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.

Salem in 1998

World Events

• Lunar Prospector, in orbit around the moon, finds evidence of frozen water.
• In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyo bridge, linking Kobe to to Honshu, opens as the longest suspension structure in the world, replacing dangerous ferry transportation.
• President Clinton impeached by House, trial to be in Senate.
• US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
• Nicholas II and family reburied in St. Petersburg 80 years after their assassinations.
• Kip Kinkel murders his parents and students bringing media attention to Springfield, OR.
• Academy Awards:"Shakespare in Love" (US),"Life Is Beautiful (Italy). Prize-winning Books: Charming Billy, Alice McDermott and American Pastoral, Phillip Roth.

In Salem
 After many years of effort by community supporters, Riverfront Park was established this year. The aerial views above, published by the Salem Urban Development Department, shows the "before and after" contrast.
For a resident or visitor who did not experience the downtown in previous years, it is hard to imagine the pollution of the air and water before the plants along the river closed.
The park became the front lawn of our city, creating pedestrian contact between the downtown business enterprises and the beautiful river. In 1998, the park is bordered on the south (to the left in illustrations) by the Boise Cascade industrial complex, covering Pringle Creek. On the north (at the right), a parking lot led to Water Street which passed under two vehicle bridge ramps to reach several historic structures at Marion Street owned by the city: this year these will become A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village. One block further is the unused Union Street railroad bridge. The park, as handsome as it was, was a pocket of greenery in an area ready for urban revitalization.

When you visit

In the years that have followed, several projects have made the park more attractive for resident recreation and local heritage appreciation. In 2001, a Carousel was constructed and in 2003, the Eco Ball was completed. In 2005, a new boat dock was constructed. The local Rotary Clubs financed a Pavilion at the north end of the park in 2006. A statue of Governor McCall was placed along the entrance to the dock in 2008. A splash fountain for children was completed in 2009.
In 2012, adjacent to the park on the south, the Boise Cascade plant is being demolished for future mixed-use development. The orange towers seen in the background of the photograph have disappeared as Pringle Creek is "daylighted" to offer a trail from Civic Center Park (near the fire station and east of Commercial Street) to the river and connecting to Riverfront Park. A bridge from this park to Minto Brown Island is also planned for the future. To the north, A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village occupies historic residences owned by the city and provides educational play activities for families. At Union Street the former railroad bridge is now an award-winning pedestrian walkway to Wallace Park in West Salem.

Other events

• The Hallie Ford Museum of Art opens as a feature of Willamette University. Prior to the creation of the Hallie Ford Museum, Willamette University previously collected various pieces of art donated to the university, housing them first in a museum located in Waller Hall, then on the second floor of the gymnasium (now the Theatre Playhouse). At that time the museum's collection included birds, various documents, minerals, wood specimens, shells, plant specimens, and Native American artifacts, among others. In 1990, the school received a donation of around 250 pieces of European and Asian art from the Sponenburgh family. In 1994 Roger Hull made a presentation to the school’s trustees to push for the creation of an art museum. Over the next two years plans were developed and donations were made that led to the purchase of the 1965 Pacific Northwest Bell building designed by local architect James Payne. One large donation came from Hallie Ford and the Ford Family Foundation that allowed the purchase and remodel to move forward. The museum officially opened with over 3,000 pieces of art, and was the second largest art museum in the state at that time. The museum offers interactive educational tours for a wide range of audiences from preschool age to adult, designed to arouse curiosity, inspire creativity and develop critical thinking. This outstanding cultural resource is open everyday except Monday and is free on Tuesdays. Its location at 700 State Street is near both the State Capitol and Willamette University. It is only a short walk from either downtown or the Willamette Heritage Center.

• A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village, opening this year, is an interactive children's museum named in honor of this Salem native and inventor of the Erector set educational toy. In fact, the Village is home to the world's largest Erector Set tower at 52 feet. The museum is housed in several historic buildings, including the Andrew T. Gilbert House, the Rockenfield/Bean House, the Parrish House, and a 1998 replica of the Wilson-Durbin House, destroyed by fire in 1990. Each of these structures housed influential, early Salem families. Plaques near the entrances give information about their histories.
• The former Little Gem Grocery Store on Chemeketa Street, threatened with destruction due to the owner's remodeling of his residence, is moved to a neighbor's back yard. It will become another feature of Water Street and A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village.
• Marion County Historical Society publishes Marion County History, Vol XV, compiled and edited by Sybil Westenhouse, Adale Egan and David Weiss. In these 198 pages are found photographs and stories about local native people, business, entertainment, transportation and politics. This is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Salem's heritage. Copies can be found in the Salem Public Library and may be bought at Willamette Heritage Center.
• Jackie Winters is elected to the Oregon State Legislature as the state's first African-American Republican. She was re-elected to this office in 2000. In 2002, 2006 and again in 2010, she was elected as State Senator for District 10. Jackie has lived in Salem for over 40 years. She was married in 1971 to Marc "Ted" Winters who passed away in 2008. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, winning awards and recognitions including being listed on the International Women's Who's Who.

