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 1927

World Events

• As the controlling Chinese Nationalists murder members of the opposition Communist party in Nanchang, the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army is formed.
• Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with control of the Soviet Union.
• Iraq gains independence from Britain
• Charles Lindbergh makes a solo flight across the Atlantic in his single-engined Spirit of St. Louis. There is a huge ticker-tape parade in New York city to welcome his homecoming. The Holland Tunnel opens linking NYC with New Jersey.
• The Iron Lung is invented for the relief of polio sufferers.
• The popular Harlem Globetrotters take to the road for performances. Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs.
• Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (CBS) goes on air with 47 stations.
• The Academy Awards are established with "Wings" winning best picture. The Pulitzer Prize goes to Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder.

In Salem
This year Lee Eyerly establishes his flight school in Salem at what would become McNary Airfield. In 1921 he had been Salem’s pioneer commercial pilot. Using the latest training methods, he opened a ground school and taught mechanical work, rigging, meteorology, and navigation. Salem high school administrators caught the spirit and were offering flight-training classes to students. By 1928, Eyerly's planes were doing cross-country business as well as passenger hops over the State House, thought by many to be a prospective landing place. By this time, Salem had progressed so that any major plane overhaul or rebuild job was possible. The successful Salem airport campaign was presented in the form of a charter amendment calling for issuance of $50,000 in bonds for the purchase of land and the establishment of the landing field.

When you visit
Commuter air service in Salem was briefly served by SeaPort Airlines in 2011. Seaport took off from a terminal with a newly completed 4.000-square-foot expansion, a $1.5 million project paid for by grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and the State of Oregon. A great way to see the airfield is to visit the Flight Deck restaurant. The dining area has large windows overlooking the airfield.

For residents who are interested in commercial air service in Salem, the Salem Airport Advisory Commission meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at Fire Station #6. The public is welcome.

Other Events

• Thomas A. Livesley becomes mayor.
• The new YMCA Building, just completed, is much larger than the neighboring Court Street residences of the Boise and McNary families. To the east, toward the State House, the street was lined with handsome homes of other prominent "Old Guard" familes. None have survived.
• The last of the Ford Model-T automobiles are produced this year.

From left: Commercial Street from State Street looking north

• Marion County conducted a Health Demonstration Project between the 1926 and 1930. The parade of 1927 (above), led by the governor, proceeded down Commercial Street while automobiles and spectators lined the route.
• Salem Lutherans of German descent begin worshiping in old 1894 Presbyterian Church on Church Street. They buy the church and rename it as the Lutheran-American Church to indicate the services will be English. According to church records: "Mr. (Max) Gehlar, the Sunday School superintendent was a leader and through his efforts the Sunday School became one of the most active and well attended in the city."
• Notice is received from Redlands, California that Libbie Patton has died at the age of 85. She was the second wife of two noted Salem pioneers: she married Joseph Holman (1815-80) in 1875 and Thomas McFadden Patton (1829-92) in 1889. In both cases, she was the second wife.
• Ercel Kay establishes the Salem Golf Club with the first nine holes completed on the former John Hughes Land Grant. The fee for playing was 25 cents.
• Outdoor activity may have been handicapped by the weather in July, as reported by the Capitol Journal, Ben Maxwell recalled. During that month, the government thermometer on the 23rd registered 108 degrees, an all-time high. The climax came that evening when an electrical storm rattled windows and frightened children.
• In this year of booming economy, Salem families are building new houses. In a developing residential section of Salem, Sam and Lottie Adolph build a Mediterranean styled home on South Commercial Street. Photographed in 1978 by Bob Koval, and again recently, the house retains its original appearance. It is a Local Landmark in the SCAN neighborhood.
• Two blocks south of the Adolph House, is the Colonial Revival home built by Leland and Mildred Geer. The house was sold to Rollin and Alice Page in the next year. Mrs. Page continued to live here after her husband's death in the late 1940s and the house stayed in family ownership into the 1950s. This is also a Local Landmark and is in the SCAN neighborhood.
• A third Local Landmark in this neighborhood is the Mediterranean Meier House on Rural Street, then at the city limits. Fred Meier purchased it in this year and lived there off and on for the next twenty years, renting it out periodically. In 1946 the house was sold to Harold and Eva Jory who lived there until 1953.
• The Rosecrans House is built on Chemeketa Street by D. A. and Etta Hodge for their daughter Margaret Rosecrans, a widow, and clerk for the State Highway Commission. Mrs. Rosecrans resided here until 1942 at which time it was sold to John and Lela Jerman. Later owners were Linn C. Smith and Lulu Marie (Jerman) Smith. There is also a 1978 photograph. This house is a Local Landmark in the NEN neighborhood.
• A famous pooch, resident of Silverton, died this year. Bobbie, the Scotch collie that was lost from his owner and made his way from Indiana back to his former home in Silverton, is honored in that city where he is buried in a child's casket.