Salem in 1967

World Events

• Canada begins a year-long celebration of British North American Act, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. DeGaulle proclaims "Long Live Free Quebec" to English displeasure.
• In the Six-Day war with the Arab nations, Israel gains land and unifies Jerusalem, but increases regional enmity and causes many refugees.
• Major American combat in Vietnam: Large anti-war demonstrations are held in American cities including 70.000 protestors at the Lincoln Memorial. Secretary of Defense resigns following President Johnson's rejection of freezing troop levels, stop bombing of North Vietnam, and handing over ground fighting to Vietnamese.
• 25th Amendment provides for transfer of power if President of U.S. incapacitated or unable to perform  duties.
• In Loving v. Virginia, Supreme Court declares laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage unconstitutional.  ("Loving" film, 2016)
• Academy Awards: "In the Heat of the Night" (US Sidney Poitier also starred in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" ), "Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia). Prize-wining Book: The Fixer, Bernard Malmud.

In Salem
By 1967 our McNary Airfield had a new building, housing an attractive restaurant seen above.
The struggle to maintain a local airport was already forty years old. On May 1, 1929, the City had issued a bond for property acquisition and construction, acquiring 91 acres: the airport was dedicated that year. A complete history of our airport can be found on the City of Salem website.
Important developments included airmail service in 1941, US Air Force taking over in 1942 and United Airlines Freight Services starting in 1946. In July of 1949, the lease was signed giving the Navy the use of the hangar and other facilities on the east of the field. A $40,000 Airport Administration Building was dedicated on Sunday, August 7, 1950. Our first control tower was closed in 1953 due to budget cuts and dismantled in 1956 due to vandalism.
But conditions were improving by 1966 when the Salem Fire Department completed construction on the airport fire station and the restaurant was a pleasant place to dine while watching the flights.

When you visit
The current Airport Control Tower was built in 1973. United Airlines has operated out of the Airport Administration Building along with the U.S. Weather Service, a car rental service and a limousine service that provided bus rides to and from Portland Airport in 1977. Unfortunately, Horizon Airlines discontinued service in April 1993.
Our airport is still operated by the City of Salem and offers on-demand air taxi service, cargo shipping, the restaurant, rental cars and shuttle services. It is used by a number of area businesses, their suppliers, and parent companies as an alternative to driving. The airport is frequented by numerous companies, located in the area surrounding the city, when they conduct business in Salem. State legislators also fly into the airport during the legislative session. The ODOT-Aeronautics Section's primary office, as well the State's fleet of aircraft is located at the airport.
In addition to business flights, there are a significant number of less obvious activities that take place at the airport that contribute to the well being of the region. The airport provides FBO services, training flights, aircraft restoration, aerial photography, forest fire fighting, traffic and news reporting, shipping of "just in time" goods, law enforcement and prisoner transport, aerial advertising, real estate tours and search and rescue activities. The Army National Guard is also based at the airport. There is an on-airport industrial park that is home to several businesses that contribute to the aviation industry. We had a commercial service contract for a few months in 2008 and another in 2011, but neither was successful enough for the companies. In 2012, the federal administrators questioned whether our tower was viable.
The Airport Advisory Commission began the year of 1967. Information and application forms for any resident who wishes to be a member are on the City website.

Other events

• Less than a month before the fair was due to open, a major fire hit the Fairgrounds. Two buildings were total losses: the 63,000-square-foot Commercial Building and the 47,188-square-foot Natural Resources Building that had been built in 1891. Forty percent of the commercial exhibit space was lost.
  

Salemtowne as it appeared at 1967 opening.

Former Wallace home at Salemtowne

• Salemtowne opens in West Salem on the grounds of the former Wallace family summer home. The retirement community administration has retained the major part of the home for use of the residents. Informal, period decor gives a hint of what it looked like for the family when they spent summers there in the midst of their farmland.

Stone plaque at Walton Hall identifies site of the Oregon Institute

• Willamette University adds the Collins Law Center and Walton Hall. A plaque in front of Walton Hall identifies the site where the Oregon Institute, the academic foundation of Willamette University, stood from 1844 to 1872 when it was destroyed by fire. Its construction at this site by the Methodist missionaries truly determined where the city would be located after their mission ended.
• A new wing of Salem Hospital, built along Oak Street, dwarfs the old facility. Formerly a residential area known as the University Annex, because of its proximity to Willamette University, Oak Street had many homes of prominent early families. Two of these are the 1890 West-Klein house, home of the parents of Governor West, now relocated to 2983 D Street, and the home of Dr. Carleton Smith, physician and state legislator, relocated to 1335 Cannon Street. Dr. Smith's former home has been designated as a Local landmark.
• The Willow Lake Sewage Treatment Plant opens, contributing to the health of Salem citizens.
• Ben Maxwell, faithful photographic chronicler of Salem, dies. Many of his photographs were left to the Salem Public Library and have been cataloged for online use through the Oregon Historic Photograph Collections. His biography is found on the Salemhistory website and in Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon: Nuggets of History from the Salem Capital Journal by Scott McArthur.

