Salem in 1941

World Events

• Federal law declares all persons born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens.
• In a radio broadcast, Churchill asks US to "Give us the arms, and we will finish the job".  Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act. The United Services Organization (USO) is created to entertain to troops. Defense Bonds and Stamps go on sale to help provide funds for the military.
• The Grand Coulee Dam begins operation; Mount Rushmore Memorial completed. Disney's fourth film, "Dumbo", is released. General Mills introduces CheeriOats (Cheerios).
• On December 7, Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor, destroying or damaging 12 American ships and killing over 2,500 servicemen. Congress declares war on both Japan and the Axis after Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress, heard by radio in 80% of American homes.
• Orson Welles produces and stars in the much applauded "Citizen Kane", but the Academy Award goes to "How Green Was My Valley". Prize-winning book: Hold Autumn in Your Hand, George Sessions Perry.

In Salem
In May of 1941, Memorial Day in Salem commemorated the military loses of a first World War while the nation prepared to enter the second. Radios are tuned into President Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech to Congress promoting aid the Allies while hopes dimmed for US staying out of the war. Foreign consulates are closed and there are rumors of submarine attacks at our coastlines. "Preparedness" was the term for this activity, and Salem residents participated by taking part in collecting aluminum for munitions production, honoring past veterans with giant Courthouse billboards, buying Defense Savings Bonds and stamps, or watching the mail for a possible Selective Service notice for a young man in the family. When the Japanese attack came on December 7, Salem families were anxious for the safety of their loved ones at Pearl Harbor. Willamette's football team, at the University of Hawaii, spent the next three weeks patrolling the beaches until returning home by sea. Eight families had sons serving at Pearl Harbor, and two more were at Midway and Wake Island. All survived the initial attack though some were wounded. In other communities, Japanese-Americans were taken into custody and turned over to immigration agents. But Salem's officials reported no such orders had been received here and reported that Japanese in this area have been here many years and are either citizens or wish they could be. A total blackout was ordered and air raid wardens patrolled Salem.

When you visit
The Courthouse where the 1941 Memorial Day commemoration took place is no longer there: it was replaced in 1952. The Doughboy statue is now found at Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs Memorial Garden on Summer Street. It is only one memorial in the park there, having been joined since that time by memorials to those who had been awarded the Medal of Honor as well as all those who served in our nation's military engagements in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.The state has produced "Memorials", a walking tour brochure locating and describing these sites. Ask for it at ODVA or at Travel Salem.

Other events

• On Broadway, at Mill Creek, Marion County Historical Society mounts a display commemorating the centennial of the Salem settlement at this site.

• United Airlines begins flying out of McNary Field, bringing airmail to Salem for the first time.
• Max Gehlhar becomes the first customer of Salem Electric Company, powered by the Bonneville Dam.
• The Southern Pacific Freight Station on 12th Street is busy with railroad traffic.
• A site for Camp Adair is chosen in Polk County. It was named for Henry Rodney Adair, who was a native of Astoria and a member of a prominent Oregon pioneer family. After graduating from West Point, he became a cavalry lieutenant and was killed during the Pancho Villa Expedition on June 21, 1916. The 57,159-acre site was built during 1942–1943 division training and cantonment camp, and had temporary quarters for 2,133 officers and 37,081 enlisted personnel. From 1944–1946-07-23, Camp Adair served as a prisoner -of-war camp, housing German and Italian POWs.

Salem industrial haze as seen from West Salem hillside

• Industrial haze plagues the downtown Salem area.
• The 1937 Timberline Lodge is still popular with Salem travelers before gas rationing takes effect.
• Marion County operates a "Poor Farm" on north Front Street.
• The Boon House, now at Mission Mill Museum, is photographed in its original location by the  "Boon's Treasury" building on Liberty Street.