Salem in 1975

World Events

• Communists take power in Vietnam and Cambodia. Americans and a few Vietnamese citizens who worked for the U.S. in Saigon were evacuated by helicopter.
• Juan Carlos I is declared king of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco who had ruled since 1939.
• Britain selects its first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Ella Grasso of Connecticut  is the first woman elected governor of a state who does not succeed her husband.
• John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of Watergate cover-up and serve prison terms.
• Gates and Allen start "Micro-soft': computers. VCRs enter our homes. On TV, "Saturday Night Live" debuts.
• "Jaws" is a popular movie. But the Academy Award for a U.S. movie goes to one made in Salem: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Best foreign film is "Dersu Uzala" (Japan). Prize-winning Books: Dog Soldiers, Robert Stone and The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara.

In Salem
Hollywood came to town with the filming of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". The 1912 Dome Building of Oregon State Hospital (above) was the location for several scenes in the movie. Jack Nicholson played the leading role as R.P. McMurphy, a reckless young man serving a short prison term who is sent to a mental institution for observation. His baiting of the tyrannical Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher) to make life easier for other patients leads to a tragic conclusion. A small part is played by Dr. Dean Brooks, the superintendent of the hospital. Dr. Brooks was initially reluctant for the film, based on Ken Kesey's book, to be made at OSH. However, after meeting the filmmakers he was relieved of his concerns and he even played a cameo role. Interior scenes were filmed in the Dome building and a few exteriors at the rear of the "J" building are seen in the finished film. The movie won five Academy Awards.

When you visit
The Dome Building, on the campus north of Center Street, is now used by Oregon State Department of Corrections. Some driveways are accessible, but the building itself is not open to the public. In 2008 the whole OSH campus was listed as a National Register property in order to preserve the heritage structures. After lengthy testimony before the Historic Landmarks Commission, permission was given for extensive demolition of buildings south of Center Street. One of the buildings included in the renovation was the historic Kirkbride Building across Center Street. Originally a U-shape, Center Street additions to that facility gave it a different configuration: it became known as the "J" Building. The renovation project has now been completed with a museum included in this historic structure. The Dome Building is not threatened at this time.

Other events

At the top of this photograph, Pringle Parkway curves around Lindsay Tower

Lindsay Tower soon after completion.

• The Lindsey Tower, providing housing for low-income senior or disabled residents, is completed, one year after the Salem Housing Advisory Committee was founded (1974). The committee advises the City Council and the Salem Housing Authority on housing goals and policies, including low and moderate income housing needs, housing assistance programs and Housing Authority budgets.
• The Salem Social Services Advisory Board, founded in 1967, has many of the same goals: the Board advises the Council on social service needs and programs and monitors ongoing social service programs.
• The exterior of the six-floor Equitable Building under construction at Center and High streets. This modern, 6-story structure will be completed in the following year.
• Salem has the latest model of fire trucks to equip the new #1 Fire Station just completed, facing Trade Street at the Liberty Street intersection. Just across Pringle Creek from the new Civic Center, this is the headquarters of our fire department. The structure had a renovation in 2011, providing a new entrance and interior improvements of service. Salem's historic fire bell is mounted in front of the building on Trade Street.
• Toyota automobiles are being sold in a new building of Capitol Motors on Mission Street. This may be one of the first dealers selling Japanese cars in Salem.
• The historic 1912 Bligh Hotel on State Street is demolished. Located between the McGilchrist and Masonic buildings, had featured both a popular hotel and a theater in previous years. By this year, the aging building was not considered worth saving and a parking lot took its place.
• Two more local heritage properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places this year: the Boon House and Boon Store. The residence is one of the oldest in Salem and the store served as our first state treasury.
• This year two more neighborhoods organize into associations. The downtown and most historic, core area of the city, Central Area Neighborhood Development Association (CAN-DO), which contains the National Register Historic Salem Downtown (a walking tour can be seen on SHINE). Many other individual properties have been designated as National Register or as Local Landmarks. West Salem also organized as city-sponsored neighborhood. This is a very active group and is unique in our city because the meetings (first and third Mondays, 7 p.m., Roth's IGA meeting room on Wallace Road) are held "town meeting" style in which everyone can vote on issues deliberated as neighborhood concerns. Other meetings are conducted by Board (usually about 15 volunteers) where only these vote. The West Salem neighborhood and the adjoining Spring Valley community have over a dozen historic properties designated by the city as Local Landmarks. The Harriott House at 2280 Wallace Road and the former City Hall at 1320 Edgewater NW are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Salem in 1974

