Salem in 2015

World Events

• Al-Queda kills 17 in attack on Paris Charlie Hebdo magazine offices after Muhammad cartoons.
• Black Lives Matter becomes an Africa-American based, international  organization campaigning against systemic racism.
• Queen Elizabeth celebrates 63 years on the throne, England's longest reigning monarch.
• The continuing Syrian civil war creates a refugee crisis with homeless 220, 000 victims.
• Greece becomes the first economy to miss a payment to International Monetary Fund in its 71-year history, causing a Greek financial crisis. 
• US joins international union of 200 nations to limit warming cycle in climate change.
• Trans-Pacific Partnership unites twelve countries with trade rules for 40% of global trade.
• Cuba and The US reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending 54 years of hostility between the neighboring nations.
• Academy Awards:"Spotlight" (US), "Son of Saul (Hungary). Prize-winning books: Fortune Smiles: Stories, Adam Johnson and All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr.

In Salem

A diminutive, but adult 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, Edith Schryver insisted on being moved to another table. There she met Elizabeth Lord who would become her lifetime companion and partner in one of the pioneer landscaping firms of the Northwest, Lord and Schryver.

 Gaiety Hollow

The photograph above was taken from their website and shows the rear of their home, Gaiety Hollow, and a portion of the garden. The property was purchased in 2015 by the Lord and Schryver Conservancy, dedicated to "preserving and Interpreting the Legacy of Lord and Schryver to Promote a Greater Understanding of their Contribution to Northwest Landscape Architecture". This active Salem group (with members beyond our city limits) has done a remarkable job in organization and fund raising to carry out their admirable goals. Recommended resources for more information include the official website that outlines their many social activities, opportunities for participation garden care that is most suitable to our climate and enjoyment of learning about local Lord and Schryver gardens you can visit. 

When You Visit
 The house is located at 545 Mission Street (across from the Bush House Museum) and is easily recognized by its handsome Clarence Smith architecture and careful landscaping in the small, contained front garden. Visits are scheduled throughout the year and gardening classes are also available. Use the website for more information. 

Other Events 

• In February, crews began the demolition of Howard Hall after an appeal to LUBA to save the Local Landmark as resident neighbors continue their objections to hospital expansion.   
• The Historic Landmarks Commission  designated SESNA as the second Heritage Neighborhood. Planned activities included an illustrated calendar, "toppers" for street signs indicating the historical names of individual areas within the neighborhood and signage at significant intersections.
• The Commission honored Ross Sutherland with the Historic Preservation Award for his efforts since 1996 to ensure Salem's historic resources are preserved, both in professional positions and in volunteer leadership.
• Salem Chamber orchestra filed for bankruptcy.
• The owner and skipper of the Willamette Queen vows to fight a Coast Guard decision to revoke the boat's inspection certificate.
• Hazel Patton was named Citizen of the Year. Hazel is not only a active, long-time advocate for local historic preservation, but for new enterprises that enhance Salem's appeal for residents and visitors.
• Our new City Manager, Steve Powers, plans to walk or ride to City Hall from his Crestview residence.
• Kristin Retherford becomes our Urban Development Director to lead efforts in determining the city's next investments for Riverfront Downtown, North Gateway and West Salem urban renewal areas. 
• Our rail tracks in the city are still dangerous: this year a man was struck and killed when struck by a train on Sunnyview Avenue.

• Commercial Street Bridge is renovated, providing a new Pringle Creek path under the structure (see above). In the future, the path in the photo will continue to the left, passing South Block Apartments and creating a future pedestrian pathway from City Hall to Riverfront Park.
• More than 500 gathered at Sprague High School to honor Rick Nelson, a student who died after he fell off a cliff at the Oregon coast.
• Former Gov. Kitzhaber resigned after scandal touched his fiance, Cylvia Hayes. Kate Brown, Secretary of State, replaces him.
• A motorcyclist died when he lost control of his bike and fell from the Marion Street Bridge.

Salem in 2007

World Events

• Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, first woman elected (1988, 1993) Prime Minister in a Muslim country, is assassinated by an al-Qaeda militant in Rawalpindi during a welcome home rally after serving in exile.
• Global financial crisis is triggered by the collapse of U.S. housing market and mortgage banking crisis.
• Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, is elected as first female Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US Congress.
• Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-hui Cho, kills 32 persons and wounds 17.
• Apple introduces the first modern "smartphone". This iPhone model uses a touch screen (instead of dial-up) and has a Home button.
• Al Gore and The UN share the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change and measures to counteract such change.
• The TGV, French passenger train reaches a speed of 357.2 mph, breaking the record for a conventional train. In England, High Speed 1 (68 mile mph), the Channel Tunnel Rail Link between London and the UK end of the Chunnel is opened to passengers.
• The last Harry Potter book is published. Academy Awards:"No Country for Old Men" (US), "The Counterfeiters" (Austria). Prize-winning books: Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson and The Road, Cormac McCarthy.

