Salem in 1965

World Events

• The funeral of Winston Churchill attracts the great assemblage of world statesman to that date.
• The US begins active military offensives against the Vietcong.
• Freedom Flight airlifts bring Cubans to the U.S. More than 20,000 refugees a year settle in Florida.
• President Johnson pledges a "Great Society" in America to end poverty and racial injustice. Medicare and Medicaid bills are passed in Congress. Voting Rights Act forbids discriminatory practices. The Immigration and Nationality Act ends quotas based on national origin.
• Martin Luther King, Jr and 25,000 civil rights activists complete their 4-day march from Salem, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery. ("Selma" film, 2014)
• Riots in Watts section of Los Angeles protest police brutality: 34 die and damage is estimated at $40 million.
• People are talking about Ed White's walk in space; Ralph Nadar's Unsafe at any Speed that criticizes lack of safety features in American cars, and the "Phanton Punch" of Muhammad Ali, defeating Sonny Liston in their boxing rematch. Rolling Stones and the Beatles dominate pop music.
• Academy Awards: "The Sound of Music" (US), "The Shop on Main Street" (Czechoslovakia) . Prize-winning Books: Herzog, Saul Bellow and Keepers of the House, Shirley Ann Grau.

In Salem

• The construction industry is booming. Salem Plaza (now Salem Center Mall), a new retail commercial center downtown, begins with the construction seen above. The first building (located north of Center Street, between Liberty and High Streets) will not be finished until 1966. The first completed of the "Big Box" enterprises is J.C. Penney's new store on the corner of Liberty and Chemeketa Streets with a Grand Opening in January. To the east of downtown,  the first four marble buildings of North Capitol Mall were in place in the four block area from Court to Center Street by 1959. In the next five years, the state created parking lots out of the blocks up to Union Street. In 1964, construction began at northwest corner of Union and Summer Street for the new Agricultural Building. Demolition of the neighborhood residences and construction of this building continued this year.

• Quite a different construction project ran into difficulties. While moving the historic Jason Lee House from its original location near Mill Creek on Broadway to the new Mission Mill Museum (now Willamette Heritage Center), it was discovered that the building was too tall to pass under the Center Street Bridge.  The problem was solved by letting some of the air out of the tires on the vehicles and the move was successfully completed.
• Vista Market, a Roth's IGA Foodliner grocery store, is established on South Library Street. Parts of the South Salem area have been annexed to the city by this year.
• On a smaller scale, residents enjoyed their first Dunkin Donut eatery. It was in North Salem on Portland Road. 

• During this year, Federal regulations continued to force change in how Salem industries could dispose of unhealthy materials in the public environment. The Boise Cascade Company lagoons on Minto Island were off-limits to the public because of contaminated materials settled there. Fifty year later, these lagoons are still a source of concern as the city and the state work toward expanding our Salem recreational trails with a bridge between Riverfront Park and the public sections of Minto Brown Park. It is anticipated that the Minto Brown Park, an area larger the Central Park in New York City, will someday be the center of our city. As such it will be a valuable natural resource in the growing urban community. 

• Salem is introduced to a new line of automobiles when Datsuns are displayed in the Japan Exhibition at the State Fair this year.

• A more traditional vehicle made news when the Salem Public Library, under the directorship of Hugh Morrow, has its first Bookmobile to serve residents in suburban neighborhoods. Mr. Morrow was the Director of the library from 1939 to 1972. His term of office began in the Carnegie Library on State Street and extended into the construction of a new public library in the Civic Center between Commercial and Liberty streets. The library collection of Oregon historic materials is named for him in honor of his service.
• Two of Salem's outstanding citizens are involved in Salem's municipal administration: Willard Marshall (1963-5) resigns as mayor due to ill health; Dr. Vern Miller (1965-72) takes his place. As a physician, Dr. Miller had been drawn into public life by the problems of local sanitation surfacing he saw surfacing from the septic tanks of South Salem. His successful efforts to bring sewers to that vast area led him to a city council seat. That campaign also set the stage for the annexation of the South Salem areas.

