Salem in 1964

World Events

• In his first State of the Union address, Lyndon Johnson announces US will conduct "A War on Poverty." In November he defeats Conservative Republican Barry Goldwater in presidential election.
• 24th Amendment of the Constitution abolishes poll tax; Civil Rights Act passes in Congress. Martin Luther King, Jr. awarded Nobel Peace Prize for (in part) "having shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence."
•  John Lennon announces Beatles will not play to segregated audience.
• Nelson Mandela given sentence of life imprisonment in South Africa.
• Fifty-four East Germans use tunnel to escape under Berlin wall. Thieves steal the head of Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (it is recovered). Italy asks for help to prevent collapse of Pisa's Leaning Tower.
• Cassius Clay, world boxing champion, changes name to Muhammad Ali. He defeats Sonny Liston is one of the most watched games in that sport.
• U.S. Surgeon General reports smoking may be dangerous to health.
• Alaskan 9.2 earthquake, most powerful ever recorded North America, kills 125 and inflicts massive damage to Anchorage.
• The New York World's Fair commemorates 300th anniversary of British conquest of Dutch New Amsterdam, renaming it New York. The Verrazano-Narrows bridge across New York Bay opens.
• Academy Awards: "My Fair Lady" (US),"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" (Italy). Prize-winning Book: The Centaur, John Updike.

In Salem

Christmas Day brings a flood of the Willamette River and its tributaries within the city when snow and freezing temperatures early in the month gave way to warm temperatures and 4 inches of rain in a 48-hour period. Accumulated snow melted quickly creating a heavy runoff, which by December 22 swelled the Willamette at the rate of three inches per hour at Salem. The next day, the Willamette crested at 37.78 feet. More than 1,000 residents from their Keizer homes and National Guardsmen also helped evacuate 121 patients from Memorial Hospital that suffered from its proximity to Pringle Creek. Salem's new $3 million sewage treatment plant was disabled by floodwaters, and, although it remained structurally sound, raw sewage began flowing directly into the Willamette River. This happened at other locations along the river as well, creating a major health threat. The State, armed with supplies of typhoid vaccines, braced itself for problems, but fortunately no epidemic resulted.
The flood also hit Boise-Cascade. At the plant on Commercial Street, water filled the basement. 500 employees were put out of work when the plant was knocked out of operation. Some other downtown businesses had as much as 30 inches of water. In the farm areas around the city, agricultural losses were high because the ground had not been able to thaw before the floods hit.
Damages exceeded those of the Columbus Day Storm in 1962. Governor Mark Hatfield declared the entire State an emergency disaster area, and called the flooding, "the worst disaster ever to hit the state."
(Thanks to Kathleen Clements Carlson and Salemhistory website.)

When you visit
The newspapers of 1964 carried extensive articles and pictures that are still relevant.
The Capital Journal newspaper noted that, without the seven flood control dams on the Willamette River, the River would have crested at 37.5 feet at Salem rather than 30 feet: a height that would rival the 1861 flood that inundated Salem and completely drowned the historic towns of Champoeg and Butteville. In the photographs above, we get an idea of the flooded streets, but even more dramatic is the view of the Union Street Railroad Bridge. Walking across that that pedestrian bridge today, one notices the great distance to the river below. During this flood the waters seem to be just a few feet below the structure.
On December 26, the Oregon Statesman published a four-page pictorial section filled with photographs of the Western Oregon disaster. The front-page title, spread over the page, read, "It Began With Ice... Then Came Snow...Then-Rain...And Then-The Flood..." The final page was titled "Hospital Abandoned" with an aerial picture of the flooded hospital at the Winter and Oak streets intersection and two other photographs of rescued patients. Photographs of the flood waters around the hospital are displayed at the History of Salem Hospital mural in B Building.
Since the majority of downtown Salem and neighborhoods along the river are presently in the "flood plain", residents need to be aware of emergency services that are available. CERT, (Community Emergency Response Team), sponsored by the Salem Fire Department, is an excellent source of disaster information. Neighborhood volunteer groups are being established. A series of six classes teaches emergency skills that can save lives. Practice exercises are held routinely. The program is managed by Roger Stevenson who can be contacted by telephone at 503 763 3331 or by email at rstevenson@cityofsalem.net. New members are welcome.

Other Events

• This year the City establishes the Salem Human Rights and Relations Commission. This Board aids all, particularly minorities, disabled, and other diverse members of the community, by hearing and resolving discrimination complaints and promoting harmony. Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. Special meetings, complaint hearings, and forums may be held as needed. An outstanding 2009 program was a film presentation about past Ku Klux Klan activities in Oregon. It drew a standing-room-only crowd at Loucks Auditorium.
• City Manager Kent Mathewson resigns and Doug Ayers is appointed.
• Mission Mill Museum, Inc. (later Mission Mill Museum Association), is incorporated with the intent of buying the old mill and moving the 1841 Jason Lee House and Methodist Parsonage to the site. David Duniway, Oregon State Archivist 1946-1972, is the first Director of the Association. He also wrote the Salem entry for this year's edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Since 1955, Chemeketa Community College classes, operated by Salem Public Schools, had been held at a West Salem elementary school on McNary and 3rd Street. This year it moves to the site of its present site on Lancaster Drive. The campus soon included a one-story brick building, a machine shop, a welding shop, and a number of temporary buildings.