• Highway 99E near Silverton Road, now absorbed by I-5, is a two-lane road with scattered "cottages" for motorists and small businesses at the edge of town.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Five Salem shops arranged displays stressing the Bundles for Britain theme with British and American flags to emphasis the message.
• The Oregon House approved 38 to 19 a two-sent per pack tax on cigarettes sold in Oregon. This tax was designed to raise $2,000,000 a year to help increase the average old age pension from $21 a month to $30.
• At Eola Hills orchard, where 500 cherry pickers were usually employed, only 50 were on hand to harvest the crop. Nor was there much hope of additional pickers, according to the manager. Work was much more attractive, and at higher wages, with the build up of defense contracts and the military expenditures.
• Salem women were rushing to hosiery counters in shops, fearful that their trim legs might suffer by the order freezing Japanese silk imports. Stores reported a 100% increase in silk stocking purchases over a three-day period.
• United Airlines first plane to and at Salem airport attracted a crowd of 100 spectators.
• Congressman James W. Mott asserted that Hitler was on his way out and that time was not too far in the future.
• Six Oregon men, first to be sent to conscientious objectors' camp in the state, would report to the newly established Civilian Public Service Camp No. 1 at Cascade Locks.
• In a matter of minutes following the first bulletin announcing the Japanese attack on Honolulu, Marion County civilian defense and Salem city administration were in session at the Courthouse oiling up their organization to meet the emergency. A blackout was ordered in Salem to test the signal system and determine the ability of citizens to douse their lights quickly. Results were satisfactory except in South Salem, where the signal could not be heard.

(See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.

Salem in 1940

World Events

-->In Tibet, 4-year old Tenzin Gyatso is named the 13th Dalai Lama.

Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. In a radio address he blames Mussolini for leading Italy into war against the British: placing "the inheritors of ancient Rome upon the side of the ferocious pagan barbarians" ("Dunkirk" film and "Darkest Hour" film, both 2017)

British forces are evacuated from Dunkirk leaving Europe under axis control.

The International Olympic Committee formally cancels the Summer Olympics.

Salem's Senator McNary was nominated for Vice President to Republican Wendell Willkie this year, but Roosevelt is elected for a third term.

The Selective Training and Service Act creates the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Willys Corporation introduces a lightweight, all-terrain vehicle: the "Jeep" of later military use.

 Nylon stockings are placed on sale with almost 5 million sold on the first day. The McDonald brothers' restaurant opens in San Bernardino, Ca. Walter Knott begins construction of a ghost town replica that becomes Knott's Berry Farm.

Academy Award: "Rebecca". Also popular this year, the classic "Grapes of Wrath". Notable books read this year are The Nazarene, Sholom Asch and How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellen.

In Salem
Local excitement was the all-volunteer Salem Centennial in August. Many events were public and with costumes of pioneer days. A Centennial Pageant entitled "From Wilderness to Wonderland" was produced at the State Fairgrounds. A 25-cent, illustrated booklet (cover reproduced above) was the Souvenir Program for the five days of activities throughout the city. It lists hundreds of local residents as producers and participants.

When you visit
In the scene above, the parade marchers are headed south on Commercial Street, passing the former site of Douglas McKay's auto dealership at the northeast corner of the intersection with Marion Street. Not seen in the photograph, is a young Mark Hatfield, parading with the Salem High School band. Traffic still flows south at that intersection, but the Marion Street Bridge, added in 1954, now brings a stream of vehicles east from West Salem. Mr. McKay's business, which became Capitol Auto Group, is no longer at that location. The Marion Square Park, across Commercial to the west, is still an oasis of evergreen trees, although the grove was much diminished in the Columbus Day windstorm of 1962.

Other events

• The census reports Salem population as 30,908, one fifth the population of 2012.
• An important 1940 economic effect was the U.S. National Bank of Portland acquisition of a large portion of the Ladd and Bush Bank. Ladd and Bush Trust Company moved into the U.S. Bank building as Pioneer Trust Company. This historic institution continues to serve the Salem community as Pioneer Trust Bank.
• The first Salem family to suffer loss in World War II was that of Ralph Barnes, a foreign correspondent who had lived with his wife and two young daughters in the capitals of Europe during the years leading up to World War II. He had sent his family to England as combat began, but their safety was threatened by the German bombing of London. His wife Ester, Joan and Suzanne had returned home to Salem just a few months before Ralph died in an English reconnaissance flight crash over Yugoslavia.
• Families and friends gather at the 12th Street Railroad Station to say goodbye to young men leaving for National Guard duty.
• George Waters, in the local tobacco business, bought the Class B Western International League franchise in Bellingham, WA, and brought the pro team to Salem in 1940. On May 1, the Salem Senators christened the new Waters Field with 4,865 attendance and an 11-10 victory over the Yakima, WA, team with five runs in the ninth inning. The stadium of Waters Field later burned, leaving no prospect of rebuilding.
• The late George Strozut remembered that as a child of 7 in this year, he and other travelers were greeted with a prominent sign as they arrived at the local Greyhound bus station located at the north end of the Senator Hotel on High Street. The sign listed Salem statistics (including the fact that the population was 31,000) and concluded with the statement that the city was "99.9 percent white."

