Salem in 1967

World Events

• Canada begins a year-long celebration of British North American Act, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. DeGaulle proclaims "Long Live Free Quebec" to English displeasure.
• In the Six-Day war with the Arab nations, Israel gains land and unifies Jerusalem, but increases regional enmity and causes many refugees.
• Major American combat in Vietnam: Large anti-war demonstrations are held in American cities including 70.000 protestors at the Lincoln Memorial. Secretary of Defense resigns following President Johnson's rejection of freezing troop levels, stop bombing of North Vietnam, and handing over ground fighting to Vietnamese.
• 25th Amendment provides for transfer of power if President of U.S. incapacitated or unable to perform  duties.
• In Loving v. Virginia, Supreme Court declares laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage unconstitutional.  ("Loving" film, 2016)
• Academy Awards: "In the Heat of the Night" (US Sidney Poitier also starred in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" ), "Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia). Prize-wining Book: The Fixer, Bernard Malmud.

In Salem
By 1967 our McNary Airfield had a new building, housing an attractive restaurant seen above.
The struggle to maintain a local airport was already forty years old. On May 1, 1929, the City had issued a bond for property acquisition and construction, acquiring 91 acres: the airport was dedicated that year. A complete history of our airport can be found on the City of Salem website.
Important developments included airmail service in 1941, US Air Force taking over in 1942 and United Airlines Freight Services starting in 1946. In July of 1949, the lease was signed giving the Navy the use of the hangar and other facilities on the east of the field. A $40,000 Airport Administration Building was dedicated on Sunday, August 7, 1950. Our first control tower was closed in 1953 due to budget cuts and dismantled in 1956 due to vandalism.
But conditions were improving by 1966 when the Salem Fire Department completed construction on the airport fire station and the restaurant was a pleasant place to dine while watching the flights.

When you visit
The current Airport Control Tower was built in 1973. United Airlines has operated out of the Airport Administration Building along with the U.S. Weather Service, a car rental service and a limousine service that provided bus rides to and from Portland Airport in 1977. Unfortunately, Horizon Airlines discontinued service in April 1993.
Our airport is still operated by the City of Salem and offers on-demand air taxi service, cargo shipping, the restaurant, rental cars and shuttle services. It is used by a number of area businesses, their suppliers, and parent companies as an alternative to driving. The airport is frequented by numerous companies, located in the area surrounding the city, when they conduct business in Salem. State legislators also fly into the airport during the legislative session. The ODOT-Aeronautics Section's primary office, as well the State's fleet of aircraft is located at the airport.
In addition to business flights, there are a significant number of less obvious activities that take place at the airport that contribute to the well being of the region. The airport provides FBO services, training flights, aircraft restoration, aerial photography, forest fire fighting, traffic and news reporting, shipping of "just in time" goods, law enforcement and prisoner transport, aerial advertising, real estate tours and search and rescue activities. The Army National Guard is also based at the airport. There is an on-airport industrial park that is home to several businesses that contribute to the aviation industry. We had a commercial service contract for a few months in 2008 and another in 2011, but neither was successful enough for the companies. In 2012, the federal administrators questioned whether our tower was viable.
The Airport Advisory Commission began the year of 1967. Information and application forms for any resident who wishes to be a member are on the City website.

Other events

• Less than a month before the fair was due to open, a major fire hit the Fairgrounds. Two buildings were total losses: the 63,000-square-foot Commercial Building and the 47,188-square-foot Natural Resources Building that had been built in 1891. Forty percent of the commercial exhibit space was lost.
  

Salemtowne as it appeared at 1967 opening.

Former Wallace home at Salemtowne

• Salemtowne opens in West Salem on the grounds of the former Wallace family summer home. The retirement community administration has retained the major part of the home for use of the residents. Informal, period decor gives a hint of what it looked like for the family when they spent summers there in the midst of their farmland.