Salem in 1963

World Events

• In January, Alabama Governor George Wallace proclaims "...segregation now...tomorrow...forever!" During April and May, in Birmingham, Martin Luther King, Jr., other black leaders and demonstrators, many children, are arrested. In June, President Kennedy promises a Civil Rights Bill. In August, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.
• In June, Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Germany.
• Travel and all other transactions with Cuba are made illegal.
• In November,  John Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He is buried in Arlington  Cemetery.
• Lyndon Johnson becomes president.  His "Gulf of Tonkin" resolution in Congress escalates US  involvement in the Vietnam civil war.
• Zip codes are introduced in U.S. AT&T makes push-button phones available. Viewers see improved instant-replay in TV sports broadcasts.
• Country music star Patsy Cline dies in a plane crash. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique sparks women's rights movement. Beatles' songs are released in the U.S. creating international  "Beatlemania"
• Academy Awards:"Tom Jones" (US), "8 1/2" (Italy). Prize-winning books: Morte d'Urban, J. F. Powers and "The Reivers", William Faulkner.

In Salem
The Capital Manor Retirement Center has been completed and the first residents moved in. Built along the highway to Dallas in West Salem, its 10 floors contain 255 apartments with views of the Willamette River. From its first construction, it was the largest and best known of the retirement facilities in this area.
The recent photograph shows landscaping and physical improvements that have softened the appearance of the structure. There are other additions to the retirement center including eighty-three villas added in 1987 and town houses added in 1994. Also incorporated over the years are a health care center, assisted living units, an indoor pool, fitness center, bank branch, computer lab, beauty salon, and auditorium.

When you visit
At Capital Manor or at other local retirement facilities, you may be visiting members of your own family or friends of many years. They have selected to live in a new environment with fewer household responsibilities or are in conditions of health that require assistance. Another factor in the benefit of a retirement facility is the fact that families today are often divided by distant career opportunities for the younger generations: senior citizens rarely live with adult children as was the custom in the past. The retirement home is a new social community and one visits friends or family there just as conveniently as at any former residence.

Other events

• After the disastrous Columbus Day storm in the previous year, restorations of properties in Salem continue for many months. Willson Park is a major project and a sign indicating a possible time line for completion of various elements of repair is posted for public information. The work was done by the City of Salem's Regional Park Agency. Soon thereafter, the park was transferred to the State of Oregon that is still responsible for its maintenance.