From the Capitol Journal:

• Salem was soon to become a port of call along United Airlines route between Vancouver, B. C. and San Diego.
• In July, Chairman Ray Stumbo, in charge of construction for the Salem Centennial Pageant to be staged at the fairgrounds, reported that 20 workman were already on the job. 100,000 feet of lumber would be required to build the mountain set 300 feet wide and 40 feet deep. That same month, Marion County Court gave the Salem Centennial Committee use of the Courthouse square during the celebration for the erection of an Indian village, Red Cross first aid station and a free trapeze set. In addition, Salem merchants announced that their stores would be closed for three big centennial parades. An opening fun parade would be on July 31. Succeeding days would see the pioneer parade and the major centennial parade. It was estimated that it would take three hours for the centennial parade to pass.
• In September, over 1,100 boys and girls were enrolled in the second year of Bible instruction classes in Salem public schools.
• Gov. Charles Sprague gave unqualified support to President Roosevelt's $1, 820, 000 national defense program, but doubted that the nation's civilians were prepared to stand up under total war.
• Salem Grange, under its Master, Zero Polaire, started a movement for registration of all aliens in the United States as a protection against fifth column treachery that President Roosevelt warned against.

(See Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.)

Salem in 1939

World Events

• In June, the St. Louis, a ship carrying 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death camps during The Holocaust.
• In September Germans invade England's ally, Poland and World War II begins. United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, India and France declare war on Nazi Germany. The U.S. declares neutrality.
• African-American opera star, Marian Anderson, denied the use of the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., sings before an audience of 75,000 at Lincoln Memorial. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR.
• Legendary baseball retires after contracting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ~ now commonly known by his name: Lou Gehrig's disease. University of Oregon defeats Ohio State to become champions of the first NCAA basketball tournament.
• Academy Award: "Gone With the Wind". Prize-winning novels: Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck:  Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo and The Yearling, Margorie Kinnan Rawlings.

In Salem

One Salem citizen, Ralph Barnes, with his young wife and two daughters, is witnessing the political affairs in Europe as Foreign Correspondent for the NY Herald Tribune. The news Ralph is getting from his Salem father that the new State Library in the North Capitol Mall has been completed and that the Piety Hill homes along Court Street will be demolished next, for the Public Service Building. The Barnes handsome family home on Chemeketa Street, threatened by the construction of the state buildings on the North Capitol Mall, is safe for the present. Ralph learns that Charles Sprague, owner, editor, and publisher of the Oregon Statesman newspaper has been elected governor.
This scene, looking west on State Street, would be familiar to Ralph. Business is picking up with industry anticipating wartime contracts and increased employment. With few suburbs, downtown is in easy walking distance for many residents. It is the center of shopping and professional appointments for adults, for teenagers' drugstore sodas after school and movies on weekends, for family church services. But this is a watchful and anxious time as residents of Salem gather around their radios to listen to the news broadcasts and President Roosevelt's "fire-side chats".

When you visit
Many of these buildings remain, but of significant loss is the Capitol Theater to the left with its marquee dome. It was demolished in 2001: the lot remains empty with the only the back wall of the theater as evidence of its past presence. Beyond the next intersection at High Street, the interurban electric rail line, even then, no longer operated; travel of any distance was by automobile. Other familiar landmarks of this photograph remain, several recently renovated. From left to right, the Livesley Building, still our only skyscraper at 11 floors, the Pioneer Trust Bank and the Masonic Hall. Since 2001, a significant part of downtown has been accepted on the National Register of Historic Places and Heritage Tourism is encouraged. The new Grand Hotel and Conference Center have replaced the Marion Hotel (which was destroyed by fire in 1971) as a social center for both residents and visitors. Civic efforts are strongly focused on bringing more business downtown.

Other Events

• William W. Chadwick becomes mayor. He is among the group at the railroad station greeting Prince Olaf and Princess Martha of Norway on their brief stop in Salem. Since 1926, William W. and Lorena Chadwick had made their home at 1390 Winter Street NE. (above) Mr. Chadwick had been in Salem for only a few years, having been the Postmaster in Canby before 1921. From 1932, He rose in his local hotel career, becoming manager of the Senator Hotel, and General Manager of the Chadwick Hotel Co. Inc. and Chadwick Operating Company. The Chadwicks continued to live in their Winter Street home through his death in 1968.

