Salem in 1986

World Events

• Space shuttle "Challenger" explodes on takeoff killing 7 astronauts, including schoolteacher, Christa McAuliffe.
• A mishandled safety test at Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union,  sends radioactive particles over Europe, kills over 4000 people and damages almost 7 billion in property.
• Desmond Tutu is the first black Anglican bishop in South Africa.
• A secret Iran arms supply by the Reagan administration is revealed, but the disappearance of official documents handicaps the investigation. Eleven officials (but not Reagan) were convicted, including the Secretary of Defense, Casper Weinburger. Convictions were dropped or the  individuals pardoned by President George H. W. Bush (VP in 1986).
• At least 5 million people form a human chain from NYC to Los Angeles to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
• American Jewish professor, Elie Wiesel is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as Chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust.
• Greg LeMond is the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France.
• Les Miserables wins multiple awards on Broadway. Academy Awards: "Platoon" (US), "The Assault", (Netherlands). Prize-winning Books: World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow and Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry.

In Salem
After a fund drive effort of six years, the Mark Hatfield Library at Willamette University opened with a dedication on September 4 this year. Willamette's original library was established in 1844, two years after the school was founded. The library was housed in Waller Hall before moving to its own building (now Smullin Hall) in 1938. The academic library is named in honor of former Senator Mark O. Hatfield, a 1943 graduate of Willamette and former member of the faculty.
Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress, gave this tribute:
"Following the trail of the early settlers and missionaries who found their way to your beautiful valley, Willamette University continues to awaken explorers of the mind. Mark Hatfield has carried the best traits of the missionary and the explorer to the nation's capital. To the deliberations of the Senate he has brought a large vision and a broad culture. There can be no more appropriate tribute to Willamette University's effort to educate the whole man than the Mark O. Hatfield Library."

When you visit
The two-story, redbrick building has abundant glass that brings light inside to the reception lobby, the 24-hour study and private areas, and to the materials collections. The library is one of the first academic libraries on the west coast to automate its card catalog and circulation systems. Of special interest is the portion of the second floor housing the public papers and, on display, the personal memorabilia of the career of Senator Hatfield.
In the Plaza before the main entrance there is a handsome Clock Tower and flowing west along the north side of the building and continuing across the campus, is the historic Millrace. This diversion of Mill Creek brought early waterpower to the industries of the growing city and is a dominant landscape feature of the center of the campus, redesigned when the library was erected.

Other events

• At a residential fire, fireman Bob Benson was working his way through the tangle of the upper floor. The drug processing tenants had reconnected wiring to mask the use of electricity. Bob's oxygen tank on his back touched a live wire, sending electricity into his body. He remembers nothing except awaking on the ground outside, with his father-in-law, George Ventura, leaning close and asking if he were conscious. This scene was caught in this Gerry Lewin's Statesman Journal photograph. Bob recovered and is now serving with the department as a Captain. He and his wife have been active in collecting memorabilia and artifacts for the fire department exhibits in fire stations #5. #7, #10 and #11. A memorial for his father-in-law is at Fire Station #5 at 1520 Glen Creek Rd NW.

High Street Bungalows in Gaiety HIll/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District

• Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park, a National Register Historic District is established this year. The bungalows on High Street, the Bush family residence and barn of Bush Pasture Park are significant features. A walking tour slide show is on the SHINE website.
• In 1983, when Boise Cascade began cutting back its Salem operation, Chemeketa Community College was asked to help retrain employees. The project was so successful that the college combined several programs into a Training and Economic Development (TED) Center in 1986. The downtown facility (moved to a new location in 2009) is dedicated to the improvement of businesses and organizations throughout the Mid-Willamette Valley.
• Two noted Salem cultural leaders of Salem retire this year: Wes Sullivan, Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Statesman Journal and popular chronicler of our city's history; and Carl Hall, after a nearly forty-year association with the Willamette University that resulted in his reputation as an educator as well as an artist.
• A popular movie and TV star, James Garner, visits Salem during the production of a TV film.
• Norma Paulus had been elected Secretary of State in 1976, the first woman elected to statewide office in Oregon. As Secretary of State she instituted Vote-By-Mail, the first in the nation. She was reelected to serve the maximum two terms allowed under the Oregon constitution. In 1986, she is the Republican candidate for governor, but loses by a small margin.
• The Children's Discovery Room at the Salem Public Library, a project funded by the Salem Rotary Club, opens in December as a portion of the main floor of the Library devoted to allowing children to explore inter-active displays and learn about their surroundings.
• The Southeast Mill Creek Association is organized. The neighborhood includes the area around the McNary Airport and extends south to Corbin University.
• Starting this year, the Salem Center retail mall added the theater complex at the intersection of Marion and High Streets as well as the pedestrian sky-bridges between JC Penney's and the south building. Shortly thereafter the remaining sky-bridges were built: Marion Parkade to Mervyn's; north building to Meier and Frank; over Center Street connecting the two mall buildings.

