Salem in 1977

World Events

• The Torrijos-Carter Treaty gives Panama control of the waterway.
• Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is first Arab leader to go to Israel where he met Prime Minister Menachem Begin seeking peace.
• A collision between  KLM and Pan Am Boeing over Tenerife kills 538 ~ the deadliest accident in aviation history.
• Juan Carlos I of Spain institutes political reforms making his office a Constitutional Monarch as is Queen Elizabeth in England. Spain has the first democratic elections in 40 years.
• Space shuttle "Enterprise" makes first manned flight.
• Apple II is the first mass-market computer.
• TV dramatizes "Roots" and stirs an interest in African-American family genealogy research. Mikhail Baryshnikov's "The Nutcracker" premieres at the Kennedy Center and then is shown on TV.
• Elvis Presley, 42, dies in Graceland, his home in Memphis. Three days later, Groucho Marx, legendary comic, dies at age of 86.
• Anti-gay celebrity Anita Bryant is "pied" by gay-rights activists during press conference. Harvey Milk of San Francisco is the first openly gay person elected as a city official.
• The Academy Awards: "Annie Hall" (US), Madame Rosa (France). Prize-winning Book: The Spectator Bird, Wallace Stegner.

In Salem
The history of our Art Fair begins in 1949 when the Salem Art Association's first Art Fair was held on the lawn of the old Marion County Courthouse, attracting 10 artists. For the next three years it was held in Willson Park on the Capitol grounds and at the Walter Kirk home. The fair moved to Bush House permanently in 1953 and the next two years were as informal as a clothesline sale around the Museum with 50 artists displaying their talents. As the number of contributing artists grew, displays became more professional and booths were constructed. By 1961 there were 100 artists and 7,500 visitors; by 1975 there were more than 320 artists. The next year it moved south of Bush Barn Art Center, having out-grown its old location. For that year it becomes the Great State Bicentennial Art Fair and Festival, thanks to an Oregon Art Commission grant, and 450 artists show up. From Jenny Hagloch's article about the fair as it was in 1977, "... the Art Association decided to jury artists for the Art Fair. Although this change included the input and support of many local artists, the jury process was not popular with artists now being excluded for the first time. Artists were vocal about their displeasure with Letters to the Editor showing up in the Statesman. Art Fair co-chair Sue-Dell McCullough received so many threats before the event, the Salem Police Department provided her with a police escort during the Fair. The 1977 version of the event was still called the Great State Art Fair & Festival and settled into its Friday through Sunday format which still exists today."
 
When you visit
The Art Fair has continued to grow in size, now reaching over a considerable section of Bush's Pasture Park. But as it has evolved, there have been new organizational requirements to make the three-day arts festival sustainable. For several years, there were temporary barriers around the display areas to guide patrons into designated entrances where donations were suggested. In 2010, for the first time, there was an admission fee during most hours of the fair.
Because the fair can accommodate only 200 booths, the task of the jury continues to be selecting from hundreds of applicants to obtain for the fair the highest quality work in a range of mediums and prices. Recently, for example, to accommodate as many artists as possible, three galleries at Bush Barn had exhibits: Radius 25 displayed artists living within that range of miles; Camus Gallery featured regional landscape artists; Focus Gallery presented a local artist. Every year brings changes to improve production of this local attraction, both for residents and visitors.

Other events

Kent L. Aldrich became mayor and will serve three terms in office.
 