Stone plaque at Walton Hall identifies site of the Oregon Institute

• Willamette University adds the Collins Law Center and Walton Hall. A plaque in front of Walton Hall identifies the site where the Oregon Institute, the academic foundation of Willamette University, stood from 1844 to 1872 when it was destroyed by fire. Its construction at this site by the Methodist missionaries truly determined where the city would be located after their mission ended.
• A new wing of Salem Hospital, built along Oak Street, dwarfs the old facility. Formerly a residential area known as the University Annex, because of its proximity to Willamette University, Oak Street had many homes of prominent early families. Two of these are the 1890 West-Klein house, home of the parents of Governor West, now relocated to 2983 D Street, and the home of Dr. Carleton Smith, physician and state legislator, relocated to 1335 Cannon Street. Dr. Smith's former home has been designated as a Local landmark.
• The Willow Lake Sewage Treatment Plant opens, contributing to the health of Salem citizens.
• Ben Maxwell, faithful photographic chronicler of Salem, dies. Many of his photographs were left to the Salem Public Library and have been cataloged for online use through the Oregon Historic Photograph Collections. His biography is found on the Salemhistory website and in Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon: Nuggets of History from the Salem Capital Journal by Scott McArthur.

Salem in 1966

World Events

• China's "Cultural Revolution" leads to mass executions and displacement of millions as urban populations are sent to labor in rural communes. It continued until the death of Lin Biao in 1971. It paralyzed China politically and economically.
• American military initiates a "Search and Destroy" strategy in Vietnam combat. Anti-war protests sweep US.
•  Miranda Rights are read to criminal suspects during arrest.
• The Lunar Orbiter 1, first US spacecraft to orbit moon. Carl Brasher, first African-American U.S. Navy diver loses leg in recovery of lost H-bomb. (See movie" Men of Honor").
• Masters and Johnson publish Human Sexual Response. Miniskirts appear. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded.
• Walt Disney dies. Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California.
• LSD is made illegal in US. "Love Pageants" take place in Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. Star Trek debuts on TV.
• Academy Awards: "A Man for All Seasons" (US). "A Man and a Woman (France). Prize-winning Book: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, Katherine Anne Porter.

In Salem
Four years after the Columbus Day windstorm, the Waite Fountain reconstruction is complete in Willson Park. As a crowd gathers for the dedication ceremonies, Ben Maxwell photographs the scene. In the background are buildings that characterize Salem's downtown: the Methodist Church, a symbol of the missionary beginning of the community; the Livesley Building, representing the local business enterprise; and the Marion County Courthouse, reminding us that Salem is part of a larger political administration. Willson Park is important to Salem, being part of the first city plat and, literally, the political and intellectual center of the city as it grew: adjacent to both the Oregon State Capitol and our premier educational resource, Willamette University. In this year of 1966, the city loses its authority over the park, as it had over other city property: ownership passes to the state of Oregon.

When you visit
Ownership of the park makes little difference to the visitors who are there to enjoy walking in the beautiful landscape of lawn, trees, flowers and fountains. For those who also might like to learn about Salem's history and pay respect to historical events and personalities, the opportunities are becoming more challenging. The early park featured a concert bandstand for residents, many living within walking distance in surrounding residential neighborhoods. The Waite fountain offered colored lights that gave evening strollers a visual treat. Now the bandstand, no longer in use, is relocated to the margin of the lawn and fountain, seen above as rebuilt after the 1962 windstorm, has lost its original Technicolor effect that made it such a magnet of visitor attention. The Circuit Rider was once prominently displayed before the entrance to the State House as a tribute to Salem's religious founders, is hidden is a grove of trees at the east side of the Capitol. The Breyman Brothers Memorial, standing at the park's Cottage Street entrance, was originally a memorial to local men who fought in the Spanish American War and was topped with a statue of an American military serviceman. The statue is gone and what remains of the memorial is the trough at the base that once supplied water to horses ~ a lower trough on the park side was intended for dogs. Eugene and Werner Breyman, who donated the memorial, lived in elaborate residences, now demolished, on Court Street and State Street, both within site of the memorial.
Taking prominence in Willson Park today are state flags, tributes to Native American tribes and a modern statuary group. The park is currently designed as an attraction for tourists as well as residents. In 2010, state began a plan to make improvements in the area encompassing Willson Park and North Capitol Mall as far as Center Street (originally the four Piety Hill residential blocks). This new landscaped, visitor area will be the State Capitol State Park.