McMahan House on Front Street after storm

Buren House on Court Street after storm

• Because of damage, the McMahan/McCully house on Front Street, then owned by David Duniway, is removed to John Street for a restoration. The house had been erected by David McCully in 1864 and purchased by Judge L. H. McMahon in about 1900. Mr. Duniway was Oregon State Archivist and a leading Salem proponent of historical preservation.
• Another residential victim of the windstorm was at 745 Court Street. An uprooted fir tree caused considerable damage to a three-story Tudor style house. The porch roof and the railing of the balcony above it sustained the most damage. A photograph taken at that time, shows the shallow roof system of the uprooted tree. The residence was razed two years later for the expansion of the Presbyterian Church buildings along Court Street. The home had been built in 1907 for a prominent Salem family, the Max Burens.
• The Jason Lee house, in its original location at 960 Broadway, is stripped of additions and prepared for a move to a temporary site while awaiting a permanent home. It was later moved to Mission Mill property, now Willamette Heritage Center.
• Another historical structure that is moved this year is the John Boon house. It was located originally next door to the Boon Store, now Boon's Treasury, a McMenamins restaurant enterprise. The historic residence was also relocated to Willamette Heritage Center.
• Horse racing was still a traditional entertainment at the Oregon State Fair in Salem in 1963. The grandstand looked over the Lone Oak raceway with horse barns across the track.
• Woodry's Furniture Store at 474 Commercial Street in downtown Salem suffers a major fire during the night of June 16. The store carried furniture, appliances, floor coverings and all types of household furnishings. It had been in business at that location since 1947.
• A fire also destroys the historic barn on the city-owned Bush Park property. It was the only building that pre-dated the 1860 purchase of the farm property from the Pringle family. It was rebuilt to resemble the original structure and is a part of the National Register Bush Park. Salem Art Association uses the building for offices, galleries and a shop.
• J. C. Penney moves north to a new location at 305 Liberty Street. The Nelson Building, on the northwest intersection with Chemeketa Street was torn down for this new construction. The Grand Opening of the new facility would not be until 1965. Meanwhile, the former Penney's becomes the Metropolitan, a variety store.
• Old City Hall was showing its age, and a bond measure referred to Salem voters on February 23, 1963, to build a new facility. Condemned by the Public Works Department as a fire hazard, the City Hall also had critical space limitations, forcing various City departments and agencies to seek office space elsewhere in town. Because the elevator often stalled between floors, employees joked it had been "installed by Mr. Otis himself." The bond issue failed, but its publicity alerted Salem residents to the realization that the old building was nearing its demise.
• In accordance with a state regulation, Salem creates a Citizen Budget Committee. The members are the City Council and nine appointed citizens representing the wards of the city and one member-at-large. Their duty is to examine, analyze and recommend an annual budget for the city. The committee conducts public meetings in Council Chambers for about 6 weeks in April and May. The public is welcome to attend and testify on matters of concern or may watch on CCTV. In 2008, the City Manager, Linda Norris, held a series of four community meetings, in advance of the Budget Committee sessions, in order to inform Salem residents of the current budget priorities and to hear comments from attendees. One of these was conducted in Spanish to accommodate residents who are more comfortable discussing civic matters in that language.

Salem in 1960

World Events 

• President Eisenhower authorizes a million dollars toward relief of Cuban refugees arriving in Florida at a rate of 1000 a week.
• Gary Powers, U-2 pilot,  shot down over Russia, was given 10-year prison sentence for espionage. At a United Nations Assembly, Soviet Premiere Khrushchev pounds his shoe on the lectern to protest discussion of Soviet policies toward Eastern Europe.
• U.S. nuclear submarine USS Triton completed the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• In Buenos Aires, Mossad agents abduct Adolph Eichmann for trial in Israel for crimes against humanity.
• Wilma Rudolph, Cassius Clay and Rafer Johnson star in Rome Olympics. Ethiopian Abbie Bikila wins the marathon, running barefoot, to become the first Sub-Saharan to win Olympic Gold.
• After the first televised campaign debate, John F. Kennedy first Catholic and second-youngest candidate, wins election as President of the U.S.
• Birth-control pill approved by FDA.
• Academy Awards: "The Apartment" (US), The Virgin Spring (Sweden). Prize-winning Books: Goodbye, Columbus, Phillip Roth and Advise and Consent, Allen Drury..

In Salem

1960 ~ acid ball arrives in Salem

2010 ~ Eco Earth Ball as a symbol of our city's place in the world

In Salem
The 1960 Ben Maxwell photograph above shows a tugboat pushing a globe tank into a Salem facility identified as the Columbia Paper Company. The asphalt-covered stainless steel Acid Ball weighed 10 tons and was 25 feet in diameter. When installed, the pressurized tank held acid that was used to "cook" wood chips into pulp.
The Columbia Paper Company was associated with Oregon Pulp and Paper Company for the production of newsprint. The sawmill of Oregon Pulp and Paper closed in 1955 and Boise Cascade assumed that company's operations on the Salem waterfront in 1962. Boise Cascade demolished the portion on the mill that used this acid ball in 1982.

When you visit
When the city purchased the former industrial land along the Willamette River for a park, there was no plan for this relic. A community effort of 5 years, completed in 2003, turned this industrial tool into the work of art covered with 86,000 colored tiles. The Eco Earth Ball is positioned at the south end of Riverfront Park on a headland overlooking the Pringle Creek entrance into the Willamette River.
An interpretive marker recalls, " It was through community effort that the idea of Eco-Earth proceeded forward with generous local donations and countless hours of volunteer labor going into its creation. The final outcome was Eco-Earth, a vibrant symbol of our world's struggle for peace, cultural diversity and ecological awareness."