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World Events

• Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, highly respected by world political and religious leaders since 1916, is deposed after a critical famine. This ends the Solomonic dynasty begun in 1270. He died the following year.
• When impeachment conviction by Congress becomes certain, Richard Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford becomes President and pardons Nixon.
• India detonates a nuclear weapon, being the 6th nation to do so.
• OPEC oil rises from $4 to $12 a barrel; concern rises over nuclear energy.
• Patty Hearst, grand-daughter of publisher, Willam Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army with whom she participates in a bank robbery and other crimes. Imprisoned for two years, she was later pardoned. (Read the complete story in American Heiress, Jeffrey Toobin, 2016)
• Muhammad Ali regains his boxing title at the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire.
• After 23 years, "Here's Lucy" ends its TV series. The Rubik Cube is invented. Hank Aaron becomes all-time MLB home run leader with his 715th. Rosenkowitz sextuplets all survive in the Cape Town birth.
• The Academy Award: "The Godfather Part II" (US),"Amarcord (Italy). Prize-winning Books: Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pychon and A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories, Issac Bashevis Singer.

In Salem

Mill Race Plaza with SAIF building in background

The cannery industry continued to shrink. The Salem Fruit Union plant is razed for part of the urban renewal project. Photographs of 1974 show construction of buildings being completed and large landscaping projects underway. The open, raw acres are dotted with thin new trees and concrete blocks mark the edges of new paths for the waterways flowing through the city. In 1974, Salem is a city that is changing its image to become more welcoming to the visitor and provide more amenities for the residents, but it is losing a vital factor in its economy by the demise of its canning industry.

When you visit
Today it is hard to remember that for much of Salem's history there was a railroad track in the center of Trade Street. And it now seems natural that Trade Street takes a curve southward into Pringle Parkway and onto Bellevue, traveling east between the expanded Willamette University campus to the left, Shelton Ditch and the Salem Hospital to your right. At 12th Street, we meet the natural barrier that our Southern Pacific railroad tracks have made. Turning north, Mill Street is on our right with Mission Mill Museum and the historic SESNA neighborhood. Turning south on 12th Street, we are just a block away from a left turn over an overpass taking us, without railroad interruption, to Mission Street and the I-5 corridor.  Ignoring the overpass, one more block south on 12th Street will take us to Deepwood Estate and its gardens. This contemporary thoroughfare, creating in the 1970s, gives contemporary traffic easy access to important cultural features of our city. This 1970s restructuring of Trade Street and the new uses of land south of Pringle Creek and Shelton Ditch continue to have a positive effect on downtown traffic and adjoining land uses.

Other Events

• Cars wait in long lines for gas at local stations. The Capitol is the scene of protests concerning the gas shortage.
• Politics is in the news this campaign year: Robert Straub, a candidate for governor of Oregon (he wins in November) has a booth at the state fair in August; Bob Packwood (already elected) congratulates a Baker City student for winning the Centennial Essay and Art Contest during that city's celebration. Mayor Lindsey helps out the Salem Bike Club by posing by an old-fashioned penny-farthing bike while members of the club watch from their own bikes. Lindsey Towers, named for this mayor, is a high-rise, senior residential facility located at the intersection of Church and Trade streets.

Bush House Museum

• Bush House Museum and historic structures on the Bush property are listed on the National Register this year. The majority of these acres were obtained by the city in 1946 by purchase from the Bush family just before Miss Sally's death. After this death of her brother, A. N. Bush, in 1953 the "homestead" was obtained. The Salem Art Association planned to make the house into a gallery and so held a "yard sale" to depose of furnishings (many of which have been returned or repurchased). At that time alterations were made in the upper floor of the Bush residence, but the house still qualified for the National Register. A volunteer committee, under direction of the SAA, regulates the public use and the events held in the house museum.
• One more neighborhood organizes this year: Northeast Neighbors, known as NEN, stretching between Market and State streets. Urban development of the 1970s changed the Court and Chemeketa streets residential section of NEN east of 14th Street. In 1984, a federally funded street reversal project closed both streets with barriers at 13th Street, supplying a fourth boundary line. The homes on these streets were located in a natural progression from downtown, Willamette University and the Capitol. They have a unique physical presence with Mill Creek at the north and to the east, State Street on the south, and the railroad to the west. By 1986, resident historical research, led by Bonnie and Roger Hull, produced a nomination for the National Register that created the Court-Chemeketa National Historic Residential District. Other individually recognized National Register properties in NEN include the Lee Mission Cemetery on D Street, The Stratton House at 1599 States Street and the Samuel Adoph House at 2493 State Street. There are also 23 Local Landmarks and several more candidates whose history you may not know.  It is a tribute to the present owners of these NEN sites that all these properties are preserved so well.

• Among the unofficially recognized sites in NEN is the Friends Meeting House at 490 19th Street, home successively of the Nazarene Church (1913-1931), the Foursquare Church (until 1950) and the Unitarian Universalists (until 1997).

