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 1903

World Events

• With U.S. encouragement, Panama proclaimed independence from Colombia. Several different treaties between U. S. and Columbia (and then Panama) in what was called "gunboat diplomacy" were necessary until  U. S. had the authority to build a canal across Isthmus of Panama. (Roosevelt's popularity leads to toy bear being called the "Teddy Bear".) 
• Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to U. S. "in perpetuity".
• The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits: Bolsheviks (Russian word for "majority") and Mensheviks ("minority").
• The Wright Brothers make the first successful petrol-powered, heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• The first Tour de France bicycle race is won by Maurice Garin. In the first World Series, the Boston Red Socks defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in 8 games. The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile.
• Crayola crayons are introduced, 8 colors in a box for 5 cents.
• Best New American Books: Call of the Wild, Jack London and The Ambassadors, Henry James. For children: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Kate Douglas Wiggins.

In Salem
The city welcomes President Roosevelt who speaks to our Legislature in the State House. In this photograph he is leaving as a group of top-hatted gentlemen walk along, Governor Chamberlain to his right. The local star of the day was our own soprano, Hallie Parrish Hinges, who sang the National Anthem for the thousands who were present to hear his speech. Her clear soprano, it was reported, could be heard as far away as the top of High Street hill eleven blocks away. President Roosevelt said to Governor Chamberlain, "She has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Have her sing again." Hallie responded by singing a favorite of the time, "The Flag Without a Stain," and soon the president wiped his eyes, asked for her name and said, "Truly, she is the Oregon Nightingale." This was the second time Hallie had sung for a president: she performed for Benjamin Harrison in 1891. In 1911, she gave her third presidential performance. Standing beside William Howard Taft in an open, touring car (surrounded by secret service men), she led a group of school children in serenading the top-hatted president on Court Street.

Mrs. Hinges was the granddaughter of Josiah Parrish, a Methodist missionary pioneer of the "Lausanne" party of reinforcements in 1840. He was noted for his work among the Indians to whom he was known as "the man of peace". He was awarded the one-mile square donation land grant that was the northeast section of the four-mile Salem distribution. The Lee Memorial Cemetery, where many pioneers are buried, was begun by his family on their land. His 1860s Capitol Street home (across from the school that honors his memory) was relocated to the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village on Water Street in 1990 due to the construction of the Oregon State Archives. Hallie's parents were Norman O. Parrish and his wife Henrietta. She married Dr. Charles H. Hinges and had two children, Karl and George.

When you visit
If the popular "Teddy" left any other memento of his visit except this photograph, none is known. The State House burned in 1935 and has been replaced by a modern structure, unlike this classic building.
Governor Chamberlain, whose wife did not wish to leave her home in Portland, rented a room in the Cooke-Patton mansion across the street, now the site of the Oregon State Library. He resigned in 1909 when elected to the US Senate.
Long a favorite performer at Oregon vocal events, Hallie Hinges died in 1950 at the age of 82. A home associated with her family (and later Samuel Kimball) was at the SW corner of Chemeketa and Summer Streets. In 1938 it was removed due to construction for the State Library. It has since moved twice due to the expansion of the North Capitol Mall and is now at 1075 Capital Street, NE.

Other events

• The city grows for the first time since its incorporation: annexations include all of the present Grant neighborhood, the south half of Highland, almost all of NEN, SESNA to about the present Airport Road to the east and SCAN to Rural Street on the south. The 5th, 6th and 7th wards are added, bringing the number of Aldermen to 14, two for each ward.
• The first Cherry City parade is organized, sponsored by the Elks Club. Its lodge hall was the State Street structure that is now the Micah Building of the United Methodist Church. Agnes Gilbert was named Cherry Festival Queen. Fifty-three years later, as Mrs. B. O. Schucking, she became Salem's First Citizen.
• A public library committee is formed with the first collection of books in a room of the City Hall.
• The Queen Anne-styled Ada and Mark Skiff Block, just east of Liberty on Court Street, is completed. It will be used as commercial shops and offices, but not for the Skiff family. Dr. Lansing F. Skiff was one of the first dentists in the Far West, a so-called "circuit rider" of dentistry. He was also one of the first dentists in the United States to use a water motor in the in cleaning teeth. He founded the Oregon State Dental Society. His son, Mark, followed in this profession and reportedly set the first gold crown in Salem. Neither dentist practiced in the building. It is included in the SHINE Downtown walking tour.

Cole-Jewett House

• At 1020 16th Street, a Queen Anne residence is built, probably by Vincent Cole. In 1911, the large, many gabled residence was purchased by George and Hattie Jewett who lived there for forty years with several other adults of their family. After the mid-forties, the property was subsequently sold to a succession of owners: Thomas and Frances Moisan, Mrs. Stella Ashton and Arnold and Mary Unger. Well maintained with its original architectural integrity, it stands in a mature landscape with other houses of similar age. It is an outstanding local Landmark in the NEN neighborhood.

Mystery House moved from Ferry Street to 17th in 1903

• Another residence is moved in that neighborhood: from Ferry Street (directly behind the Methodist Church) to 17th Street. north of Mill Creek. A few years ago, a lady came to the house and said she (or perhaps her relatives) had lived in the house after its relocation here in 1903 when the owners placed it here and sub-divided the several acres around it ~ constructing the street that runs along the north side of the creek and selling lots for other houses.
  We hope the owner will continue research so we may learn the names of earlier owners of this house and its history. This may be the oldest residence in Salem.
• South of the city, in the Ewald Fruit Farms (now 3915 Liberty Street South), a hilltop farmhouse is built among the orchards. It may have been on the Chapman land in the 1920s, but 1951 was the home of Robert D. Taylor and his wife Hope. He was president of the Salem Brake and Wheel Alignment Company. By 1976, he had retired and this was the last year his name appeared at this address. No other research has been done on this house that is now a rental.
• The first automobile, an Oldsmobile, is brought to Salem by Otto J. Wilson.