Salem in 1984

World Events

• Democrats pick Geraldine Ferraro as VP running mate with Walter Mondale. Republican Ronald Reagan easily wins re-election.
• President Reagan makes a historic visit to China, making a step toward friendlier relations between China and U.S., but the question of Taiwan as the official (democratic) Republic of China is unsolved.
• Bishop Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Bruce Mccandleuss and Robert Stewart make first untethered space walk. Kathy Sullivan is first woman to space walk.
• Apple's Macintosh is introduced.
• The Bell telephone system is broken into independent companies.
• The U.S.S.R. boycotts the summer Olympics in L.A. in response to the American-lad boycott of Moscow in previous summer games.
• Chicago White Sox defeat Milwaukee Brewers in longest game of major league history: 25 innings of 8 hours, six minutes.
• The Canadian entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, is founded.
• Academy Awards:"Amadeus" (US),"Dangerous Moves (Switzerland). Prize-winning Books: Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories, Ellen Gilchrist and Ironweed, William Kennedy.

Marion County Historical Society in the former Thomas Kay Mill Office

In Salem
In the late 1940s, when proposals were made to demolish both the building that housed Oregon's capitol at statehood (the Holman Building, demolished in 1949) and the proposal to demolish Marion County's 80-year-old courthouse (which happened in 1952), many Salem residents became concerned at the loss of their heritage. Eventually, on July 11, 1950, they formed the Marion County Historical Society. The organizational meetings were held in the fireplace room of the 1912 Carnegie-aided Public Library at the corner of Winter and State streets. Led by its first president, Oregon State Archivist David Duniway, and secretary, Salem Public Library Director Hugh Morrow, the society promoted historic preservation in Marion County as well as held educational programs and published booklets of Marion County history. It led preservation efforts for historic buildings such as the Jason Lee House, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill and Historic Deepwood Estate.
It accomplished all this with a small membership and no home of its own: meeting notes record that it met for many years wherever a room in a church or business was available the next month. About 1980, the society began a museum in a small room of Mission Mill Museum. This effort expanded in 1984 when the society purchased the mill's old retail store and converted it into an office, library and small exhibition hall. In 1999, it received a certificate of commendation (one of less than 100 awarded) from the American Association for State and Local History, and the NonProfit Member of the Year Award from the Salem Convention and Visitors Association.

When you visit
In January of 2010, the Marion County Historical Society merged with Mission Mill Museum to form the new Willamette Heritage Center on the campus they have shared for a quarter of a century. Mission Mill Museum will curate and produce exhibits and store the collection of artifacts that have been donated to MCHS and Mission Mill in the past. The former MCHS will become the library of local historical materials and genealogical records for both institutions. At the present time, documents and photographs are being archived and indexed for use at the historical society facility. When funds are available, they will be scanned for a website and available online. The library is open to the public for research Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday by appointment. Admission is paid at Mission Mill Museum.

Our thanks to Kyle Jansson and Elisabeth Walton Potter for their contributions to this historical information.

Other Events

• The Pioneer above the Capitol is re-gilded this year. Scaffolding is built around the statue above the structure.
• Former mayor Vern Miller dies this year. Wes Sullivan wrote a tribute: "As mayor, Dr. Vern Miller led Salem to maturity as a city. Sitting in his tiny, windowless mayor’s office in a nineteenth-century City Hall in 1965, he had visions for Salem that went beyond its just being an adjunct to the statehouse. He had the courage and dogged determination to turn these visions into reality. He brought to his office as mayor the caring and the integrity that made him a fine and respected surgeon. And where he led, people followed."
• Edith Schryver also died this year. A diminutive young lady traveling to Europe by ship was placed by mistake at the Children's Table in the Dining Salon. When she requested a glass of wine and was refused, the adult Edith Schryver insisted on being moved to another table. There she met Elizabeth Lord who would become her lifetime companion and partner in their landscaping enterprise.
• A less noticed death was that of 84-year old Ray DeAutremont, the last surviving of three brothers who led authorities on a nearly four year, worldwide manhunt. After conviction, they were incarcerated in the Oregon State Prison here in Salem, sentenced to life imprisonment. Their crime, known to history, as the 1923 "Last Great Train Robbery" was the hold up of the southbound Southern Pacific #13 near Ashland, Oregon. Four men killed and not a dime to reward the efforts of Ray, Roy and Hugh DeAutremont. Hugh, the youngest of the three, was paroled in 1958 and died less than six months later. The younger twin, Roy, died in Oregon State Hospital in 1983. Ray, the oldest of the twins, had won parole in 1961.
• The original spire of the First United Methodist Church is replaced. This landmark continues to give Salem a presence as one approaches from the west and reminds us of the missionary goals that inspired the early settlers and the eventual creation of the city.