• A 1977 photograph of the Minto-Brown Park sign on South River Road reminds us of the contribution made by former Mayor Vern Miller in promoting the purchase of this 838 acre outdoor recreation area for the residents of Salem. Wes Sullivan wrote: "Another legacy to Salem of which Mayor Miller was most proud is the 800-acre Minto-Brown Island Park. Even though Salem voters refused to appropriate money for its purchase, he persisted in its acquisition. Many who treasure this unique adjunct to the city’s park system have forgotten that but for Mayor Miller’s tenacity, it would have been lost to future generations."
• Ed Ritter retires after a long career in the building and wrecking business. His company handled many of the most important Salem demolition projects. After 1977 he continued to own the building materials and salvage portions of the business.
• A plane crash near Vancouver, Washington takes the life of 63-year old Harry Eyerly, a respected local aviator. He was performing aerobatics for the Northwest Antique Airplane Club when the accident occurred.
• In 1977 our Salem Public Library has many modern features, but looking for books and research materials still require the old card catalog files. George Happ becomes Director of the library this year. As our current (2012) library Administrator, B J Toewe, reminds us, he established the Salem Public Library Foundation, one of the first in the U.S, and focused resources on developing innovative services that would make the library a community center. His vision included an AV and technology center, a fine arts center and the Children’s Discovery Room. He expanded the library collection to include A-V materials like 8 mm films and eventually DVDs, and supported the expansion with the installation of a fully automated library system. Just ten years after the advisory board hired him, George Happ was the director of one of the busiest 100 libraries in the nation. He continued to foster the growth of services to the community through a building expansion in 1991 and by adding the West Salem branch library in 1995. By the time he retires from this service in 2000, he will have brought our library into the computer age and will have established it as one of the finest in the state.
• Scott Elementary School opened this year. It was named for Harry W. Scott, a bicycle shop owner in Salem from 1919 until 1963. He was well known for fixing children's bikes, often for little or no cost. Mr. Scott was on the School Board from 1946-1961, serving as chairman for five years. The Chamber of Commerce named him Salem's First Citizen in 1962.

• Does Salem have a continual traffic problem, or was it only at Christmas this year that cars were bumper-to-bumper on Liberty Street? Snowstorms, like one this year, cause traffic problems on the Center Street Bridge.
• Floods continue to damage structures in Salem. High water on Salishan Street forced Greg Jennings, a Leslie Junior High School student, to use a rubber raft to get to his mail box.

Salem in 1966

World Events

• China's "Cultural Revolution" leads to mass executions and displacement of millions as urban populations are sent to labor in rural communes. It continued until the death of Lin Biao in 1971. It paralyzed China politically and economically.
• American military initiates a "Search and Destroy" strategy in Vietnam combat. Anti-war protests sweep US.
•  Miranda Rights are read to criminal suspects during arrest.
• The Lunar Orbiter 1, first US spacecraft to orbit moon. Carl Brasher, first African-American U.S. Navy diver loses leg in recovery of lost H-bomb. (See movie" Men of Honor").
• Masters and Johnson publish Human Sexual Response. Miniskirts appear. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded.
• Walt Disney dies. Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California.
• LSD is made illegal in US. "Love Pageants" take place in Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. Star Trek debuts on TV.
• Academy Awards: "A Man for All Seasons" (US). "A Man and a Woman (France). Prize-winning Book: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, Katherine Anne Porter.

In Salem
Four years after the Columbus Day windstorm, the Waite Fountain reconstruction is complete in Willson Park. As a crowd gathers for the dedication ceremonies, Ben Maxwell photographs the scene. In the background are buildings that characterize Salem's downtown: the Methodist Church, a symbol of the missionary beginning of the community; the Livesley Building, representing the local business enterprise; and the Marion County Courthouse, reminding us that Salem is part of a larger political administration. Willson Park is important to Salem, being part of the first city plat and, literally, the political and intellectual center of the city as it grew: adjacent to both the Oregon State Capitol and our premier educational resource, Willamette University. In this year of 1966, the city loses its authority over the park, as it had over other city property: ownership passes to the state of Oregon.