Salem in 1945

World Events

• President Roosevelt dies; Vice President Harry Truman takes his place.
• Germany surrenders in May. Germany is divided among Allied occupation troops. 
•  The first nuclear device of the Manhattan Project is detonated in New Mexico.  In August, the US launches two atomic explosions over Japan: that country surrenders. (The General and the Genius, James Kunetka, 2015.)
• The US joins many other nations in newly created United Nations organization.
• GI Bill of Rights passed by Congress, giving veterans benefits including tuition for education, low-cost mortgages and one year of unemployment insurance .
• Nazi atrocities made public when The Red Army liberates inmates of Auschwitz and Birkenau: Nuremberg war trials follow.
• French are expelled from Viet Nam:  Viet Minh (north) and Viet Cong (south) compete for control. American troops intervene in south, Soviet Union in the north, 38th parallel being dividing line.
• Cordell Hull is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for (in part) "his efforts to create a peace block of states on the American continents and his work for the United Nations".
• Japanese balloon bomb kills six picnickers in Lakeview, Oregon, the only known civilian deaths in continental U.S. during WW II.
• Academy Award: "Lost Weekend". Prize-winning book: A Bell for Adano, John Hersey.

In Salem
In an essay for Salemhistory, Sue Bell described Salem's greeting of V-J day:
"Then, and only then, did Salem celebrate: "shrieking, horn blowing, gun shooting, singing, and praying" through the two days' holiday proclaimed by President Truman for Wednesday and Thursday. Banks and all government agencies (aside for essential services) were closed; retail stores closed on Wednesday; liquor stores and taverns closed for both days; playgrounds and swimming pools closed on Wednesday; and all scheduled meetings were canceled so Salem residents could enjoy the blessings of peace at last. (Only the canneries worked overtime to process the perishable harvest of fruits and vegetables.)
"Along with all the joy and elation, there was deep sadness, too, for many families in the city had lost loved ones in the 4 years of war: 142 men dead, not counting those Missing In Action or still hospitalized with serious injuries. The war was over, the young men who survived could return home, industry could shift back to production of civilian goods, peacetime mobilization could begin; a new era of prosperity was on the horizon. The atomic age had begun, but a plethora of benefits to humankind had been introduced, including the development of radar and streptomycin this year. Art treasures stolen by the Nazis were returned to their various countries, and the war criminals who had instigated such horrendous acts could be rounded up to be tried by International courts of justice."

When you visit
This Ben Maxwell photograph has the following caption: "Salem celebrates the end of World War II on August 14, 1945. Teenager and college students sit on a car, covered with flags and drive along State and High Street. The street is covered with confetti. The gas rationing ended that day, too. On the right side is the Warner Bros Capitol theater."
The street scene to the right is much the same today, with the exception of the loss of the Capitol movie theater. The post to the left, at the old Courthouse, is also no longer there.

Other events

• James Brand of Salem serves as a justice in the Nuremberg Trials. Brand had been appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court on May 14, 1941, replacing Henry J. Bean, who had died in office on May 8, 1941. Then, in 1942, Justice Brand received a full six-year term after winning the election. In 1947 Justice Brand was appointed by the War Department to the War Crimes Tribunal to be convened in Germany after World War II. There he was one of four judges of Nazi War Crimes at the Judges Trial, the third in a set of twelve trials. The trial began in March 1947 with Brand as a member of a three-person Military Tribunal, but on June 19, 1947 he became the Presiding Judge. After returning from Germany, he resumed his position on Oregon's highest court James Brand won re-election in both 1948 and 1954. In between elections he was chosen by his fellow justices to serve as chief justice from 1951 to 1953. Justice Brand resigned his position on the bench on June 30, 1958.
• An adjudication of water rights from the North Santiam River gave three parties, Oregon Pulp and Paper Company, the City of Salem and Thomas Kay Woolen Mills, each an undivided share of power and water rights.
• Consolidated Grocers is located on Front Street at the present Truitt Brothers location. There are 15 very busy canning and freezing plants in Salem this year. Blue Lake Packers were among these, using local produce for their many popular processed foods.
• A new ferry opens for autos traveling between Salem and Independence. A bridge will be completed in 1950.
• Wartime housing in Salem appears to have included the Gay Marie, a boat moored at our riverfront that advertised "apts" on its hull.
• Waters Field at 25th and Turner Streets was crowded for local baseball games. (The stadium was destroyed by fire in 1961.)
• Sally's at Court and Liberty, originally the Steusloff Building, was a popular shop for women's clothing through the 1940's and 50s: it is now a Starbucks coffee shop.
• From the capitol Journal: Soldiers on leave from Camp Adair arrived in Salem in unprecedented numbers. The USO was flooded with demands for sleeping rooms, cots, or places where men could sit up overnight in chairs. Local hotels had all rooms booked, all available davenports and chairs occupied and some men accepted a place to sleep on rugs in the lobby. (Ben Maxwell's Salem, Oregon, edited by Scott McArthur, 2006.)