Other events

• Five fires cause property loss throughout the city: In January, the Senator Hotel on High Street; in March, at Keith Brown Lumber Plant on Front Street; in May, the Berkheimer Building on Church and Trade Streets; in November, Waters Field at 25th and Mission Streets; and (date unknown), the Peerless Bakery on North Commercial Street.
• Douglas Hay resigns his office as Municipal Judge, being elected to the Marion County Circuit Court. In this year the term of the Salem Municipal Judge is extended to four years. Dale Pierson is appointed by the Council and later elected to the office.

Patton Building on State Street, 1886

US Bank extended (left section under tree branches)

• The former Ladd and Bush Bank Building (now US National Bank) has been completely reconstructed and enlarged. In order to expand the bank building along State Street, the 1869 Patton Building was demolished in the previous year. The photographs above show the Patton enterprise when it was a center of local business and the 1966 US Bank extension.
• State Street gets a new look as the historic Patton Building is demolished for the extension along State Street of the US National Bank. Formerly the Ladd and Bush Bank, the new owners completely gutted the building as it had been from 1869 to 1940, renovating the structure. However, to honor its past, the bank lobby displays many historic photographs representing Salem's downtown and the Bush family's association with the bank. The public is welcome to visit these exhibits. (To the left in both photographs is the alley beyond which the Gill Building was already a popular meeting place in the 1870s.)
• West of 12th Street, in the University residential area of town, the Ferry-Oak Street residential neighborhood continues to change with urban growth and the expanding hospital. Only one residence remains in place and another survives by being moved.
• Plans are made to preserve another historic building, the Methodist Parsonage, in a Mission Mill Museum location.
• Aldrich Park in the SESNA neighborhood is getting new playground equipment this year. The park was named for Lewis Aldrich, a banker with the former Ladd and Bush Bank and first Chief Executive Officer with Pioneer Trust Company. He and his wife Donna had no children, but the trust she established in his name still benefits Salem though bequests to three parks (Grant, Northgate and Aldrich) and two grants to the Deepwood property. The first grant was for the house, gardens and land to the street on the south. Deepwood II was for the area to the west of the Deepwood I grant to Pringle Creek. This effort would not have been possible without Mary Eyre’s leadership. Through the efforts of Stuart Compton, the Walton Foundation joined the Aldrich Fund to fund the project. Financially, Deepwood was the Aldrich Funds largest commitment. It preserved a unique area, physically joined Deepwood and Bush property and today funds Deepwood's Youth Interpretive Program.
• When the first new 35-passenger Cherriots bus arrives in Salem, it rolls off the railroad car and city administrators climb aboard for a photograph.
• Salem has a marina on the Willamette River. Several private "yachts" accompany the Marion County Sheriff's Marine Patrol. In the next October, a windstorm demolishes the boathouse and damages the boats ~ for the third time in five years.

• The Prime Rib Restaurant is constructed at Pine Street on the Willamette River. Fine dining and beautiful views of the river made it popular with Salem families. However, by the mid-1980s the original owners had sold the property and the restaurant had gone into foreclosure. In 1998 the building became the Stars Cabaret, a strip club. The windows that had offered a river view were masked with black paint. This enterprise closed within a few years. By 2011, the empty structure had been renovated and reopened as the Club Illusion Sport Bar and Restaurant. A fire destroyed the building the next January.