Other events

• The Salem population is 68,309.
• Willard Marshall accepts the Salem award as All American City.
• Five members of the Salem Diving Association are photographed in wetsuits and flippers as they prepare to jump from the deck of the "Maid of Bayne" into the chilly waters Willamette River.
• In August there is a groundbreaking ceremony for the new National Guard Armory on 17th Street. The armory building was completed that year. The auditorium was location for EJD sponsored concerts and dances for about twenty years and continues to host a variety of events, including visits from prominent entertainment and political personalities.
• In September, John Kennedy greets a supporter at the airport, and then visits the State Fair as part of his campaign for the presidency. His youngest brother Ted accompanied him.
• The Pringle Park building in completed in November. The present building and plaza were built after the flood of 1996. Funds from our Sister City in Japan, Kawagoe, helped with the restoration. (A Sister City Advisory Commission was established in 1966 that meets as needed.)

Prospects for Capitol Mall

• The state produces proposed scale models of how the Capitol Mall was expected to look when completed. It includes structures along the Winter-Summer-Capitol streets corridor as far as D Street. These plans, including the prospect that Summer Street would be eliminated south of "D" Street and a series of high-rise structures were envisioned for west of Winter Street, were never realized. Subsequent state buildings, located to the east of Winter Street and the State Archives Building are prominent alterations from this plan. Instead of the dome (pictured at the north end of the mall) there is now a Heritage Park along D Street that makes an attractive transition from state offices to the Grant residential neighborhood to the north.
• The Shasta Daylight, a fast west coast rail connection between Portland and San Francisco, makes stops in Salem. The train left Portland at 7:45 a.m., stopped in Salem a little over an hour later at 8:55, and arrived in San Francisco at 11:30 that night. The Southern Pacific Railroad maintained a freight station downtown on the northwest corner of Trade and Commercial. 

Religious Figures at Christmas at Capitol

• At Christmas, life-sized nativity figures were erected on the Capitol grounds. After the controversy over religious displays on government property, they were transferred to Willamette University the next year. Vandals later destroyed the figures.

Salem in 1897

World Events

• A cyclone in Australia devastates the small city of Darwin, destroying almost every building. Many "coloured people" working in the pearl industry in the harbor were drowned.
• Tate gallery opens in London. In France, Claude Monet begins his water lilies series of paintings that he will continue until the end of his life.
• Excavations for wealth: Drillers in Oklahoma strike oil on land leased from Osage Indians, leading to a population boom. The Klondike Gold Rush begins as first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle. Jack London sails to Alaska where he writes his first successful stories.
• "The Stars and Stripes Forever", a patriotic march, is performed for the first time.
• "Katzenjammer Kids" is the first American comic.
• The Bayer pharmaceutical company markets their new product: Aspirin.
• Notable new books: Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells and Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

In Salem
This photo is of the pickle and cider factory established in 1897 by Gideon Stolz on Summer Street between Mill & Bellevue. He had started Salem's first cider and vinegar works in 1879, then entered into partnership with two Portland businessmen. They incorporated as the Pacific Cider, Vinegar, and Fruit Preserving Company that relocated to Portland. Stolz later sold his interest in it and returned to Salem to begin this company. He operated under the G.S. label. In addition to his former products, plus mincemeat, catsup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, and sauerkraut, he had a bottling line for soda beverages. He operated as Gideon Stolz Company under the "G.S." label. In the 1930's & 40's many of the products were discontinued as more emphasis was placed on beer and wine.

When you visit
The factory site was purchased by Willamette University in 1965 and is now occupied by campus housing and tennis courts. Looking north as you travel on Bellevue, you can see the former industrial site where these facilities are now. The last owner of the factory was Willard Marshall, mayor in that year, who was married to the granddaughter of Gideon Stolz.