Water Pumping Station

• The 1871 water pumping station at Commercial and Trade Streets is razed. In the early years of the city, this station provided power for water distribution from cisterns at various points downtown. The two round buildings were part of the operations between the millrace and Trade Street in the block between Commercial & Liberty streets. The Salem Firehouse #1 is located there now. Construction of the water works was begun in early 1871 and water was being pumped to the homes in Salem by the end of the year. Huge cisterns were located at various points in downtown Salem.
• A former Salem citizen who became President of the United States dies this year. Herbert Hoover, as a ten-year-old orphan, came to Salem in 1885 to live with his uncle and aunt, Henry and Laura Minthorn in their Highland Addition home. Through working with his uncle, president of the Oregon Land Company, he learned many skills that helped him be successful as a member of the "pioneer class" at Stanford University in 1891 and to earn a fortune as a mining engineer. Hoover served as President of the United States from 1929 to 1933. Growing up in Salem, he became acquainted with another orphan, Charles McNary, who also became leading Republican politician of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1947, President Truman brought Hoover back into national service to help make the federal bureaucracy more efficient through the Hoover Commission.

Salem in 1957

World Events 

• The European Economic Market (Common Market), created by the Treaty of Rome this year, is an important part of the economic union among France, West Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
• Gov. Orval Faubus calls out the National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from enrolling in Little Rock High Central School. President Eisenhower sends federal troops give them safe passage.
• The Soviets launch Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit the globe. The International Atomic Energy Agency is created.
• The floodgates of the Dalles Dam are closed, flooding Cello Falls and the ancient Indian fishing grounds on the Columbia River.
• Wham-O company produces the Frisbee, Ford introduces the "Edsel", Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team move to L.A.
• Both "The Music Man" and "West Side Story" premiere on Broadway. Academy Awards: "Bridge On the River Kwai" (US), "Nights of Cabiria" (Italy). National Book Award: The Field of Vision, Wright Morris.

In Salem

From Cliff Smith, retired Extension Director of the Salem Public Library:
"On Oct. 17, 1957 the doors were opened and the West Salem Library was born. It began in 3 small rooms on the 1st floor of the old West Salem City Hall when the Salem City Council appropriated $6,450 to cover cost of salaries, furniture, and redecorating. An additional $4,000 to cover the cost of books had to come from private sources. Members of the Salem Jaycee's built the book shelves and did the painting, West Salem PTA members built tables, and the West Salem Lions Club installed new floor tile. The first opening hours were 27 hours per week and stayed about the same for the first 30 years. The first year, 12,564 books were checked out--half of that by children. That was an interesting building, with the old West Salem Jail and Fire Department water well located in the basement and a stage and open floor upstairs on the second floor, which was said to be used for occasional dances in years gone by. In addition, Chemeketa Community College--then called Salem Technical/Vocational School--started some of its first classes upstairs when they found their first location to be too small. So Chemeketa Community College shared its humble beginnings with the West Salem Library."

When you visit
Today you visit our branch library in its own building. In 1995 Orville Roth (1934-2013) donated land immediately behind and adjacent to the West Salem Roth’s IGA grocery store upon which to build a new library. With large donations from West Salem residents, a federal grant through the Oregon State Library, and City of Salem general fund money, the new 6,000 square foot building was built. On September 25, 1995 the new branch library celebrated its grand opening ceremony and doors opened the next day for business. The West Salem citizens have been active in defending their branch library whenever city budget cuts have threatened to curtail services or make significant cuts in hours of operation. This happened in the 2012 Budget Committee session when hours were slated to be cut from 30 hours to 6 a week. West Salem residents crowded the Council Chambers to protest. A compromise was reached so the Branch Library could be open 16 hours a week.
For more information about our West Salem Branch Library and what hours it is open, call 503-588-6052 or click here.

Other events

• Ed Ritter's construction company participates in the final razing of Camp Adair structures. Under caretakers for many years, the final demolition wipes out any trace of the World War II army camp on Highway 99 north of Corvallis. Salem photographer Ben Maxwell's series of 85 pictures of the last buildings is available in the Salem Public Library Historical Photograph Collections.

The Derby Building: Senator Hotel and Greyhound Bus Station

• The Derby Building at the southeast corner of Court and High Street is a busy downtown location. It contains, among other businesses, the Senator Hotel and the Greyhound Bus Station. It was leased to the State of Oregon in 1973 for office space and later demolished. The Courthouse Square Transit Center is located on this property.
• Two senior citizens are celebrated this year. Sister Anna Hayward Duerksen, aged 71, was one of the founders of the Deaconess Hospital in 1916. This year, the Oregon Nurses Association honored her with a life membership for her long leadership in health care. Mr. C. D. Frazer, Oregon's first purchasing agent under Governor West in 1914, was honored on the occasion of his 97th birthday.
• St. Mark's Lutheran Church is constructed on the SW corner of Marion and Winter streets. The congregation previously worshiped at the Lutheran American Church at Chemeketa and Church streets, but now undertook construction of the present modern stone building. 

• Pleasant Grove Church in original Location In other church news: The Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church, built in 1854 and located in Mount Pleasant between Stayton and Scio, was photographed as seen in June 1956. The church was built by Cyrenius and Silvanus Condit in 1857 with lumber from Oregon City. The construction of the church was planned on the job. The sign next to the church reads ""Presbyterian church began with the arrival of the Reverend Philip Condit in September 1854. The congregation was organized January 1, 1855. The building was completed in 1858. It is the oldest church building erected by Presbyterians on the Pacific Coast."The church has since been moved to Willamette Heritage Center (then known as Mission Mill Museum) and restored. It is used for meetings and weddings. This is one of four historic structures that have been moved to this property and restored due to the outstanding volunteer fund raising efforts and enterprise of the members of the former Marion County Historical Society and Mission Mill Museum. The other buildings are the Jason Lee House, The Mission Parsonage and the John Boon House. All are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Willamette Heritage Center tours are available.