Salem in 1868

World Events

• The 14th Amendment is passed guaranteeing citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
• President Johnson is impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate.
• The game of badminton is introduced.
• Louisa May Allcott writes Little Women.

In SalemThe disastrous earthquake along the Pacific this year affected world populations in their most basic need, clean water. The property seen above along Pringle Creek is typical of the beautiful streams that have flowed through Salem since its founding. Although you would not want to drink this water, it is certainly cleaner now than it was in 1868 when there was no city water or sewer system and all human and industrial waste was emptied into local streams and into the Willamette River. The best source of household water then was a shallow well on your own property. For those without wells, an enterprising Chinese citizen, Lee Tong, collected water in discarded oil tins and sold it to his customers. The health of residents was affected by all local sources of water: typhoid was a common cause of death. The few doctors in Salem were most often self-educated, and remedies for illness came from general stores selling drugs of uncertain origin.

When you visit: Pringle Creek
The Willamette River has not recovered from the years of human and industrial waster. However, Riverfront Park offers panoramic views of that important historic waterway. Scenes like the one photographed above can be enjoyed along Pringle Creek in Bush's Pasture Park. Entering on Mission Street at the parking lot near University Street, walk into the wooded park over trail nearest the creek, on your left. Several byways, useful in summer, take you to the creek itself. The trail extends to Leffelle Street at the south end of Bush's Pasture Park in the SCAN neighborhood. Both of these self-guided walking tours are available for viewing on SHINE.

Other Events

• Salem has a lively theatrical community at this time: the dramatic society offers "Kill or Love" and "The Toodles" at Griswold’s Theater at the southwest corner of State and Commercial Streets. Admission ranges from 25 to 75 cents.
• In January, African-Americans from Salem and Albany gathered to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. In a rare display of racial harmony, the celebration was attended by whites of both political parties. The Salem Daily Record reported that six of the blacks at the celebration had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
• The Hall's ferry began operating this year, but did not acquire the name until 1882 when B. F. Hall, its operator, purchased the enterprise in 1882. Hall's Ferry Road, crossing South River Road in south Salem now marks the approximate location of this early transportation across the Willamette River. 
• John G. West, father of Oswald West, later a governor of Oregon, built a home on Oak Street. It was moved to D Street in the late 1990s.

Knight Memorial Church

• Rev. Plutarch S. Knight becomes pastor of the First Congregational Church where he gains fame as the "Marrying Preacher", performing at least 1,332 marriages. He was a founder and leader in both civic and business institutions of the new city as attested by his 1914 obituary: "P. S. Knight ... came to Salem in December of 1857. He attended Willamette University from 1857 to 1860. He was married to Eleanor Smith April 21st, 1861 in the old Methodist church building in Salem that now serves as a laundry. [They celebrated a 50th anniversary of their marriage.] He was reporter and editor of the Statesman from 1862 to 1864, being engaged in this work when the daily issue was commenced. He was also state librarian for 1862 to 1864 and was city recorder in 1863, when the fees of the office amounted to not more than $100 a year. He also read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was ordained a Congregational minister at Oregon City in 1866, and was pastor of the Congregational church of Salem from 1867 to 1883 sixteen years. He was superintendent of schools for Marion County from 1870 to 1872. He had charge of the Oregon School for Deaf Mutes from 1871 to 1892. His salary part of the time was nominal, part of the time nil. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon him by Willamette University in 1890, on account of actual work, illustrated by a course of lectures.
  "He platted Knight's addition to Salem in 1888; bought Capital Park addition in 1889; Central addition and part of Capital Home addition in 1890; Simpson addition in 1891. Substantial improvements have been made in all of these and more than 500 lots in all sold. Mr. Knight has built about thirty houses in the two years past, which have been sold mostly on the "installment plan" to working people. Mr. Knight was the moving spirit and the largest original stockholder in the Capital City electric railway, started in 1890, which has grown into such an extensive and valuable property. As a minister, a writer, a public speaker, a public spirited and useful citizen, as a business man--Mr. Knight has kept the esteem, respect and confidence of the people among whom he has led such a busy, active and useful life." A monument marks his grave in Pioneer Cemetery and the Knight Memorial Church, named in his honor in 1926 was the second Congregational Church in Salem. It now houses a Korean religious community.

Salem in 1867

World Events

• Alaska is sold to the US by Alexander II of Russia for $7,200,000: the purchase is ridiculed as "Seward's Folly." Nebraska becomes the 37th state.
• Emperor Maximilian, an Austrian, is executed in Mexico and Benito Juarez (considered the "Abraham Lincoln" of that nation), becomes president again.
• Skeleton of Cro-Magnon man is discovered in France. The Cro-Magnon people, who lived probably 45,000 years ago are considered the earliest anatomically modern humans.
• Richard Wagner composes "The Ring." The waltz, "Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss is first performed in Vienna.
•  Das Kapital by Karl Marx is published in Germany. It addressed the global problems caused by capitalism in disrupting political and economic systems. It created an international debate on how to reform politics and social relations.
• Charles Dickens gives his first U.S. public reading in a New York theater.