Salem in 1969

World Events

• President Nixon begins "Vietnamization" to disengage U.S. from Vietnam War, but combat continues. Peace talks break down. Nixon goes on TV to ask the "silent majority" to support his policies. A draft lottery begins for military service in Viet Nam.
• Golda Mier is elected as Prime Minister in Israel. George Pompidou is elected President of France.
• A Union Oil platform spill of up to 100.000 barrels of crude oil off Santa Barbara closes the harbor and beach. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson is inspired to organize the first "Earth Day".
• "The Eagle has landed": Neil Armstrong is the first human to step on the moon. The whole world watches on TV.
• Charles Manson indicted for "Helter Skelter" murders in Los Angeles.
• Woodstock Music & Art Fair attracted an audience of over 400,000.
•  Hijacking airliners increased in the 1960s. Longest (6,900 miles) was this year when a 19-year old Marine forced a California TWA flight to fly on to Rome where the culprit escaped, but was apprehended by police.
• The first automatic teller is installed in retail store. Soccer great Pele scores his 1000th score.
• Academy Awards: "Midnight Cowboy"(US), "Z" (Algeria). Prize-winning Books: Steps, Jerzy Kosinski and The House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday.

Western Baptist Bible College 1969, now Corban University

In Salem
This year a Bible Institute located in California since 1946, changed its name to Western Baptist Bible College and moved to Salem. One of the main buildings, seen above, was originally constructed for The Oregon Deaf-Mute Institute in 1884. However, the school's isolation, inadequate roads and proximity to the "bad influence" of the reformatory caused the school to be relocated to 52 acres in North Salem near the Fairgrounds.
In 1910, this building became the Oregon State Tuberculosis Sanitarium. Patients came slowly for the first years. Gradually the demand increased, causing a lack of beds in the necessary open-air pavilions as treatment required in those days. A waiting list of prospective patients developed. In 1963, the State Legislature combined this hospital with the University of Oregon Medical School Tuberculosis Hospital in Portland.
The facility was available for Western Baptist Bible College in 1969.

When you visit
This historic building is Schimmel Hall in the renamed college, now Corban University. It serves administration, the Emitte Center and as a dining hall. It is a historical property in the Southeast Mill Creek Association, anorganization founded in 1986, eleven years after that neighborhood was annexed to the city.

Other events

• An architectural model of the proposed Civic Center is produced for display. The photograph shown in the Statesman Journal (above) shows columned buildings that include a city hall and library with a fire station "across the street". It is hard to recognize our current civic center in this three-dimensional model. In 2014 there is a proposal to redesign the present Civic Center to make the structure more earthquake-proof and accommodate a new police facility.
• West Salem has its first residential housing development at Pioneer Village on Taybin Road. Polk County Housing Authority administered the project. This year a Planning Commission was established to promote the growth and orderly development of Salem.
• Wayne L. Thompson becomes Municipal Judge after the resignation of Dale Pierson. Judge Thompson is subsequently elected to the office and will serve until his resignation in 1990.

• On the opening day of the State Fair, Governor and Mrs. McCall ride in a hot-air balloon and cut the ribbon to officially open the Agriculture Exhibits and the Community hall. There is a pie-eating contest with boys competing to eat the most pie while their hands are behind their backs. The girls take part in a watermelon-eating contest. The Ronald McDonald clown character was the judge of both.
• The Marion County Fair gets a start when the Future Farmers of America and the 4-H club produce a show including livestock display and horse exhibitions.
• A demonstration against the Vietnam War is held at the State Capitol on Moratorium Day, October 17. Another photograph shows one man standing at the entrance speaking while others wait their turn. A folk singer appears to be playing his guitar.
• The Center Street Bridge is demolished in preparation for expansion and remodeling.
• The George Putnam University Center arises at Willamette University. It was named for the former editor and publisher of the local newspaper who left his estate to the university. At the time the building opened it contained the bookstore, mail room, information desk, offices and eating facilities.
• This year the voters created a community college district, covering more than 2,600 square miles in Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley. It includes Marion, Polk, most of Yamhill, and part of Linn counties. A contest was held to name the new school and entries were solicited from Salem Tech students, as well as from all the district high schools. In December the Board of Education approved the name Chemeketa, a Native American term for a place of peace.
• Salem Memorial Hospital and Salem General Hospital merge to make better use of buildings, equipment, and personnel, providing higher quality care and lower costs. All acute care services were consolidated on Winter Street.
• Charles A. Sprague, who came to Salem in 1929, became owner, editor, and publisher of the Statesman Journal, establishing a reputation as one of the Nation's great editors. His editorials were often reprinted in some of America's largest newspapers. Sprague gained a national reputation as an articulate spokesman for small-town values, fiscal conservatism, and internationalism. He held control of the paper until his death. A declared Republican, he nonetheless took an independent position on the issues of the time, reflecting a progressive view which was often at odds with leaders of his party. He served as Governor of Oregon from 1939 to 1943. A lifelong Presbyterian with what friends referred to as a stern sense of Calvinism, he neither smoked or drank, and his newspaper would not accept advertising for hard liquor. An avid outdoorsman, he climbed the highest mountains of the Pacific Northwest and, in his seventies shot the rapids of the Colorado River. One of the West's most respected citizens, he died this year in Salem.
• Nora Anderson, one of Salem's most active volunteers in promoting the cultural life of Salem, also dies this year. Her accomplishments included organizing the Salem Garden Club, assisting the Women's Club and its effort to found the Salem Public Library, promoting Salem's Junior Symphony, helping to organize the forerunner of the Assistance League and benefiting the Women's Medical Surgery Department at the Salem Hospital's General unit. Among her honors during her lifetime was the dedication of the first bench in Bush's Pasture Park, placed in a spot she enjoyed for its wild strawberries. She is possibly best remembered today for the Anderson rooms in our library. The home she shared with her husband William stands at 1577 Court Street and contributes to the Court-Chemeketa Historic District.
• Fire at Byrd Cottage of Fairview Training Center kills three residents.