• With the Patton residence gone, the new Oregon State Library and one remaining tree loom over empty space. The first of four state buildings envisioned for North Capitol Mall, it is an impressive structure. Faced in Georgia marble, granite steps lead to the main entrance, on the east, and the seal of Oregon, carved by Gabriel Lavare. This artist also created the "Pioneer Mother" statuary in the main lobby, the brass elevator, and the decorative architectural features of the second floor; plaques along the wall memorialize persons and symbols important in Oregon history.
• The last two Salem Civil War veterans, John Olsen and Al Feilen, march in the Memorial Day parade.
• South of town, the Buena Vista ferry operates across the Willamette near the town of Independence.
• At Wheatland to the north, another ferry is in operation. One commercial ferry or another has crossed the Willamette River between Yamhill and Marion Counties for over 160 years.
• Hugh Morrow becomes Director of the Salem Public Library, beginning a more than 30 career of service to that facility and our cultural community.
• The first wedding takes place in the new Oregon State Capitol.

From the Capitol Journal:

• Plans to extend water mains into the Salem Heights area reached the stage for voter approval.
• Salem High School was dropped from the basketball tournament because of participation in the "riot" staged after the Salem-Chemewa game in March.
• A Salem man was asking for a divorce from his wife, alleging she struck him in the face without first removing his eyeglasses.
• The following comics were features: Little Orphan Annie, Reg'lar Fellows, Tailspin Tommy, Dumb Dora, Bringing Up Father and Mutt and Jeff.
• The American Legion's Committee on Subversive Activities reported that four un-American organizations were active in Oregon: Young Communists, the Communist party, German-American Bund and the Silver Shirts. The Silver Shirts were potentially most dangerous since they relied on the "vigilante spirit" in achieving their un-American ends.
• In November, other municipalities of Oregon referred to the city government of Salem as a "three ring circus" because its affairs were conducted by a mayor and 14 councilmen serving without pay and each responsible only for the department immediately under individual control.

Salem in 1938

World Events

• Germany annexes Austria, France calls up reserves.
• Hitler launches Kristallnacht, Italy enacts anti-Jewish laws.
• Primer Minister Neville Chamberlain returns from Munich meeting, proclaiming he has achieved "Peace for our time." Winston Churchill calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Hitler. Roosevelt appeals for peace.
• Japanese occupy Chinese cities.
• The March of Dimes is launched to fund research to combat polio.
• A Minimum Wage law is passed by Congress.
• Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in a famous Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Joe Lewis defeats Max Scheming in the first round of Heavy-Weight boxing match at Yankee Stadium in NYC.
• Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of uranium. A toothbrush is first commercial use of nylon yarn.
• A zany comedy wins the Academy Award, "You Can't Take It With You". Award-winning novels:  Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier and The Late George Apley, John Phillip Marquand.

In Salem

While the leading nations of the world line up for wider conflict on either the side of the Allies or of the Axis, Salem residents are still struggling with Depression unemployment and homeless men are sleeping in the Hotel de Minto, rooms in the police station at City Hall. There are WPA government jobs in construction, however, as the Oregon State Capitol is completed and the "Gold Man" placed atop. The Oregon State Forestry Building is also completed this year. As the new Oregon State Library is completed, the legal battle over the state condemnation of the Patton residence is resolved and that building is being prepared for demolition.

But perhaps the most fascinating for the public, and the most annoying for those who usually traveled along State Street, was the move of the Post Office. With its walls stripped of their ivy-blanketed walls, 200-ton structure was placed on rollers and, for the next six months, crept from Church Street to 12th Street and its new home. Purchased by Willamette University, it became their School of Law in 1939, named for a distinguished professor, Robert Gatke, the author of Chronicles of Willamette, the Pioneer University of the West.

When you visit
Looking back at the city as it was that year, the outstanding difference is that the City Hall is no more. That High Street building is gone, with the focus of city administration now at the Civic Center to the south, between Trade and Leslie, Commercial and Liberty streets. The Salem Public Library is part of this complex.
The Oregon State Forestry Building survives, and it is worth a visit to see the beautiful woodwork that decorates the interior. Meanwhile, on the new Capitol property, the Patton residence, as well as all the private residences formerly on Court Street are now gone.
The elegant Gatke Hall is a familiar site now, but recently has gained a new next-door neighbor, the Ford Building with a very different architecture. They both blend into the campus atmosphere that reveals the story so vital to Salem's history: the Methodist missionary effort that was the birth of the city.