In SalemWillamette University students studying any of the political or cultural topics mentioned above, find dorm rooms and classes in the new Waller Hall, named for Alvan Waller. It has been built in the Renaissance style of architecture, designed in the shape of a Greek cross, each side with the same measurements, the top with a cupola. The five-story, redbrick building has been twice by fires gutted by fires, with the interior rebuilt each time. It went through renovations in 1987, 1989 and 2005.
Alvan Waller was prominent in the establishment of the Oregon Institute (Willamette University), to the construction of the original Methodist Church and to the founding of the Pacific Christian Advocate. he died in 1872. His wife Elepha died in 1881.
 
When You Visit: Waller Hall at Willamette University
The building is currently used for administration offices and is the oldest U.S. university building west of the Mississippi still in use. It is located at 900 State Street, across from the Capitol, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. If the door on the south side is open, enter for a visit to the beautiful Cone Chapel on the second floor.

Other Events

• John H. Moores is re-elected as mayor, the first to serve more than one year. In the 1870s, he consolidated his lumber business with that of the Capital Lumbering Company. He was the secretary and manager of the latter company from June 1876, until his death in December of 1880. During the more than 27 years that he spent in Salem, he was actively interested in various public enterprises. He was treasurer of Marion County, a member of the board of trustees of Willamette University, and was for several years a member of the board of directors of the Salem public schools and of the Oregon State Agricultural Society, of which he was also treasurer. He was also a member of Salem's first city council, four times mayor of Salem, four years a member of the Oregon State senate, and was with the late George H. Atkinson, named as a commissioner to designate the location of the Oregon penitentiary and the Oregon State Insane asylum. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Moores were both members of the Salem First M. E. church, and Mrs. Moores was president of the Oregon Children's Aid Society that erected and maintained an orphans' home on Asylum Avenue in Salem. Their son Albert married Cora Dickinson, daughter of Obed Dickinson, the first minister of the Congregational Church. Their home was in the Piety Hill residential area, now North Capitol Mall. Their home was moved to Leffelle Street.

The former Ladd and Bush Bank

• Asahel Bush left publishing and entered banking, founding the Ladd and Bush Bank (still in business on the corner of State and Commercial Streets.) He managed and directed the bank for 45 years until his death in 1913, at the age of 89. In 1854, he had married Eugenia Zieber, the daughter of one of his printers. They had four children: Estelle, Sally, Asahel III (known as A.N. Bush) and Eugenia. The young and beautiful wife and mother had died of consumption in 1863 at age 30, and Mr. Bush raised the family with the help of servants. Mrs. Bush never lived in the Bush House constructed in 1877-78, but daughter Sally never married and continued to live there with her father and act as mistress of the household.  She died there in 1946.
• The African-American community in Salem raised $427.50, which allowed them to operate a school for six months. They placed an announcement in the newspaper this year, saying that “Notice is hereby given that the colored people of Salem expect to pay all the expenses of the Evening School now being held by them, without aid from other citizens - no person is authorized to collect funds in our name.” The following year, the city of Salem continued what they had begun, and opened Little Central School. This segregated school was located near Central School on High Street between Center and Marion. Its fifteen minority students were taught by Marie Smith and Mrs. R. Mallory. Tuition at Little Central was $4 a term, the same that white children paid to attend “big” Central School.
• The completed Millrace directly supplies water for Salem Woolen Mill and increases flow into Pringle Creek for increasingly prosperous Salem Flour Mill.
• The Starkey-McCully Building is erected at 223-233 Commercial Street with earning from a successful California Gold Rush enterprise that gained the Iowa partners, John Starkey and Asa McCully $5,000 each. They moved to Oregon in 1858 and opened a store in the present location of the historic Ladd and Bush bank. Their next enterprise was this new construction that was rented to various retail, grocery, sporting goods, furniture and auto supplies. The facade is decorated with wrought-iron detail, possibly the oldest of its kind in place. Only 70 feet of the original 120 feet building frontage remain.
• A Willamette University graduate, Edward E. Dodge, organizes a W. U. baseball team that defeated the town "Town Team" 84-23 on a field that now is Willson Park. Edward Dodge, the catcher, scored 10 runs. However, the University nine lost to the Portland Pioneers, 92-25, playing on the Fairgrounds diamond.
• John Minto purchases the 247 acre island in the Willamette River, later named for him.