In Salem
Two Salem developers, Larry Tokarski and Dan Berrey, purchase the industrial site occupied for 46 years by Boise Cascade's paper-converting plant. Bisected by Pringle Creek, with Commercial Street to the east and the Willamette River to the west, adjacent to Riverfront Park, this is prime land for the redevelopment encouraged by the ULI representatives last year. The prospects for this $7.25 million investment depend on the outcome of environmental studies (considering the past contamination of the land and water) and rezoning the property for mixed-use development.
To the left in the wintertime photograph above, the 1926 Fry Warehouse looks like a fortress, rising behind Eco-Earth. The main body of the plant is in the center of the picture and above Pringle Creek, which emerges into the slough of the Willamette River at this sand bar location. The section of the plant to the right, in the distance behind the orange towers, is another structure on the site of the old mill building. Unseen is the railroad track running along the structures in this side.

When you visit
By 2014, there were substantial changes. The Fry Warehouse is gone, the first structure to be demolished, with Mayor Taylor punching out the first block of concrete with a wrecking crane. Also in 2009, the main structure fell until only the substantial building south of the creek remained. The northern section will have new buildings for retail business and offices, restaurants, condos and other purposes. The site south of the creek will be retained as a parking garage and apartment complex. Of great interest are two public-use features of the future: one is "day lighting" the creek by removing all but the railroad crossing so a pedestrian path can lead from the Civic Center Park, under the Commercial Street Bridge and to the slough; the other is a bridge from near the Eco-Earth to Minto Brown Island. Due to economic conditions, no new business or housing construction has been accomplished, but Pringle Creek, running between the cement walls of the old industrial plant, is now visible from west of the Commercial Street bridge to the Willamette River with only the railroad track suspended above. The much anticipated walkway from the southeast corner of Trade and Commercial to Riverfront Park, passing under the bridge, will be the next project. Bridge reconstruction was completed in 2013.

Other events

• Bill Wingett, a resident of the Sunnyslope neighborhood, returns to the European battle sites in May of this year as a guide for a historical project. A veteran of World War II, he is a former member of the celebrated Band of Brothers, the 101th Airborne Division of the US Army, recently honored in a TV mini-series based on the book by Steven Ambrose.
• Air service returns to McNary Field with Delta offering twice-daily flights between Salem and Salt Lake City.
• Marion County lost its first deputy in the line of duty when Kelly James Fredinburg, 33, headed to Gervais to assist police, siren and lights running, is struck by a car that unexpectedly pulled into his lane on Highway 99E. He died at the scene of the crash as well as a passenger in the other car. The other driver survived, critically injured. More than 1000 people filled the Salem Armory for his memorial service.
• The Vision 2020 Action Plan, originated by City staff and 3500 involved residents, aims to revitalize downtown into a vibrant community gathering place and a magnet for visitors. Committees organized this year will work to realize the concepts of the program and will make quarterly progress reports.
• The land-use conflicts continued with Measure 49 that left owners confused about which set of rules apply to projects they filed under the 2004 property-compensation law, Measure 37. The new measure limits the number of houses built on prime farm and forest land, but projects underway may have "vested rights" to proceed.
• Salem's oldest resident, Luella Patton Charlton, died on December 23, just a 7 weeks before her 110th birthday. Luella was born in 1898 in her family's Cooke-Patton mansion on Court Street (demolished in 1938 for the construction of the State Library). Her great-grandfather (who built the house) was an early Salem steamboat owner and merchant, her grandfather was a US consul in Japan and her father and uncle, Cooke and Hal Patton, were prominent in Salem political and business life. After her marriage in 1925, she and her husband built a home on 23rd Street where she lived the rest of her life. The couple had one son; Luella became a widow in 1959. She read widely, kept up with the news on TV, generously entertained friends, enjoyed humor in conversation and was a beloved neighbor. Luella was possessed of a sharp intellect and invested wisely in the stock market: she owned original issues of Coca-Cola stock and remarked with a smile that they had "split many times". Luella was a treasury of historical year-old facts about Salem families, businesses and state institutions (Gov. Chamberlain rented a room in her family's home in 1903 while serving in Salem). She is the last of the Pattons to be buried in the family mausoleum in Pioneer Cemetery.