Historic Preservation: Gone Missing

This 1920s bungalow at 440 Mission Street SE was demolished this week leaving a tangle of weathered lumber, shattered household debris and discarded foliage. Three of its neighbors along Liberty Street are also scheduled to be razed. Within the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic Residential District, their condition had deteriorated in the last several years because of no maintenance or occupancy. Finally, the Community Development Department of the City of Salem condemned all four for reasons of public safety. Historic houses like these, recognized on the US Department of Interior National Register of Historic Places, are community assets: they establish the character of our neighborhoods. All along the neighboring Liberty Street, there are many examples of residential historic preservation as either living or work space. Unfortunately, these were not valued in the same way.

A Tag of Memory

Yesterday, November 14, Mission Mill Museum sponsored a program by June Schumann of the Portland Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. Her excellently prepared (and charmingly delivered) presentation reminded us of the experiences of the American West Coast families of Japanese descent who were "relocated" in 1942 during World War II. The chart above shows the areas effected by relocation. Families east of the line were not spared discrimination: they lived under strict restrictions and oppressive surveillance.

The photo below shows a typical family as they departed, leaving their homes and all their possessions, taking only one suitcase apiece. At the presentation, we were each given a tag like the ones shown.
We might ask ourselves two questions: How would we feel wearing such identification as our own families left our homes with the uncertain future they faced? What happened to the families who stood on the platform of the Salem Railroad Station more that sixty-five years ago wearing these tags?

Last walk across the Union Street bridge for 2009

The Union Street bridge closed tonight for the next six months. On a last walk across from the west side, Tom caught these photos with his iPhone. Above, the graceful curve of the trestle. Below, the last few steps before the bridge ends at Water Street. See you there in May of 2010!

The Eagles Have Flown

We have been waiting for the orange colored cones to go away so we could take an "after" photo to go with the one above and now we have it! It wasn't so long ago that the southwest corner of Broadway and Market Streets looked like this with the Eagles building being demolished.
What a difference Broadway Town Square (below) has made and we all enjoy the Broadway Theater! But we don't want to forget what a noble building this was and so encourage anyone with a historic photo of it in its glory years to send us a copy.

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.

Featuring our Summer Street Heritage

Today the Statesman Journal featured Grant neighborhood's efforts to establish a National Register Historic District in an area including this historic Summer Street house. Originally built in the 1930s for Juanita and Robert Paulus, it is now owned by Lola and Christopher Hackett who are active in preservation activities and are quoted in the current newspaper article. On October 8, the Marion County Historic Society will welcome Norma Paulus as speaker at their annual dinner, held at Mission Mill Museum. We are fortunate in Salem that both newcomers to our community and representatives of past generations work together to preserve our valuable cultural heritage.

Our Salem Fire Station Museums

This is Salem Fire Station #5 at 1520 Glen Creek Road NW. It houses one of our three fire museums with historic equipment.

At Fire Station #5 you will see this Hand Pumper equipment. In 1857, Salem volunteer fire company fought fire with leather buckets filled with water, ladders, and a few basic tools. In 1883, Salem purchased this Hunneman hand-operated fire engine and 300 feet of leather hose. Without horses, it was necessary to hand- pull the 4000 pound fire engine to the fire. Notice the tubing along the top: one end dropped into one of the four cisterns downtown, the other end connected to the hand pumper hose. Fireman forced water from cistern through hose to the fire using the hand rails along the side of the Hand Pumper. This equipment was retired in 1904.



This fire station is is dedicated to George Ventura who joined the Salem Fire Department in 1962 as a firefighter. In April of 1980, he was promoted to Deputy Fire marshal where he remained until his unexpected death in 1986. At the time of his death, George was attending a seminar in Yakima, Washington. In his honor, flags at all Salem Fire Stations were lowered to half-staff.


At this Fire Station #10, 3611 State Street, you will see an original hose cart. Considerably lighter than the engine, it required fewer man to transport. The rod has handles for two men, although there may have been a cross bar to enable more men to move it through the streets. This station museum, like the others, has numerous historic photographs and firefighting exhibits.


At Fire Station #7, 5021 Liberty Road S, you will see Salem's second and last steam engine, the 1889 La France, a horse drawn pumper. By 1893, using horses had saved human labor to such an extent that the 220 man volunteer force was reduced to 14 paid firemen. A select number of apprentice firefighters known as "Call Men" would continue to volunteer until 1923 when the department was able to maintain a fully paid force.


The last use of steam power was in 1935 when the State Capitol burned and every piece of usable equipment was needed. Salem Fire Department's only line-of-duty-death occurred when Floyd McMullen, a 19 year-old volunteer fireman"sleeper" for the East Salem Engine Company, was struck and killed by falling debris at the capitol. This station is dedicated to him.