Salem in 1865

World Events

• The Civil War ends with General Lee's Surrender April 9 and, within a week, President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth who died in a barn fire April 26. Four of his conspirators were hanged in July. ("Lincoln" film 2012)
• Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, becomes president, clashing politically with the Radical Republicans in Congress.
• The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits slavery.
• Christian Mission, later renamed the Salvation Army, is founded in London by William Booth who instituted the military structure it retains today.
• Standard Oil Company opens.
• A fire near Silverton, Oregon destroyed more than one million acres of timber.
• Best Reading: Mark Twain publishes The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Walt Whitman writes Drum Taps in memory of fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Young readers are enjoying Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Mary Mapes Dodge's Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates.

In Salem

With the end of war, the assassination of a president and the end of slavery, our nation begins to consider its future course in governance and prosperity. Salem's future continues to rely on water power. An imposing Willamette Flouring Mill is constructed on the north bank of Pringle Creek where it cascades into the Willamette River just south of Trade Street. The mill was financed by owners of the Willamette Woolen Mill that had been built a decade earlier in North Salem. This mill was sold in 1870 to the Kinney Brothers of San Francisco and, at the time, was described as the largest mill of its kind in Oregon and Salem's leading industry; it could turn out 400 barrels of flour a day. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1899 or 1904 ~ there is conflicting information.

When You Visit: Boise Cascade site

The site continues to be important for local industry and was most recently occupied by Boise Cascade. That business relocated and the property has been sold to local investors. It is now being redeveloped, with the first steps being the demolition of the existing buildings along Front and Commercial streets. One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the "daylighting" of Pringle Creek. It will pass under the Commercial Street Bridge, as it does now, but will be open on the west side. With completion of the enterprise, pedestrians will be able to walk along the waterway for the length of its passage from Leffelle Street (south of Bush's Pasture Park) through Salem's downtown to the creek's entrance into the Willamette River. A self-guided walking tour slide show of Pringle Creek and its companion, Shelton Creek, is found on this website.

Other Events

• John H. Moores is mayor of Salem in 1865.
• Near Marion Square Park, David McCully, a pioneer Salem merchant who had been successful in the California Gold Rush, builds a home at 891 Front Street. The house was damaged in the 1962 windstorm. It was moved and renovated at 1365 John Street. It is in the SCAN neighborhood and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1978).
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  How often we pass this scene at southeast corner of Trade and Church streets (on the south side of the creek on the Robert Lindsey Tower property) without a thought, except how beautiful it is. Few realize a double hanging took place here in 1856.
   Daniel Delaney was murdered in January and his murderers, George Beale and George Baker, were convicted by Judge Reuben Boise. A witness to the murder was a young black boy, Jack, son of Rachel Belden Brooks. His testimony was at first refused on the grounds that negroes could not understand the law in a criminal trail of a white man, but was later allowed. The well-attended double public hanging took place in May at this location.  It attracted families, bringing picnic baskets for lunch, from as far as 20 miles away. After this public execution, there were no murders in Marion County for twenty years.
• The Watkins-Dearborn Building is erected at the northeast corner of State and Commercial Streets. Part of the original facade can be seen at 110 Commercial Street. R. H. Dearborn, a harness-maker, purchased this property on 1875 and occupied it until 1910. Afterward it housed the Holland Bakery. In 1931 it became the location of the Real Estate and General Insurance offices of Edward Rothstein and Samuel Adolph, prominent Salem businessmen. Mr. Rothstein was also chairman of the city's first water commission. Mr. Adolph was son of one of Salem's first brewers and is remembered today for the beautiful home he built in 1878 at 2493 State Street. This NEN neighborhood property was listed on the National Register in 1978.
• Lucyanna Grubbs, Jason Lee's daughter and a graduate of Willamette University, follows Mrs. Chloe Willson as "Governess of the Ladies Department" of that institution.

Salem in 1861

World Events

• Benito Juarez is elected President of Mexico, although soon faced with the French invasion. An initial Mexican victory (in 1862) is commemorated with the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration.
• Alexander II of Russia (The Liberator) frees the serfs and sponsors other important government reforms. (He sells Alaska to the U.S. in 1867.)
• Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, dies. She wears black in grief for his passing, rarely appears in public or goes to London, preferring Windsor Castle.The southern states form the Confederacy with capital at Richmond, Virginia.
• Fort Sumpter is fired on and Civil War battles begin across the U.S.
• Confederate flag adopted, the "Stars and Bars".
• President Lincoln offers Union command to Col. Robert E. Lee, but he declines to serve with his state of Virginia: after several other unsuccessful Union generals, U. S. Grant is appointed commander of Union troops in 1864.
• A telegraph is sent between St. Louis and San Francisco.
• West Virginia and Kansas become states.
• In England, Dickens publishes Great Expectations and George Eliot, Silas Marner. In Boston, Julia Ward Howe writes lyrics for popular tune, "John Brown's Body", creating "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

