Salem in 1876

World Events

• Korea is forced to sign a treaty opening ports to Japanese trade, beginning the Japanese domination of Korea.
• Carlist Wars in Spain end after four years: revolutionary military forces of Carlos VIII defeated and he goes into exile. King Alfonso XII enters Pamplona, historical capital of Navarre.
• 20 disputed electoral votes prevented either Tilden or Hayes winning the presidential election until the Compromise of 1877 settled the question: Republican Hayes becomes President after an agreement to end that political party's Reconstruction policies in the former Confederate states.
• Plains Indians have their last great gatherings. At the Battle of the Rosebud Creek, Sioux and Cheyenne under Crazy Horse beat back General Crook's forces. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lt. Col. George Custer's 7th Cavalry is wiped out by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Also in the west: Colorado is admitted as 38th state.
• A Centennial Exhibition opens in Philadelphia displaying America's industrial wonders in the Machinery Hall, including the new Bell telephone.
• US National Baseball League founded.
• Librarian Melvil Dewey first publishes the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

In SalemSalem has become quite a grand city by this year and begins to solve its drinking water problem. In the photograph of an artist's drawing seen above, to the right of the steamboat in the Willamette River, can be seen the 80 foot water tower, built this year. With a 45 feet deep cistern, and water from the Willamette, it marks the beginning of the Salem Water Company. This system of water supply accommodates the Reed Opera House (1869) and the Chemeketa House (1871) by allowing water to be supplied to these multi-storied buildings. However, the water tower soon began leaking and the river became too polluted to be an acceptable source of water. Other solutions were found a decade later.

When you visit
One of the most remarkable of Salem's early artifacts is this drawing, much reproduced, that gives an aerial view of the city. The tower was almost in line with State Street where the Riverfront Park (and the Carousel) is located now, so the urban landscape is much different today.
Notice the landmarks that are familiar: the present Capitol is in the same place as the State House of 1876, but the current building faces north instead of west; the former Victorian-style Marion Country Courthouse is in the same place as the current structure; the historic First Methodist Church (not completed until 1878) is barely visible just a block away and to the south; Waller Hall of Willamette University is in the background, to the right of the State House. At the intersection of Ferry and Commercial, the large building with dark roof is the Marion House hotel (later Chemeketa House). Diagonally across the intersection is the Holman Building that had housed the original legislature of Oregon and would now continue to serve the city with the Salem Theater. Along the river, at the slough, the Willamette Mill stands over Pringle Creek where the Boise-Cascade facility is now (2012) being demolished. A block south is the Commercial Street bridge. Counting three more blocks south, one may see an indication of the Smith House (now Smith-Fry House) at the top of the hill at Oak Street. Continuing in the same direction, the hill falls at City Line (now Mission Street) and another hill then rises to the Leslie House that would stand there for another year. Asahel Bush would remove it and begin building his own home there in the next year. On the Willamette River there is some industry and steamboats are busily chugging toward town. Notice the small area of business and the surrounding farmland. West Salem appears to be uninhabited as evergreen trees stand in the foreground.

Other Events

• General Sherman of Civil War fame visits Salem. (Sherman County was named for him in 1889.)

• The new State House is completed at the head of Willson Avenue. This second statehouse was classically inspired but it reflected a revived interest in the monumental architecture of the Italian Renaissance. This building, resembling the nation's capitol, was far larger than the previous structure. To contain all the departments of government as well as the legislature and officers of state, the building was three stories tall and shaped in the form of a cross. The long axis extended north to south the length of 264 feet. Minor arms, or projecting sections were centered on the east and, especially, the west front that was considered the ceremonial entrance. Walls were constructed of brick above the ashlar (building stone) ground story of native Oregon sandstone from the Umpqua region. Upper stories were trimmed with limestone and ultimately were given a stone gray finish. The monumental exterior stairways and porticoes would not be added until 1887-8 and the copper-clad dome completed in 1893. The cost of the building was $550,000.
• The Falk House, now a Local Landmark on Candalaria Boulevard, is built by a member of the Fabritus Smith Family. (Mr. Smith, a farmer in this area, was elected to be a state legislator this year.) In 1891 Samuel A. Clarke is noted in the Salem City Directory as residing in this location. Clarke is believed to have named his fruit farm "Candalaria", a name later given to that area of Salem. A later resident was Adam Ohmart, son-in-law of Fabritus Smith, who lived there in 1902. Long-time owners Conrad and Nellie Falk moved here before 1909; the Falks had a prune orchard on the property and continued to reside on the property through the late 1940s. The house, although much altered, still rises proudly above Commercial Street in the South Salem neighborhood.
• Seth Lewelling is best remembered for his work in developing new fruit varieties. In 1875, a planting produced a promising seedling that he named "Bing" after his faithful Chinese helper. When Bing cherries were exhibited this year at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, people at first thought, because of their size, they were crabapples. According to reports, the large Bings averaged 35 cherries to the pound and sold in the East for three cents a cherry.