Former riverfront industrial properties transformed into a park

• The City of Salem purchases 22 acres of prime river front property from Boise Cascade for the purpose of implementing a Salem Riverfront Master Plan, which included a conference center, hotel, outdoor theater and commercial/retail space. The plan also included an under-crossing at State Street. A citizen initiative later rejected the plan. However, Salem's former industrial site from Leslie Street to the south to Union Street at the north has, by 2012, changed radically in use and appearance. (See the current Riverfront Master Plan) The 12.95-acre site previously owned by Boise Cascade south of Riverfront Park, is now under renovation and construction. Future plans include a mix of uses including rental housing, commercial/retail and parking. A pedestrian path will lead under the Commercial Street Bridge, connecting the Civic Center Park with the Willamette River along Pringle Creek. Riverfront Park and the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village have made the waterfront a community asset for informal social occasions and for recreation.

Salem in 1965

World Events

• The funeral of Winston Churchill attracts the great assemblage of world statesman to that date.
• The US begins active military offensives against the Vietcong.
• Freedom Flight airlifts bring Cubans to the U.S. More than 20,000 refugees a year settle in Florida.
• President Johnson pledges a "Great Society" in America to end poverty and racial injustice. Medicare and Medicaid bills are passed in Congress. Voting Rights Act forbids discriminatory practices. The Immigration and Nationality Act ends quotas based on national origin.
• Martin Luther King, Jr and 25,000 civil rights activists complete their 4-day march from Salem, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery. ("Selma" film, 2014)
• Riots in Watts section of Los Angeles protest police brutality: 34 die and damage is estimated at $40 million.
• People are talking about Ed White's walk in space; Ralph Nadar's Unsafe at any Speed that criticizes lack of safety features in American cars, and the "Phanton Punch" of Muhammad Ali, defeating Sonny Liston in their boxing rematch. Rolling Stones and the Beatles dominate pop music.
• Academy Awards: "The Sound of Music" (US), "The Shop on Main Street" (Czechoslovakia) . Prize-winning Books: Herzog, Saul Bellow and Keepers of the House, Shirley Ann Grau.

In Salem

• The construction industry is booming. Salem Plaza (now Salem Center Mall), a new retail commercial center downtown, begins with the construction seen above. The first building (located north of Center Street, between Liberty and High Streets) will not be finished until 1966. The first completed of the "Big Box" enterprises is J.C. Penney's new store on the corner of Liberty and Chemeketa Streets with a Grand Opening in January. To the east of downtown,  the first four marble buildings of North Capitol Mall were in place in the four block area from Court to Center Street by 1959. In the next five years, the state created parking lots out of the blocks up to Union Street. In 1964, construction began at northwest corner of Union and Summer Street for the new Agricultural Building. Demolition of the neighborhood residences and construction of this building continued this year.

• Quite a different construction project ran into difficulties. While moving the historic Jason Lee House from its original location near Mill Creek on Broadway to the new Mission Mill Museum (now Willamette Heritage Center), it was discovered that the building was too tall to pass under the Center Street Bridge.  The problem was solved by letting some of the air out of the tires on the vehicles and the move was successfully completed.
• Vista Market, a Roth's IGA Foodliner grocery store, is established on South Library Street. Parts of the South Salem area have been annexed to the city by this year.
• On a smaller scale, residents enjoyed their first Dunkin Donut eatery. It was in North Salem on Portland Road. 

• During this year, Federal regulations continued to force change in how Salem industries could dispose of unhealthy materials in the public environment. The Boise Cascade Company lagoons on Minto Island were off-limits to the public because of contaminated materials settled there. Fifty year later, these lagoons are still a source of concern as the city and the state work toward expanding our Salem recreational trails with a bridge between Riverfront Park and the public sections of Minto Brown Park. It is anticipated that the Minto Brown Park, an area larger the Central Park in New York City, will someday be the center of our city. As such it will be a valuable natural resource in the growing urban community. 