When you visit
Ownership of the park makes little difference to the visitors who are there to enjoy walking in the beautiful landscape of lawn, trees, flowers and fountains. For those who also might like to learn about Salem's history and pay respect to historical events and personalities, the opportunities are becoming more challenging. The early park featured a concert bandstand for residents, many living within walking distance in surrounding residential neighborhoods. The Waite fountain offered colored lights that gave evening strollers a visual treat. Now the bandstand, no longer in use, is relocated to the margin of the lawn and fountain, seen above as rebuilt after the 1962 windstorm, has lost its original Technicolor effect that made it such a magnet of visitor attention. The Circuit Rider was once prominently displayed before the entrance to the State House as a tribute to Salem's religious founders, is hidden is a grove of trees at the east side of the Capitol. The Breyman Brothers Memorial, standing at the park's Cottage Street entrance, was originally a memorial to local men who fought in the Spanish American War and was topped with a statue of an American military serviceman. The statue is gone and what remains of the memorial is the trough at the base that once supplied water to horses ~ a lower trough on the park side was intended for dogs. Eugene and Werner Breyman, who donated the memorial, lived in elaborate residences, now demolished, on Court Street and State Street, both within site of the memorial.
Taking prominence in Willson Park today are state flags, tributes to Native American tribes and a modern statuary group. The park is currently designed as an attraction for tourists as well as residents. In 2010, state began a plan to make improvements in the area encompassing Willson Park and North Capitol Mall as far as Center Street (originally the four Piety Hill residential blocks). This new landscaped, visitor area will be the State Capitol State Park.

Other events

• Five fires cause property loss throughout the city: In January, the Senator Hotel on High Street; in March, at Keith Brown Lumber Plant on Front Street; in May, the Berkheimer Building on Church and Trade Streets; in November, Waters Field at 25th and Mission Streets; and (date unknown), the Peerless Bakery on North Commercial Street.
• Douglas Hay resigns his office as Municipal Judge, being elected to the Marion County Circuit Court. In this year the term of the Salem Municipal Judge is extended to four years. Dale Pierson is appointed by the Council and later elected to the office.

Patton Building on State Street, 1886

US Bank extended (left section under tree branches)

• The former Ladd and Bush Bank Building (now US National Bank) has been completely reconstructed and enlarged. In order to expand the bank building along State Street, the 1869 Patton Building was demolished in the previous year. The photographs above show the Patton enterprise when it was a center of local business and the 1966 US Bank extension.
• State Street gets a new look as the historic Patton Building is demolished for the extension along State Street of the US National Bank. Formerly the Ladd and Bush Bank, the new owners completely gutted the building as it had been from 1869 to 1940, renovating the structure. However, to honor its past, the bank lobby displays many historic photographs representing Salem's downtown and the Bush family's association with the bank. The public is welcome to visit these exhibits. (To the left in both photographs is the alley beyond which the Gill Building was already a popular meeting place in the 1870s.)
• West of 12th Street, in the University residential area of town, the Ferry-Oak Street residential neighborhood continues to change with urban growth and the expanding hospital. Only one residence remains in place and another survives by being moved.
• Plans are made to preserve another historic building, the Methodist Parsonage, in a Mission Mill Museum location.
• Aldrich Park in the SESNA neighborhood is getting new playground equipment this year. The park was named for Lewis Aldrich, a banker with the former Ladd and Bush Bank and first Chief Executive Officer with Pioneer Trust Company. He and his wife Donna had no children, but the trust she established in his name still benefits Salem though bequests to three parks (Grant, Northgate and Aldrich) and two grants to the Deepwood property. The first grant was for the house, gardens and land to the street on the south. Deepwood II was for the area to the west of the Deepwood I grant to Pringle Creek. This effort would not have been possible without Mary Eyre’s leadership. Through the efforts of Stuart Compton, the Walton Foundation joined the Aldrich Fund to fund the project. Financially, Deepwood was the Aldrich Funds largest commitment. It preserved a unique area, physically joined Deepwood and Bush property and today funds Deepwood's Youth Interpretive Program.
• When the first new 35-passenger Cherriots bus arrives in Salem, it rolls off the railroad car and city administrators climb aboard for a photograph.
• Salem has a marina on the Willamette River. Several private "yachts" accompany the Marion County Sheriff's Marine Patrol. In the next October, a windstorm demolishes the boathouse and damages the boats ~ for the third time in five years.

• The Prime Rib Restaurant is constructed at Pine Street on the Willamette River. Fine dining and beautiful views of the river made it popular with Salem families. However, by the mid-1980s the original owners had sold the property and the restaurant had gone into foreclosure. In 1998 the building became the Stars Cabaret, a strip club. The windows that had offered a river view were masked with black paint. This enterprise closed within a few years. By 2011, the empty structure had been renovated and reopened as the Club Illusion Sport Bar and Restaurant. A fire destroyed the building the next January.