Other Events

• The new Capitol Building is completed and dedicated on October 1.
• Edith Patton moves into her new home on Leslie Street, bringing with her as railings by the front door, the wrought iron that once decorated the third floor balcony of the old Cooke-Patton mansion on Court Street where her husband, Hal Patton, had lived nearly all his life. He departed the family home briefly after his 1896 marriage to Ella Breyman, but returned when she left the marriage to pursue an acting career. A second marriage in 1911 to Nellie Lucia ended with her death. He married Edith Tidcomb in 1914 and, since the couple was unable to have children, adopted two little sisters whose mother had died. Hal himself died in 1934, a year before the State House fire that led to the demolition of his home in Piety Hill. Edith died in 1971. Her house is seen on the SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour.
• The Salvation Army builds a handsome new headquarters building on State Street that will be their headquarters until 1968. The name can still be seen above the doorway. The structure is included in the SHINE Historic Downtown walking tour slide show on this website.
• Salem Electric Company begins service, under the leadership of Harry Read. The company has headquarters in West Salem.
• Dr. Ralph Purvine (1910-1974), son of pioneer Dr. Mary Bowerman Purvine and physician at Willamette University, establishes the Salem Clinic. In 1948 he would establish the Willamette University health Service.
• Marion County voters approve the construction of a new Courthouse, but funds are not available. Meanwhile, the spruce tree on the Courthouse lawn is decorated as the community Christmas tree, marking the 25th anniversary of the first lighting in 1913 by the Cherrians.
• With funds raised by the American Legion, Lee Eyerly purchased a five-acre plot of land on which he established Salem’s airport. By 1929, he founded an aviation school, and later, the first aircraft service station on the west coast. During the Depression of the 1930s, he took his invention, a trainer plane named the Orientator, to several fairs as an amusement ride. It became a success and was re-named the Acroplane. The last remnant of an Acroplane is now located at McNary airport on view from Turner Road. Until recently, the remains of the Acroplane have been stored at McNary Field. Its fate is uncertain.

From the Capitol Journal:

• When Governor Martin leaned on the shovel to break ground for the new million dollar state library and office building in February, a spectator exclaimed, "Don't lean on that shove, Governor, this isn't a WPA project!"
• Protests were presented to the Capitol Commission relative to sculptured figures being prepared by Leo Friedlander of New York for the new statehouse. Still living pioneers who had crossed the plains in covered wagons declared, "I never saw any pioneers who looked like that!"
• Gold leafing of the 6-ton, 24 foot high  bronze statue of a pioneer that would top the Capitol building (from a height of 171 feet), would require the services of three man for more than two weeks. The cost of the job would be about $500 considering an ounce of gold was worth $100 at that time. It would have to be reapplied every 25 years.

(See Ben Maxwell's Salem,Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.)

Salem in 1937

 World Events

• In Spanish Civil War, Guernica is destroyed. Picasso's most famous painting immortalized that horror and of the coming war.
• In China, the unarmed civilians in Nanking, up to 300,000, are raped and massacred by Japanese troops.
• George VI and wife Elizabeth crowned in Westminster Abbey: Duke of Windsor (lately Edward VIII) marries Wallis Simpson.
• President Roosevelt signs US Neutrality Act. Proposes to enlarge the Supreme Court.
• A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Automobile Workers union.
• Flight news: Howard Hughes flies from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 1/2 hours; Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea in her attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world (Amelia Earhart: The Sky's No Limit, Lori Van Pelt, 2009); the German dirigible Hindenburg bursts into flame in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
• Academy Award, "The Life of Emile Zola". Also movie hits: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Lost Horizon". Pulitzer Prize: Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell. Other awards to Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck and The Citadel, A. J. Cronin.

In Salem

Cornerstone Laid for new Capitol Building

The State of Oregon began rebuilding the Capitol, but needed additional space for office buildings. As the cornerstone is laid a year later (above), there have already been changes in the four residential blocks north of Court Street. The first of four construction projects has begun in the area to be the Oregon State Library. To the right, beyond this photograph, the Governor Moody/Thomas Kay home has already been demolished for the construction of the State Library. The next-door Patton mansion will follow in the next year. Of the four houses visible, the first two to the right will be moved in the next year: the home of Supreme Court Justice Henry Bean, now the Rockenfield House at A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village and the home of former Mayor Lachmund, saved by being moved to Willamette University and then to State Street.
The two nearest the corner at Capitol Street, the Charles Spaulding and Henry Miles homes, will remain in place for another dozen years. The first four marble state buildings of the North Capitol Mall were constructed at the cost of losing "Piety Hill", a distinguished residential section of Salem. It took twenty years to accomplish the state's first segment, to Center Street.
 