• Salem is introduced to a new line of automobiles when Datsuns are displayed in the Japan Exhibition at the State Fair this year.

• A more traditional vehicle made news when the Salem Public Library, under the directorship of Hugh Morrow, has its first Bookmobile to serve residents in suburban neighborhoods. Mr. Morrow was the Director of the library from 1939 to 1972. His term of office began in the Carnegie Library on State Street and extended into the construction of a new public library in the Civic Center between Commercial and Liberty streets. The library collection of Oregon historic materials is named for him in honor of his service.
• Two of Salem's outstanding citizens are involved in Salem's municipal administration: Willard Marshall (1963-5) resigns as mayor due to ill health; Dr. Vern Miller (1965-72) takes his place. As a physician, Dr. Miller had been drawn into public life by the problems of local sanitation surfacing he saw surfacing from the septic tanks of South Salem. His successful efforts to bring sewers to that vast area led him to a city council seat. That campaign also set the stage for the annexation of the South Salem areas.

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 1890

World Events

• William II, autocratic Emperor of Germany, dismisses Chancellor Bismarck, continuing difficult relations with France.
• King William of the Netherlands died without a male heir, the throne going to the princess who becomes Queen Wilhelmina.
• At Wounded Knee in South Dakota, an attempt by 7th Cavalry to disarm Lakota Sioux results in the deaths of 153 Native Americans and 25 soldiers.
• The Land Rush of the year before had produced so many settlers that the Oklahoma Territory was established in May of this year. Idaho and Wyoming are admitted as states.
• American industry produces an entirely steel frame building in Chicago. The use of Hollerith Company (later IBM) punch cards for the census of this year introduces computing hardware.
• Mass rallies and one-day strikes in cities in North America and Europe demand an eight-hour workday.
• Notable new books of this year: Hedda Gabbler, by Hendrik Ibsen and Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. 

In Salem
The Salem Canning Company is founded. Robert Wallace secured land on a corner of the Willamette University campus (seen above), opposite the Thomas K. Woolen Mill providing rail car loading on two sides and frontage on 12th Street. In the cannery building tomatoes, peas, corn, beans, cherries, black raspberries, plums, pears, and apples were processed. Mr. Wallace died unexpectedly the following year and the company was sold, later operating under the Allen name. (In 1920 Mr. Allen designed a new home, and had his crew build it, at 901 Capitol Street. This beautiful property on the intersection with D Street is now a Local Landmark. For many years it has been used as a business office.) The plant became the Oregon Packing Company and was later a cooperative known as the Mutual Canning Company. It was secured by the California Fruit Canners Association and that ended local ownership. In 1935 it became known as Calpak Plant #126. The plant closed in 1953.

When you visit
The photograph above was taken near the Willamette Heritage Center gate on 12th Street, looking north toward State Street. The railroad tracks, going east into Willamette University, are no longer there since a major renovation for the creation of new campus buildings in the 1980s. The site of the original cannery is now the location of a university parking lot.

Other events

• Salem's population reaches 2,617.
• A structure built just four years before by the enterprising Mr. Wallace, our first bridge over the Willamette River, collapses due to flooding on February 3. The timber wagon bridge cost $50,000 and first opened to traffic on December 7, 1886 when the river crested at 37 feet and one inch. A pier, improperly placed in relation to the current, washed our first. Then the spans crashed. A drawing in West Shore magazine captured the event and shows Billy Chambers and L. Goolsby barely escaping.

The collapse of our first Willamette River bridge

• Another successful businessman, brick maker George Collins, builds an elaborate Queen Anne style residence at 245 Church Street. His bricks were used in many of our historic Salem downtown structures. Almost thirty years after the house was built, it was sold to Robert Downing and the property stayed in that family until the death of Hazel Downing Isbell in 1986. In the later years, it had become divided into apartments, but when it was moved to 1340 Chemeketa Street in 1989, it was restored to its original interior design. It now serves as professional offices. This NEN neighborhood property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This year, Salem continues to experience a boom in residential building:

• Southeast of downtown, two new Vernacular style homes are built: William Siegmund, a blacksmith, lived at 1396 Lee Street for many years and Jefferson Myers, a local attorney and political figure, lived at 1896 Lee Street. Both houses are Local Landmarks in the SESNA neighborhood.