Salem in 1875

World Events

• The treaty of St. Petersburg gave Russia sole control of Sakhalin Island (north of Japan) and gave Japan the Kuril Islands, both nations strengthening their Pacific Rim positions. 
• Congress passes a Civil Rights Act that prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty. Unenforceable, eight year later the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.
• Indian Inspector, E.C. Watkins reports that the Sioux and Cheyenne are hostile to the U.S.
• Thomas Nast political cartoons expose corruption of "Boss" Tweed in New York City.
• New American Book: Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer"
• James Ead invents a steel truss for the first bridge wide enough to span the Mississippi River.

The Willamette Woolen Mil on Mill Creek

In Salem
An opportunity for laborers and skilled weavers was created in 1857 at the Willamette Woolen Mill, a company formed by Joseph Watt, John Minto and Dan Waldo, constructed on North Liberty Street under the direction of Superintendent Lucien Pratt. The mill three story, 190 feet building had a boarding house operated by Mrs. Pratt. The mill annually produced cloth worth $100,000. Products were easily sold and the Salem mill under Pratt's guidance was on it's way to becoming the largest mill on the Pacific Coast. Then came stockholder problems creating a period of unrest. According to records of Pioneer Cemetery, "On May 3, 1875, the mill was destroyed by fire, supposedly due to spontaneous combustion. But suspicions persisted that the fire was set to collect insurance to pay debts. Afterwards, Lucien Pratt planned and built one of the Oregon City woolen mills. For many years he was engaged in steam boating on the Willamette, and it was then that he received the title of 'captain,' which he retained throughout his life. Early in the 1870s, when the steamer "Shoshone" sank near the west bank of the Willamette, just opposite Salem, Captain Pratt, in charge of the steamer "Fannie Patton," rescued the passengers and crew from the ruined vessel. Pratt also served in the Salem city council for a number of years and was deputy county clerk during the administration of F. J. Babcock and also served in the same capacity under W. H. Egan. He was one of the oldest members of Chemeketa lodge No. 1, I.O.O.F." He died in 1899.

When you visit
Driving north on Front Street, the two lanes pass over the Mill Creek viaduct. The large mill site was probably to the right, along the creek, on land that is now occupied by offices between the present Commercial and Liberty Streets. Further to the east, at High Street (or Broadway), stood the 1840 mill built by the pioneer missionaries. In 1960, the Marion County Historical Social placed a historical marker here where Salem began. The waterpower of Mill Creek was a vital element in the earliest settlements of Salem. You may see the graves of Lucian Pratt and his wife Nancy at Pioneer Cemetery.

Other Events

• The residence now known as the Robertson-McLaughlin house, at 1598 Court Street, is built. The original owners are unknown. J. N. and Mariah Robertson bought it in 1918 and rented a small apartment upstairs to Russell McLaughlin. Grace Robertson married Mr. McLaughlin in the 1940s after the deaths of her parents. She lived there until her death in 1982. To the rear is another historic house, the Spayd cottage that would have been demolished for the new Anderson house, built across the street in its original location. The Spayd cottage was relocated in order to save it. This typical of the Court-Chemeketa neighborhood of long-time residents who care about preserving the valuable structures of their past. The nomination of this neighborhood to the National Register remains the most thorough, historically researched of our Historic Districts.
• One of Seth Lewelling's black Republican cherry plants produces a promising seedling that he named "Bing" after his faithful Chinese helper. When Bing cherries were exhibited the next year at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, people thought they were crab apples. According to reports, the large Bings averaged 35 cherries to the pound and sold in the East for three cents a cherry.
• Minimum 8-year elementary school levels are established in Salem along with a standard school year of 40 weeks. The school year start to start in September with three terms of 16, 14, and 12 weeks each along with a 2-week vacation.
• Joseph Watt, above, (1817-1890), his wife Levina and their five children lived in Salem for a few years about this time, but are mainly associated with their Yamhill property. [This does not seem to be the Joseph Watt of the Watt Addition, now in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District.] Levina Lyon Watt was the sister of Ellen Lyon who married Reuben Boise. The Boise couple lived in Polk County at Ellendale and in Salem. After Ellen's death, Reuben Boise married Emily Pratt, sister of Captain Pratt of the Willamette Woolen Mill described above. Emily was a schoolteacher before her marriage and lived in the Island House, a boarding hotel on Liberty Street, in the vicinity of the mill. After her marriage, Emily and Judge Boise made their home in the residence we now call the Jason Lee House, then in its original location Broadway location (north of Mill Creek) in the same neighborhood of Salem's pioneer settlers. Emily's life as a prominent member of the Salem community between 1860 and 1919 is told in her Oregon Statesman obituary.