Salem in 1888

World Events

• Democrat  Grover Cleveland wins the popular vote for re-election as President, but loses Electoral College vote to Republican Benjamin Harrison.
• Eastman registers the Kodak, using rolled film. Frank McGurrin, court stenographer in Salt Lake City, is first to use touch typing.
• The Great Blizzard sweeps across nation: in the eastern states, more than 400 die; in Mid West at least 350 victims, many children on the way home from school.
• The National Geographic Society is established in Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument in that city opens to the public.
• Jack the Ripper is notorious for brutal murders of women in London.
• In a famous incident, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, after a quarrel with a friend in Arles, France, slices off a part of his ear.

The former D'Arcy home on Church Street

In Salem
Peter D'Arcy, a prominent local attorney and historian, known as the "silver-tongued orator of Oregon", builds a new home (above) on his Church Street property. In 1909, Mr. D'Arcy constructed the commercial building at 467 Court Street that has long been occupied by Whitlock's Vacuum Cleaner Clinic. He was one of the original charter members of the Salem Chamber of Commerce and served as its president in 1914. D’Arcy presided over the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1910, and, for twenty years, the Champoeg Memorial Association, which was responsible for erecting a log building in 1918 to memorialize the creation of the Oregon provisional government. D’Arcy was a life member of the Oregon Historical Society and sat on the board of directors for many years. He died in 1933 and his wife, Teresa A. D’Arcy, passed away less than three years later.

When you visit
Although this house and the Endicott house next door are still there, many of the older homes on this block of 600 block Church Street are gone. On Church Street, further north where Mill Creek crosses, there are still residences built in the 1920s. Offices now occupy the handsome D'Arcy and Endicott houses.

Other events
 J. J. Murphy is elected mayor. His Court Street home in described in the 1887 profile.

Oregon Statesman in the Nesmith Building

• In 1888, the Oregon Statesman was housed in the historic Nesmith building at the southwest corner of Commercial and Ferry Streets. The state's second oldest newspaper, it began in March 28, 1851, in Oregon City in opposition to the Whig newspaper. It moved to Salem in June, 1853, when the Territorial capital was relocated to city. Founder Asahel Bush II was active and influential in Democratic causes. Bush sold the Statesman in March of 1863, and went on to a career in banking and other businesses. The Statesman had a succession of owners and editors until Charles A. Sprague came to Salem in 1929. Sprague became owner, editor, and publisher, establishing a reputation as one of the Nation's great editors. The building was demolished in the 1960s after serving many purposes in the early city.

• A young orphan, Herbert Hoover, moves with the family of his uncle, Henry Minthorn, from Newberg to Salem when Dr. Minthorn becomes president of the Oregon Land Company. They live on Hazel Street in the new Highland neighborhood, founded by a Quaker community led by his uncle. This photograph was taken by Ben Maxwell in 1948 and the house was still in good condition. Later, when it was unoccupied for a number of years, it deteriorated. The house was rescued by new owners who completed transformed its appearance as it stands in the same location at the intersection of Hazel and Highland Streets.
• The Polk County Observer of July 7 records the death of Hannah Gorman, "Pioneer negress of 1844". The reporter told that in 1878 Mrs. Gorman had found a 6-week-old white baby abandoned near the river and had cared for the little one until he was strong enough to be sent to Glen Oaks Orphanage. The article continues, "...when the story of the foundling is told him he will bless Mrs. German and the good ladies of Salem who cared for him when he was a helpless little waif throw[n] upon their charities."

Ben Maxwell, recalls from the 1888 Capitol Journal:

 The measles epidemic is signaled with blue flags hanging from doors as 600 cases are reported.

 A camp of Indians located in North Salem: men, women and children. They begged from door to door and were the “most impudent, disagreeable set of animals that ever passed through this part of the country.”

 Dr. Darrin has taken rooms at the Chemeketa Hotel and testimonials were published. He cured Myan Otis (Portland) of deafness in five minutes, he straightened Miss Lucy Morgan’s (Monmouth) crossed eye in one minute and cured Wesley Graves, formerly of the Chemeketa House in Salem), of sciatic rheumatism and the opium habit.

 Two Salvation Army ladies are disturbed by Dave Shepard who wanted to hold their hands. He was arrested and placed under bond of $50.

 (See Ben Maxell’s Salem, Oregon edited by Scott McArthur, 2006)