• Two farmhouses across the Willamette River in Polk County are built: the Fennell and Stoller houses are preserved as early Local Landmarks in the West Salem neighborhood.

Dairy Farmhouse

• There remains today a farmhouse of a large dairy that once extended east from the Oregon State Hospital property to what is now Lancaster Drive in the NESCA neighborhood. Now reduced to a single city lot, the property retains many of the original trees and other features. Three adjoining small houses along Park Avenue to the south were for dairy workers. We often drive pass this house, on the southeast corner of Park Avenue and D Street, without thinking of its long history and how recently this area was all farmland. Unfortunately, we do not know the name of the original dairy owner.
• On Cottage Street, north of Salem, a house is built as a rental. In 1913 Charles and Lillian McKinley purchased the property. The present owners have restored and thoughtfully maintained this Local Landmark in the Grant neighborhood.
• Near his brother Joshua's property in Spring Valley, Andrew Jackson Purvine builds a new residence to accommodate his second family. Although altered, it retains many of the qualities of the original home.
• The originally Quaker community in Highland welcomes the German Baptists on Hazel Avenue. Still retaining its classic exterior, it is a Local Landmark as the Immanuel Baptist Church.

Ben Maxwell recalls: 
In May, it is reported that Margaret Hutchins, "squaw wife" of celebrated old Santiam Chief Joe Hutchins, dies of fever in a tent among little trees between the Southern Pacific depot and the woolen mill [on the present 12th Street]. The item noted she was member of the Molalla tribe.
Within 5 miles of Salem, good fruit and farmland could be bought for $30 to $50 an acre.
On July 4, Salem staged the greatest celebration in the Willamette Valley. Rev. C. C. Stratton [son-in-law of pioneer Alvan Waller] delivered the oration and W. J. D'Arcy read the Declaration of Independence. The national anthem was sung by 150 trained voices and 7 brass bands offered additional music. Previous to this ceremony, there was a 13-gun salute. Residents on Wilson [Willson?] Avenue were advised to leave windows open to prevent their being shattered by the concussion.

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

Salem in 1889

 World Events

• The Dakotas, Montana and Washington become states.
• The Eiffel Tower, tallest structure in the world, opens for the Paris World's Fair, but critics declare it as "aesthetically displeasing" .
• The Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania kills over 2,200 residents. Fires rage in both Seattle and Spokane.
• The Coca-Cola Company is organized as Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
• The Eiffel Tower, tallest structure in the world, opens for the Paris World's Fair, but critics declare it as "aesthetically displeasing" .
• "Pizza Margherita, named for the queen, is baked in Naples, introducing that popular dish.
• New American Book: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain

In Salem

Two Queen Anne styled business blocks are constructed this year on the west side of Commercial Street between State and Court. Walter D. Pugh designed both structures, as well as the 1895 Thomas Kay Woolen Mill.
To the south is the Bush-Breyman Block (top), jointly constructed by Asahel Bush and Werner Breyman. Initially, a store selling drugs occupied the shop on the south while a clothing store occupied the shop on the north; there were offices above. Numerous Salem professional offices have occupied the second floor, including the law offices of former chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, Benjamin F. Bonham and both Charles L. McNary and his brother, John McNary. The American Red Cross and the Camp Fire Girls of Marion County also occupied second-floor.
To the north is the Bush and Brey Block, built by Asahel Bush and Mortiz Brey. Clothing stores were there: Dalrymple's, Krausse, McVoy, The Chicago Store (as above) and others. From 1917 until 1934, Buren's Furniture and Luggage Store occupied the southern-most portion of the block. The first upstairs tenant of the Bush and Brey Block was Myra Sperry, a photographer. Sperry sold her business to Cherrington and then to Tom Cronise who also used the studio. Upstairs businesses included several printers, hemstitchers and dressmakers as well as three savings and loan companies, a dentist, a lawyer, the Salvation Army (1935-1942), the Knights of Columbus (1947-1949), and the Order of the Moose (1953-1955).