When you visit
 North Capitol Mall continued its march north for over half a century, adding new buildings as residences were demolished, until the North Capitol Mall Heritage Park spans Mill Creek as seen in the charts here. The area effected begins at Court Street, in front of the Capitol Building, and extends north to "D" Street. It is bordered on the west by Capital Street, on the east by Winter Street adding new buildings including the Employment Building, the Agriculture Building, the Veterans Building, the State Archives and, finally, the North Capitol Mall Office Building as residences were demolished, until the North Capitol Mall Heritage Park now spans Mill Creek. The area effected begins at Court Street, in front of the Capitol Building, and extends north to "D" Street. It is bordered on the west by Capital Street, on the east by Winter Street. The Revenue and Barbara Robert Human Services Buildings are to the east of Capitol Street.


Other events
    A small Jewish community begins meeting in private homes, then as the congregation grows, moves into temporary quarters downtown at Chemeketa and Commercial. Services were held three flights up, around an old wood stove, with about 20 to 30 people attending. •    The Skiff/Montgomery Building is completed on Liberty Street downtown. A photograph of the year before, shows the before the new construction and another two years later shows the street much as it appears today. In 1867, L. S. and Mary Gardiner Skiff had built a residence here, set back from the street. In 1885, Dr. Skiff built a brick building in front of their home to house his dental office. Their son, Mark Skiff, had a dental office there 1905-1917. This building is featured on the SHINE Historic Downtown Walking Tour.

After the snow storm, Liberty Street

  In January, 27 inches of snow falls, setting a local record and halting traffic while repairs are made due to falling trees. The tower above the Odd Fellows Hall is damaged and the roof of the Salem Alliance Church collapses. Downtown marquees, including that of Miller Store on Court Street, were not designed for excessive weight. They snapped their supporting chains and crashed on to the sidewalks. The sneaker storm mantled the city and hundreds of cars were stalled, schools were closed and a cattle barn on the state fairgrounds collapsed. There were no reports of serious injuries.
•    In October the new Federal Building is completed on the Church Street site of the old Post Office. Postmaster General James A. Farley comes to Salem to dedicate the structure and 2000 residents turn out in the rain to watch the ceremony. In 1978 a new Post office was built on 25th Street. Purchased by the State of Oregon, this became the Executive Building.
•    Blue Lake Producers Cooperative begins as a restructuring of another West Salem cannery.
    

Francis and Bernice Smith House

On Cascade Drive in West Salem, Francis and Bernice Smith build a home overlooking the river and the city beyond. When the iron railings from Pioneer Cemetery were removed, many sections were transferred to this landscaping. There were many existing tall trees on the property, with the eastern border dropping off into wilderness. The Audubon Society now owns much of this wilderness area.

Salem in 1936

World Events

• King George V of Britain dies, succeeded by son (Edward VIII) who abdicates. His brother becomes George VI and his daughter, Elizabeth, next in royal succession to the throne.
• Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed and Civil War begins in Spain.
• U. S. National Recovery Acts create jobs for unemployed skilled workers and artists.
• The Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of a sports event in world history. African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, Adolph Hitler disapproves of a black man as winner.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term in a landslide victory over Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Farmers support Roosevelt.
• The first issue of Life is published under the management of Henry Luce, a weekly news magazine to be of great influence until 1978.
• Academy Award: The Great Ziegfield" Pulitzer Prize: Honey in the Horn, Harold L. Davis.

In Salem
Southern Pacific RR Underpass on Portland Rd was built by the federal government during the Depression when as many as a fourth of American families were jobless. The Works Progress Administration sponsored jobs in public construction. This new employment, while not alleviating the critical economic condition of the nation, did give new hope to many families who were in dire need. The Oregon Highway Commission received a bid of $256,502 for the four-lane underpass, then near the city's northern border. It was the state's largest and suggested the ultimate widening of the roadway to four lanes. This Highland neighborhood structure displays the architectural talents of Conde McCullough of Salem. [The Church Street ornamental bridge over Pringle Creek is probably anther one of his designs.] This underpass, enhanced with wrought iron filigree and concrete towers, echoes his bridges along the Columbia River.

When you visit
Any drive north on Portland Road that goes though the former Hollywood District and on to the Kroc Center, or to the intersection with I-5, will carry you under the railroad track and sometimes, under the train itself. The underpass is decorated with filigree and designs in concrete that are rarely seen by the motorist. The North Gateway Redevelopment Advisory Board is currently working with City of Salem Urban Development Department to improve lighting in this RR underpass. The Board meets at 8 a.m. the first Thursday of each month at 350 Commercial Street NE. The public is welcome.