• In Salem

The sternwheeler "Onward" on Pringle Creek at Commercial Street Bridge

This year Salem citizens had a problem more immediate than the developing war between the northern and southern states: one of the most hazardous floods in our history engulfed the city and the surrounding area of farms and villages. The Pringle Creek photograph above shows the sternwheeler "Onward" that brought flood refugees to Salem after taking them off houses, trees and barns in surrounding towns. The Willamette River rose to 39 feet, taking out bridges and flooding creeks for blocks into the city. (Flood stage is 25 feet.) Notice the Commercial Street Bridge has washed out. South of the creek the property was farmland at that time, the city's downtown commercial businesses, industrial structures and residences were expanding north along the Willamette River on Front Street and east to the Oregon Institute, renamed Willamette University. There was no Capital (it had burned in 1857 and would not be replaced until 1876) and only a small wooden Methodist Church in the site of the present brick structure.
Another victim of the flood was Salem's original 1846 ferry service across the Willamette River at Ferry Street. Operated by Rhoda White, widow of "Capt." White, (later the survivor of two subsequent divorces) the ferry sank and its load of wheat drifted away in the floodwaters.
This was the same flood that drowned the town of Champoeg, the site where, in 1843, 100 male settlers had voted (51-49) to form an Oregon provisional government under the jurisdiction of the United States. A memorial was constructed in 1942. Many pioneer Salem names are found there.

When you visit: Site of flood photograph
From the east side of Commercial, near the entrance to the City Hall driveway, look north toward downtown and you will see the view as it is today. The rebuilt bridge, a main corridor of north-south traffic, has been renovated and a pedestrian trail has been created under the bridge to Pringle Creek. When completed, it will link the Civic Center Park on the east and Riverfront Park at the Willamette River.

Other Events in Salem in 1861

• Edwin Cooke (1810-?) was named as our second mayor. He was Oregon State Treasurer (1862-70), a leading businessman and steamboat owner. His first Salem home was probably on Division Street, near the homes of other prominent citizens. No trace of this home remains, but correspondence of the time tells us the home was noted for it beautiful garden.  By 1872, he had built a Victorian mansion on Court Street, across from the State House. (See 1872 for the story of the next three generations of the family, including Edwin Cooke's granddaughter Luella who lived to be 109 year old.)
• Salem resident Col. Edward Dickinson Baker, a close friend of President Lincoln and one of Oregon's first two Senators, is killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff while leading a Union Army regiment, becoming the only sitting senator to be killed in the Civil War. Lincoln's second son Eddy, who died at four year old in 1950, had been named for Edward Baker. When the news of his death reached the Washington, D.C., James W. Nesmith of Oregon, an Independent who was the other original Oregon senator presented a resolution, passed by the Senate, declaring that the members would go into mourning wearing black crepe on their arms for thirty days. The town of Baker, Oregon and the county, were named for the senator in 1862. Only one year before his election, Edward Baker, an Illinois native, had come to Oregon from his law practice in San Francisco. His family was with him during his brief residency here in Salem, but the location of his home is not known. One theory suggests the Bakers lived on the Willamette University campus. A house, probably of that period in time, was moved north from the oldest, central section of the city and the owners have been given information that it was his home. More research may determine whether his Salem residence survived.

Alert Hook and Ladder Fire Company

• The volunteer fire fighters of the Alert Hook and Ladder Fire Company, located at 58 State Street, assemble on Commercial Street for a photograph. This classic picture is probably the only one we have of this early year of Salem's history. The fire fighters are lined up in front of a two story Commercial Street building in the center of the photograph where McCully, Starkey and Company had a "cash store". A log cabin is seen to the right.
• This spring, a one-room school was constructed along Military Road (Doaks Ferry Road) and named Brush College in "a spirit of fun and derision" because it was the center of learning for all ages of students and was located where brush had been traditionally burned-over by Native Americans. The school has been enlarged, but retains the original structure. On May 6, 2011 the school celebrated its 150th anniversary with an exhibit including historical stories and photographs.

  

  Wilson-Durbin House

• On Water Street, Joseph Gardiner Wilson builds a house soon purchased by Isaac and Olive Durbin. The Durbin family, who operated the Livery Barn in downtown Salem, occupied the home for over 50 years when Water and Front streets were desirable residential locations in the small city. By 1988, the house had fallen into disrepair, but renovation was under consideration by contractor Gregg Olson and a committee supported by the mayor. However, in 1990 before this could be accomplished, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the house. It was reconstructed, with a different upstairs window and porch, in its original location. It is now part of our Gilbert House Children's Museum where it is used for classes and special events.