Other events

• J. A. Richardson is elected mayor.
• The construction of the Minto Island water filtration system is started by Salem Water Company, forcing river water in a suction pipe to pass through subsurface sand and rocks.
• The Kay Woolen Mill has manufactured the first bolt of worsted goods manufactured west of the Mississippi. The Kay mill would be a leading employer of Salem workers for the next three generations. The site is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and comprises the complex of buildings now known as the Willamette Heritage Center.

• On November 29, F. R. Anson, agent for the Salem Electric Railway notified the public that the streetcars (above) would have the following routes: leave Willamette Hotel (later the Marion) for the Southern Pacific depot via the State House; for the Insane Asylum with a transfer to Garden Road available; and to South Salem. In addition, street cars left the Methodist Church on State Street going south to Morningside or north to the Fairgrounds. The Capital City line used one carriage as a hearse. The casket was placed crosswise on a seat and pallbearers accompanied the casket to Rural Cemetery. From the car they carried the casket uphill to the gravesite.

• The Civil War soldier memorial statue is erected in City View Cemetery.
• Edward M. ("Pap") Waite, a beloved citizen, died on July 13 while participating in a celebration for a baseball game between two local teams. The Waite Fountain would be erected in his memory by his widow, Louisa, the sister of Eugene and Werner Breyman. The couple lived in a fine, Italianate residence on the southwest corner of State and Winter streets, the later site of our Carnegie Library. At her death in 1907, the newspaper reported, " Her husband, E M Waite, went some years ago, almost without warning. They were for years probably the most joyful old couple in Salem. They were the life of any company. They were always young in spirit, although well along in years."

The Salem Sentinel newspaper reports on December 11, "Several States are already making efforts to prevent the murderous institution of football. Modern football is too brutal for civilized Oregon." Willamette University records show that it had ventured into the rough sport officially in 1894 with no recognized coach or schedule. It played Pacific College (Newberg, which became George Fox University in 1949), winning 18-4 on Nov. 17, 1894, and met the Salem YMCA five times, losing four of them. Then, with a little more prestige, WU was able to play in 1895 against the University of Oregon, Oregon Normal (now Western Oregon State University), and Oregon State. The Salem high school had no team until 1904.

From a Capitol Journal reporter quoting a Salem alderman: "I am willing the dog tax be collected but I'll see to it my dog is exempt if I have to kill him."To another reporter: "You can tell people who live out in South Salem by their gait. They nearly all step high like a blind horse, having become so used to the walks out there."
To a reporter from a Newport resident: The city council there is considering an ordinance forbidding Col. Compton and Col. Eddy to lead any more ladies into the surf dressed in India silk bathing suits.
(See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.)

Salem in 1879

 World Events

• British troops are massacred in the African Zulu war, but win victory after burning the capital of Zululand at Ulundi. Among those killed with the British, the "Prince Imperial" of France, great-nephew of Napoleon.
• Frank Woolworth opens the first of his "five and ten cent" stores.
• Thomas Edison applies for a patent for an incandescent light bulb. Also in November, the Bell Telephone Company and Western Union reach an agreement in the U. S. in which Bell agrees to stay out telegraphy, and Western Union to keep out of telephone business.
• Mary Baker Eddy founds the Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston.
• Yellowstone is made our first National Park.
• Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" premieres in Copenhagen. Gilbert and Sullivan's musical, "The Pirates of Pinzance" opens in NYC.
• This year the open-air arena where P. T. Barnum had presented circuses, was renamed Madison Square Garden by owner William Vanderbilt who used it for sporting events. It was demolished in 1889 for a new building. (Now site of New York Life Building.)