Other events

West Salem City Hall

• West Salem builds a substantial City Hall that outlives the Polk County city itself: this community became a part of Salem in 1947. Chemeketa College held classes here in the early years of the school. The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places (1989).

the Strickfadden House

• Polly Strickfadden, an interior decorator, designed an unusual French Provincial style house on market Street. Her husband, Charles H. Strickfadden was manager and later president of the Capital Lumber Company, a pioneer in the production of presto logs. The Mill was also located in North Salem, on North Cherry Avenue. After it burned, it was not rebuilt, however the old log pond is visible at Cherry Avenue across from the industrial park. After she was widowed, Mrs. Strickfadden continued to live in the house until her death in 1975. This is a designated Local Landmark in the NEN neighborhood. (Since this picture, the house has been repainted.)
• White's Restaurant on South Commercial Street opens. Charles and Myrtle White, and their sons Bob and Kenny, created and managed this family-style restaurant. For 50 years it was run by the extended family, then the ownership passed to Don Uselman. Dining here continues to be a traditional experience, reminding diners of the décor and menus of restaurants enjoyed three generations ago. It is still a lively place to have a good old-time breakfast or lunch in an atmosphere typical of the informal, friendly spirit of 1930s dining. It is in the SCAN neighborhood.
• The Judson House is built this year on property that had belonged to this pioneer missionary family for 100 years and was their farmland. Lewis Hubbel Judson came to the Salem area as part of the "Great Reinforcement" to the Methodist Mission in 1840. Another noted resident was a grandson, Lewis Edward Judson who lived his entire life in this location. He was a noted local historian who wrote many articles about early life in the Willamette Valley. The property passed from the Judson family in 1980.This is a designated Local Landmark in the SCAN neighborhood.

From the Capitol Journal:

• R. J. Hendricks, Salem newspaperman for half a century, told the Chamber of Commerce that he made some of his bitterest enemies by advocating an ordinance prohibiting livestock and poultry from running at large in the street and by advocating an inter-county bridge across the Willamette. Several large fortunes, Hendricks recalled, had their foundations in the ferry business at this crossing.
• State Capitol Construction Commission awarded  $2,006,137 contract for building Oregon's new statehouse to Ross B. Hammond, Inc. of Portland. A marble exterior would follow a design in the prize plan submitted by Trowbridge and Livingstone, associated with Francis Keally, New York architects.
• The Federal Works progress Administration approved an expenditure of $13, 834 in improvements of Salem's abandoned municipal auto park. Landscaping, rock work and riprapping was to be undertaken to employ 50 men for four months.
• Nelson Brothers offered a free airplane ride with Lee Eyerly for each paint job of $25 or more during August.
• Johnny "Scooter" Oravec's famous No. 11 football sweater will be placed among other Willamette University treasures and never worn again by a football player. This year Johnny completed the fourth year of football and was regarded as the university's outstanding man in athletic history.

Salem in 1935

World Events

• Congress passes the Social Security Act.
• Senator Huey Long is assassinated in Louisiana. ("All the King's Men",  a 1949 film, was based on prize-winning novel, based on Huey Long's life, by Robert Penn Warren, )
• Great dust storms in the U.S. hit the mid-west the hardest. The Dust Bowl ballads and photographs will become classics. Grapes of Wrath, a novel published in 1939 captures the plight of farmers forced to leave their homes and migrate to the possible opportunities in California.
• To give employment in the Depression, The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other government-funded work programs are instituted. Hoover Dam, dedicated this year, had many of these skilled laborers.
• Radar equipment able to detect aircraft is developed. Humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post are killed when their plane crashes in Alaska.
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is founded.
• The Academy Award goes to "Mutiny on the Bounty". Applauded as the most original fiction of the year is The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. Pulitzer Prize: Now in November, Josephine Winslow Johnson.

 In Salem

The State House fire beginning in the late afternoon...

...its climax that night.

The event most transforming of Salem life occurred on April 25th when an accidental fire begins in the late afternoon, destroying the State House in a spectacular blaze that is witnessed over a wide section of the city and attracting a large crowd of on onlookers who stood along Court Street in amazed wonder. The gentlemen who lived in the mansions lining the north side of the street joined the rescue of state papers and records, rushing into the building even as the blaze spread. Artifacts were carried into living rooms, despite the objection of several ladies, and were soon scattered on carpets and in hallways. A six-year old Spaulding grandson joined his family watching from their front porch directly across Court Street. But he had seen pictures in a book about Pompeii, and as the copper dome began to glow brightly, he took refuge under a bed, thinking another citywide catastrophe was in the making. Later he was teased because he missed its brilliant collapse.