When you visit
 These buildings have changed due to additions and loss by fire.
The Bush portion of the Bush-Breyman Block was damaged by fire in 1960, and subsequently demolished. The historical photograph shows the section that burned, leaving only the entrance to the upper floor. The contemporary photograph shows the south part of the original building. Also in the contemporary photograph, a red-painted column (behind the red car) marked the original end of the building. Retail businesses still occupy the ground floor with offices above.
The Bush Brey Block had a three-window addition at the south after 1915, also designed by Walter Pugh, who used the same materials and stylistic treatment to match the existing building. Clothing stores have been consistent tenants in the addition. J. L. Busick & Sons operated a grocery store at the rear two-story location at the Court Street intersection from 1924 until 1970. From 1972 to 1998 it housed the very popular Hindquarter and Night Deposit restaurants: after-hours home to legislators, lobbyists, and professionals, and number one high school prom destination.

Other events

• The booming economy in Salem encouraged similar commercial construction downtown.  South Eldridge Block is built on the east side of Commercial in the block between Court and Chemeketa Streets, probably designed by Wilbur F. Boothby. The Italianate business block originally contained 23 bays and extended the length of the city block. It has been historically associated with several generations of the Rostein and Greenbaum families, prominent local merchants. Greenbaum's Quilted Forest continues in business there. The northern portion of the building, containing businesses of two other well-known families, the Barnes Cash Store and Fry's Drug store, was lost to urban renewal and is now the entrance to Chemeketa Parkade.
• George Williams, a Civil War veteran who lost his leg at Gettysburg, is elected mayor and will serve two years. His father-in-law is Sebastian Adams, creator of a 23-foot, illustrated historical chart being sold nationally at this time. 
• The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Company is founded. It was the largest woolen mill in the state with 50 mill workers when, in November of 1895, fire destroyed the mill in an hour and a half. However Kay's ability and reputation brought immediate pledges for funds and the present brick mill was completed in one year. The Kay mill boomed during World War II, but unable to compete with synthetic fabrics, the mill closed in 1959. In 1964, the Mission and Mill Museum, Inc. (later Mission Mill Museum Association, now Willamette Heritage Center), was incorporated. In 1973 the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains one of the few North American mill museums where direct-drive waterpower is demonstrated.

• Patrick and Margaret Feely puchase land to build this handsome home at 1349 Center Street. The family continued to own this Queen Anne-styled house until 1945. Located in the NEN neighborhood, the Feely House is among the few residences of this era to remain a private residence in this neighborhood for so many years. It has been designated as a Local Landmark.

Ben Maxwell recalls from the 1889 Capitol Journal:

Whoever may pass westward toward Front Street at any time the breeze comes from the Willamette must be disgusted by the odor that arises from the decaying vegetable matter dumped over the river bank to faster and breed disease.

A Salem man, walking along 14^th Street between Chemeketa and Court Street, passed two ladies. When he stepped aside, a sidewalk board flew up and struck him in the face. The mishap threw all to the ground and all received bruises.

The price of cigarettes in Salem advanced to 10 cents a package from a nickel. The increase was a good thing since it will prevent many youngsters from buying them. At 5 cents, the little shaver could indulge in puffing, but at a dime, he would not smoke as many.

A number of Salemites attended the Mechanic’s Industrial Fair in Portland. A reporter saw a prominent gentleman throwing kisses and winking at a wax female figure on display in a principal booth.

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

A Tag of Memory

Yesterday, November 14, Mission Mill Museum sponsored a program by June Schumann of the Portland Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. Her excellently prepared (and charmingly delivered) presentation reminded us of the experiences of the American West Coast families of Japanese descent who were "relocated" in 1942 during World War II. The chart above shows the areas effected by relocation. Families east of the line were not spared discrimination: they lived under strict restrictions and oppressive surveillance.

The photo below shows a typical family as they departed, leaving their homes and all their possessions, taking only one suitcase apiece. At the presentation, we were each given a tag like the ones shown.
We might ask ourselves two questions: How would we feel wearing such identification as our own families left our homes with the uncertain future they faced? What happened to the families who stood on the platform of the Salem Railroad Station more that sixty-five years ago wearing these tags?