closed while the bees were smoked out with sulfur.

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

Salem in 1898

World Events

• The British government makes a 99 year rental agreement with China for occupation and control of Hong Kong.
• "Remember the Maine!" is the rallying call in the Hearst newspapers, a major element in America declaring war with Spain over Cuba. The Battle of San Jun Hill brings fame to the Buffalo Soldiers (black enlistees) and Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.
• Annie Oakley promotes the service of "50 lady sharp-shooters" who would furnish their own arms. The earliest political action toward women's rights in the military.
• The U. S. captures Guam, making it the first overseas territory. The Hawaiian Islands are annexed. By the Treaty of Paris, which ends the war, the U. S. also acquires the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
• Henry James publishes Turn of the Screw.
• Caleb Bradham names his carbonated drink: Pepsi-Cola.
• New American Book: The Turn of the Screw, Henry James, World of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. and The Ballad of Reading Goal by Oscar Wilde.

In Salem
Our entrance into a war with Spain over their possessions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine Islands still effects national policy and world opinion. Here is a parade of local troops, perhaps the Oregon Second Company of Volunteers, proceeding west on State Street.
Paving the streets of Salem will not begin until 1907, so we hope these marchers had the advantage of a day without rain. Spectators have not ducked under the generous store awning, but mist diffuses the signs and store fronts. In the background (behind the flag) we see a streetcar, but beyond that the other landmarks are lost. We can just make out the old Marion County Courthouse rising a block away.
On a sunnier day, the troops lined up in front of the State House. They are dressed in full and hats, bedrolls over their shoulders and rifles held at their sides. Three company officers are standing in front of their troop.
One imagines this is their last formal photograph before they leave Salem. This is from the Cronise studio and reflects the outstanding artistic quality of Thomas Cronise photography.

When you visit
The State Street store on the corner (where Dr. Pearce's Favorite is advertised) was replaced by the Masonic Temple a few years later. Today, more than architecture has changed on State Street. Beginning in 1907, our downtown streets became paved. The streetcars disappeared in 1927, replaced buses. The automobile was firmly established by that time. Today, a horse would have a difficult time maneuvering in our downtown traffic. American troops, leaving for an overseas war no longer parade on State Street.

Other events

• Charles A. Bishop, one of Salem's outstanding citizens and prominent businessmen, becomes mayor and will serve 4 years. His wife Fannie, is the daughter of Thomas Kay, local woolen mill owner of that time. Mr. Bishop was the owner of a successful men's clothing store. He was a founder and served as Vice President of the Pendleton Woolen Mill, still operating successfully. Their imposing home was at 765 Court Street, the former residence of the Murphy and Rose families.

• The photograph above, taken this year, shows the facade of the Capitol Brewery at 174 Commercial Street. The brewery is located in a handsome, two-story stone building. Two wagons in the street are for ice delivery and transport of barrels. On the sidewalk are a group of men, perhaps employees, posing for the photographer. Perhaps a few are just passers-by, enjoying the moment. The Salem Convention Center occupies this site today.
• The original Territorial Library, housed in the State House, is damaged when a storm blows off part of the roof. A stereoscopic view is found in the Oregon Historical Photographs Collections. These books and documents are now housed primarily in the State Law Library.
• Among the many stern-wheelers using Salem's Willamette River piers, is the Altona. These steamboats transported flour from the Willamette Flouring Mill on Front Street. The boat dock just north was always busy as inland farm crops were loaded for export. By this year, steamboats at the foot of Trade Street were graced by affectionate names such as Ramona, Gypsy, and Ruth.
  Steamboats were also enjoying the attention of Salem citizens as they took excursions to Albany and Corvallis. In 1885, a gingerbread-decorated City of Salem entertained riders with music from the local Masonic Band. However, the Altona was part of a vanishing fleet. By 1898 Salem was moving east, away from the river as the railroad supplied the transportation need of the farm co-ops and fruit processors.

From the Capitol Journal:
About a hundred and fifty persons marched in the T. T. Geer ratification jubilee from the Willamette Hotel to Reed's Opera House. Several American flags floated in the breeze, but the effect was made somewhat ridiculous by the number of banners extolling Ko-Da, "It drives out rheumatism" and Mexican Worm Lozenges, "They are the best."
The newspaper complained that the habit of spitting on downtown sidewalks had become universal among residents of Salem. This was a filthy habit which no gentleman would be found guilty of. There were sections of Salem's business district, the paper said, completely covered with tobacco spit making it impossible for ladies to pass over those walks without having their skirts saturated.
In May, a memorial service for brave sailors who went down with the Maine in Havana harbor the previous February was held at the First Methodist Church. A large picture of the Maine, draped in crepe, was displayed above the altar.
(See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.