Ruins of the State House with dome collapsed, April 1935

Interior of the Sate House the morning after fire

These photographs taken the next day demonstrate the tragedy. The neighbors lived with the ruins for many months as the state authorities decided how, and where, to rebuild.
Immediately after the fire, discussions had begun as to where a new capitol building should be constructed: in the same place or, perhaps the Candalaria Hills? If in the original location, how can new state buildings, needed for many years, be accommodated in that core of the city surrounded by Willamette University on the south, the railroad tracks on the east, the stately residential "Piety Hill" on the north, and the downtown on the west?
Meanwhile, where would the governor and legislature be housed? Kathleen Carlson Clements wrote, "State clerks spent the day after the fire sorting through saved records and filing cabinets, removed to the armory during the fire. The businessmen of Salem called a special session of the Chamber of Commerce to offer space for state offices displaced by the fire, which were quickly set up at various locations including the Oregon Building and the Supreme Court Building. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a cable expressing his sympathies and offering federal aid in rebuilding."

When you visit
Today this site is completed changed with the newly positioned building and the area half a mile to the north transformed from residential to state offices. By 1939 the new Vermont marble Capitol (not called the State House anymore) was constructed in a modern style of on the same site, facing north instead of west. Needing new office space, the state acquired by "eminent domain" the immediate residential area 4 blocks to the north of the Capitol and over the next twenty years, from 1937 to 1959, the dignified "Piety Hill" homes were either demolished or sold for removal. A few that survived in another location were those associated with the families Judge Henry Bean, Mayor Louis Lachmund, Ladd and Bush Bank officers David Eyre and Joseph Baumgartner, pioneer descendant Cora Moores, prominent physician Dr. Frederick Thompson and Judge Brand. Lost were the homes of prominent families such as Kay, Patton, Spaulding, Miles, Bush, McNary, Barnes, Albert, Rigdon, Bishop and many others. The First Presbyterian Church was moved, another church demolished. In all, the process took 20 years and created the North Capitol Mall with four state buildings: the first, in 1937, was the Oregon State Library.

Floyd McMullen, a 22-year-old Willamette University Student and a volunteer "sleeper" for Salem Fire Department, is the only fatality. He dies of injuries sustained from falling debris inside the building.
Seventy-five years later, Floyd McMullen remains the only Salem fire fighter to die while on duty. Fire Station #7 is dedicated to his memory and contains a museum with artifacts from the fire which so greatly changed the future of Salem.


Other events

• V. E. Kuhn is elected mayor and he showed strength in pursuing a North Santiam, clean water source. The business community was against such a "risky venture" at such high cost. A pipeline and treatment system from Stayton Island was accepted by the City Council.
• Max and Mark Gehlhar establish the Oregon Fruit Products Company in West Salem. The fruit dryer was destroyed by fire, but the cannery building across the street was saved.
• Dancing is allowed at Willamette University for the first time.
• An unusual, cobbled-stone English Cottage style house is built on D Street for Guy and Edele Irwin. Mr. Irwin worked as a meat packer. After his death, Mrs. Irwin married Ernest Hobbs and continued to reside here into the 1960s. Mr. Hobbs was employed at the State Printing Board. The house was acquired by the State in the late 1990s is now an office. This former residence and the Adolphson house next door are the only two North Capitol Mall Heritage Park houses still in their original locations. They are both designated as Local Landmarks.
• Along Church Street, on the east side of Fry Hill, Daniel Fry builds homes to rent. Employees of his Commercial Street Drug Store occupy several. Conde McCullough, a bridge engineer, rents one. He may have influenced the design of the Church Street Bridge across Pringle Creek near this house. (The bridge is credited to R. A. Furrow, a city bridge engineer.) Mr. McCullough later moved to an English Arts and Crafts residence on Leffelle Street designed by Clarence Smith. McCullough favored the arch form for bridges, taking Oregon bridge building to a fine art. He designed 32 major arch bridges existing in Oregon and a prototype for a covered bridge that was used as a model for many of the covered bridges built in Oregon between 1905 and 1925. He died suddenly at his home in Salem in 1946.

The Tonning House

• South of the city, a young couple's romantic vision of an English cottage leads to the construction of a remarkably beautiful home on Croisan Creek Road that became known as the Tonning House. This residence, modeled on an architect’s “dream home” that had won a blue ribbon in the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, was begun in 1935, but completed later by new owners, Nels and Olga Tonning. Among the guests in their more than thirty years of hospitality were John Croisan and his wife who had lived in the old homestead on the back of the property. When their home burned down, they lived upstairs while they were building another home next door. This house is in the Croisan-Illahe neighborhood (now SWAN).