Salem in 1862

World Events

• Otto von Bismarck becomes Prussian Prime Minister. He will dominate European politics for 30 years and be the first Chancellor of the German Empire between 187- and 1890.
• French gunships compel the Vietnamese emperor to cede Saigon, three provinces and treaty ports. The resulting French Indochina became an important international trade colony for France.
• The Civil War battles continue, including those at Shiloh, New Orleans, Antietam.
• Conflict at Fort Henry inspired "Star Spangled Banner"
•  The Homestead Act was passed in Congress.
• US issues first paper money: $5 to $1000
• President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves under Union control by the next January.
• The first petroleum is shipped from U. S. to Europe: 1,328 barrels.
• Pasteurization tests completed in France.
• In Europe, this year, Ivan Turgenev publishes Fathers and Sons, and Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.

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 In Salem 

The distant battles of our Civil War are not as urgent as local problems. A covered bridge is erected across Pringle Creek at Commercial Street to replace the structure washed out by flood the year before. When this photograph was taken, the city had about 1000 residents, dirt roads, no police or fire department, no water supply or sanitary services. The size was about the same as the present CAN-DO neighborhood: from the river to 12th Street, north from Mission Street to Division Street, just above Marion Square Park. Asahel Bush, publisher of the Oregon Statesman newspaper, had disputed the need for a city charter for the community, referring to the charter as a "garment too large for the child" and to city councils as "fleas on the body politic". It took three years to get the charter passes due to disputes about it legality.

When You Visit
The photographer appears to be where the hill rises south of Commercial Street, similar to the location for the photograph for 1861. Standing there in 2012, you will see the progress being made in removing the industrial complex which has so long covered Pringle Creek as it cascades into the Willamette River. The first flour mill was built there in 1869 and Pringle Creek continued to be a reliable source of power. However, the use of electric power and the esthetic demands of urban development call for "daylighting" this natural asset. The creek has been uncovered, flowing between the basement walls of the demolished industrial building. Only the rail tracks, suspended above, cross the creek. The next step was reconstructing the Commercial Street bridge, this time to allow for pedestrians to stroll underneath it, from Civic Center Park, along the north shore of the creek, to Riverfront Park.

Other Events

• Ferry and Commercial streets lived up to their names as the transportation and business center of Salem. Steamboats on the Willamette, bringing cargo and passengers, landed at Ferry Street, named for the rope ferry organized by Capt. James White in 1846 and continued by his widow after his death in 1854. She ran the ferry until 1863. The principal businesses, offices and saloons were at this intersection with Commercial. 

Nesmith Building

Holman Building

• During the last 3 years of the Oregon Territory and the first 16 of Oregon statehood, Oregon governor's office was in the Nesmith building on the southwest corner and the legislature met in the Holman building across Ferry to the north. The first Capitol had burned in 1857 and the new classic structure would not be complete until 1876.

• Residents lived in rooms above stores, in small houses with kitchen garden (and livestock) on Front Street, around Marion Square Park and eastward in the former missionary lands centered by "Willamet University".  

  

  Oregon Institute

• The university, originally the Oregon Institute,  was one of the first Salem settlement buildings. It was organized by the pioneer Methodist missionaries in 1842 and gained the title of  University, the first on the Western United States, in 1852. The first teacher and later Head of the Women's Department, was Chloe Willson, widow of the William Willson who laid out the first plats of the city, establishing the location of the Capitol, the school, and the original downtown. Willson Park is named for him. The first graduate of Willamette University, always a co-educational institution, had been Miss Emily J. York who received the degree of Mistress of English Literature in 1859.

• Marion County is chosen as the site for the second State Fair because of its closer proximity to the agricultural center of the Willamette Valley. John Savage, who had homesteaded a parcel of eight acres, three miles outside the city of Salem, donated the land. John Minto contributed $1,200 to build a wooden fence around the grounds. New events were added, including canning, quilting, and baking.

•  Sam Adolph establishes the first Salem brewery with John Brown at Church and Trade Streets. The cultivation of hops became a major agricultural enterprise in the Willamette Valley and breweries a significant industry. It attracted migrant laborers, who settled down to make homes in the town and created several significant fortunes for the local breweries and business owners.

• In January snow fell to a depth of one foot and remained for a month. Temperatures dropped to four degrees below zero.

A New Access to Pringle Creek and Riverfront Park?

Over a year ago, the developers of the former Boise Cascade property, displayed this overview of what might be a future access to the property. Since then it has been determined that the State Street entrance (across the railroad tracks) to the Carousel will be closed. Thus a new opening will serve both that facility and the developing property at Pringle Creek to the south. There is no assurance that the plan shown here will be the one used, but it is interesting to see what was being considered at that time. The new intersection will be adjacent to our Downtown Historic District, but does not effect historically designated property on Ferry Street.

A Salem Landmark Passing into History

In case you missed it in the Statesman Journal, here's a photo of the 1920s Fry Warehouse as demolition begins. The developer plans to create an interpretive marker on the site to tell the story of this landmark. The former Boise-Cascade property downtown, of which this is a part, will be redeveloped for retail, condos, community activities and to open Pringle Creek as it enters the Willamette. Watch for news here!