  This Stolz factory photograph used courtesy of the Oregon State Library

In Salem
Traditionally, preservation of fresh food for the Salem family dinner table had been done at home. But as the community grew, grocery purchasing became more common. Local cider, vinegar and pickle factories were the forerunners of our canning industry. In 1879 Gideon Stolz built his first cider plant in at the southeast corner of Trade and Cottage Streets. A partnership with Portland investors eventually moved the business there. In 1897 Gideon Stolz organized the plant seen here on Summer Street between Mill & Bellevue. He remained active in his various business enterprises until 1920 when they were turned to over to his son, Walter, owner of the Spa Restaurant. Walter's son-in-law, Willard Marshall, mayor of Salem 1963-65, continued the business until his death in 1968. The local canning industry has been eclipsed by the popularity of frozen foods. Many factory sites have been transformed for other uses.

When you visit
The factory site was sold to Willamette University in 1973 and is now occupied by student housing units and tennis courts along Bellevue Street.

Other Events

The Gray Cottage on Court Street

• G.W. Gray is elected mayor. This recent photograph of his home is also seen as the beginning of the SHINE Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District Walking Tour. The Gray brothers also build the Gray Building featured in the SHINE Downtown Historic District. Walking Tour.
• The stern-wheeler "Beaver", used by local farmers to transport their crops to other markets, is wrecked on the Willamette River. Built in Portland in 1873, it was owned by the Willamette River Transportation Company.
• Father Blanchet, (1795-1883), the first Catholic priest in the Oregon Country, retires at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland. Father Blanchet and Rev. Modeste Demers had served in this territory, learning the native languages and teaching the prayers and doctrines of the Catholic Church. In the Willamette Valley, he celebrated mass on Epiphany, June 6, 1839, in their log church, dedicating it to St. Paul. That Mission became the regional administrative center of Catholic missions in Marion County and his base for the next decade, as well as his final resting place. Blanchet School in Salem is named for him and continues the educational goals of Sacred Heart Academy founded in 1863.
• The efforts of the local temperance societies had little effect on at least one saloon keeper if the following notice, dated November 7, 1879, is any indication: "Notwithstanding the frantic efforts of certain interested parties to close up the Granger Saloon, it's doors are again opened, and I am happy to state to my customers that no change whatever has been made in either liquors or cigars." It is signed W. B. McMahan.(Quoted from "When Salem Was Wet: Early Salem Saloons")  The Chemeketa House (later the Marion Hotel) advertised that it was open all night and provided omnibus service free to and from the hotel to the railroad station. Accounts of luxuries included water closets on every floor and all the modern improvements including speaking tubes. Each of the 165 rooms had "water, gas, and a telegraph". The hotel was four stories high and contained 150 rooms. It was "along Franco-Italian lines with the French influence predominating. Along the mansard roof stood 28 chimneys 'like sentries on a watch-tower.' Below the chimneys, dormer windows looked out upon Commercial and Ferry Streets." The first floor of the hotel had ceilings 17 feet high. The second floor had 15-foot ceilings and contained 11 suites and eight single rooms. "The floors and halls were carpeted with Brussels to ease the tread cold feet padding down the hall to wash rooms in which flowed hot and cold water. All the furniture was of black walnut."
• In the basement of the new Hotel was a sumptuous bar run by one O .H. "Baldy" Smith. It included ornate chandeliers and paintings described by the Weekly Salem Mercury of January 7, 1871, as "beautiful, suggestive, and interesting." Off the saloon was a barbershop with marble bowls, a billiard parlor with three tables, and a comfort station boasting "five self-acting water closets." The hotel had another distinction: elevations could be legally measured from 9 survey control points (monuments). Salem had been surveyed in June of 1861 by Jerome B. Greer and Walter Forward. The point from which all elevations were measured was a brick projecting from the Marion Hotel's northwest corner, 2. 78 feet above the sidewalk and 48 feet from mean-low water level of the Willamette River.
• In California, Dr Elijah White, the first physician of the Willamette Mission, dies this year. Dr. White, a prominent leader in the mission and active supporter of aid to the Indian population, had left the mission community in 1840 when it moved to the Salem settlement, concentrating on American Colonization. Tragic events in families of early Oregon settlements are well illustrated in the pioneer experiences of Serepta White and her friend, Elvira Perkins.