Salem in 1987

World Events

• Rudolph Hess (aged 92), WWII NAZI, is found dead in his Spandau Prison cell. The last prisoner in the complex, it is soon demolished.
• President Reagan visits Berlin, challenges USSR to "Tear down this wall!"
• King's Cross fire in London subway kills 31 and wounds 100.
•  US Congress charges Reagan with "ultimate responsibility" for the Iran-Contra deception, but he is not prosecuted. (See 1986) His nominee for the Supreme Court, Robert Bork, is rejected by the Senate.
• Jim Bakker resigns from the evangelical "Praise the Lord" television network after his personal misconduct is revealed.
• 18 months old Jessica McClure falls down her aunt's well in Midland, Texas. Rescuers work 58 consecutive hours to free her from the 8-inch well casing. The drama is seen around the world by television.
• AZT is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the use in treatment of AIDS.
• Starbucks Coffee stores open in Seattle. Simpson cartoon appears.
• Academy Awards: "The Last Emperor" (US), "Babette's Feast" (Denmark). Prize-winning Books: Paco's Story, Larry Heinemann and A Summons to Memphis, Peter Taylor.

Residences along Court Street in the Historic District

In Salem
The Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District (above) was established this year. This small area of two streets is limited on the east and north by Mill Creek, on the south by State Street and on the west by a 1984 barrier across 13th Street that eliminates auto traffic. This area, separated from the early city center by the 12th Street rail tracks, Willamette University and the Capitol, was home to many of Salem's pioneer families and small water-powered businesses. The businesses are gone now, but the residences reflect the domestic designs popular in the broad period between 1860 and 1937. Bonnie and Roger Hull led a resident group in the research and documentation necessary for this successful nomination to the National Register.
It is no coincidence that both Court-Chemeketa and Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Residential Historic Districts are founded at this time. These were basically neighborhood enterprises, sponsored by their residents, many of whom were involved in the Inventory described below.
Today, the Historic Landmarks Commission offers professional direction to owners of designated historical properties for making exterior alterations through Design Review by the Community Development Department staff recommendations and Commission approval.

When you visit

Walking tour slide shows of our three historic districts are found here on SHINE. In addition to the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District, there are the Gaiety Hill/Bush Pasture Park and Salem Historic Downtown districts. The best way to enjoy our character of our city is to walk in the neighborhoods and urban parks to see for yourself the value of historic preservation.
A catalog of properties individually listed as National Register or Local Landmark (not in a historic district) can be found on the DISCOVER website. It has been given that name because it reveals many interesting historic properties, not yet designated, in all 19 neighborhoods. On this website, you may search by neighborhood, street address or family name. Viewers are welcome to Comment on DISCOVER to correct or add information.

Other Events

One of the most important resources for learning about Salem history is the Historic Salem An Inventory of Historic Places, a 1987 spiral-bound collection of 101 photographs with information about local personalities and properties of significance. Produced this year by the staff of the Historic Landmarks Commission under the leadership of Mark Siegel, and with the help of many trained volunteers, it remains a basic source of information about our architectural and cultural past. In the years that have passed, designations have changed, some houses have been demolished, others moved. However, the Inventory remains a valuable snapshot of the historical properties in the core of the city at that time: only 6 of the 19 neighborhoods were surveyed.

• During his term of office, Governor Atiyeh established new public safety programs for Oregon's traditional fishing and lumber trades and took measures to attract new industries to the state, bringing thousands of jobs. He initiated the state's lottery, launched a worldwide tourism initiative, and got the Columbia River Gorge designated as a national scenic preservation area. After Ateyih's term, the governor's residence on Winter Street became headquarters for the Department of Environmental Quality for the State of Oregon. It has now been moved slightly north to accommodate the North Capitol Mall Office building.
• Kathryn Gunnell, a prominent Salem personality and noted photographer dies this year. Leaving no heirs, her professional collection was left to the Marion County Historical Society.

The Frederick and Nelson Store, on the Liberty and Chemeketa Streets site of the former Lipman's, closes this year.

The Devereaux Apartments, managed by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, serves as a shelter for the homeless.

The star logo is prominently displayed on the walls of the Salem Centre Mall as the new second floor of Marion Parkade gives entrance into the retail stores.

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 1985

World Events

• Ronald Reagan is privately sworn in as President for his second term. Secretly, military arms are sent to Iran in exchange for U. S. hostages in Lebanon and to fund Nicaraguan Contras. 
• Mikhail Gorbachev, as Secretary General of the the Soviet Communist Party, begins "glasnost" policies in USSR allowing more civil freedom.
• Argentina puts former leaders on trial for crimes against citizens.
• The border between Gibraltar and Spain reopens for the first time since Francisco Franco closed it in 1939.
• Artist Christo wraps in canvas the Pont Neuf Bridge in Paris.
• British Telecom begins phasing out their famous red telephone boxes. Mohammad Al-Fayed buys London's Harrods.
• "We Are the World" is recorded as a charity for Africa. Ricky Nelson, songwriter and actor, dies in the plane crash in Texas.
• Steve Jobs resigns from Apple. Microsoft releases Windows 1.0
• US Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS.
• Academy Awards:"Out of Africa" (US), "The Official Story" (Argentina). Prize-winning Books: White Noise, Don DeLillo and Foreign Affairs, Alison Lurie.

Salem's Pioneer Cemetery in the springtime

In Salem

The former Odd Fellows Rural Cemetery, founded in 1854, had been nearly abandoned by this year when local residents formed the entirely non-profit "Friends of the Pioneer Cemetery." The "Friends" have raised funds through grants and donations to keep the cemetery maintained. A Pioneer Cemetery website offers index listings of those buried at the cemetery including name, date of burial, birth, death and plot location. Located at the corner of Hoyt and Commercial streets, it was originally on land that belonged to missionary David Leslie. The first burial there (1841) was that of his wife, Mary Kinney Leslie, who had joined her husband in the original Oregon Methodist mission settlement in 1837. She was the first of many members of our pioneer families buried there. The cemetery has a wealth of unusual and impressive gravestones, many recently replaced in their original positions. Since the City of Salem became owner of the cemetery in 1985, the volunteer Friends group has been instrumental in the restoration of the cemetery, continuing their work to the present time. Many historical photographs of tombs and persons buried here are found on Oregon Historical Photograph Collections.
In 1999, the Friends established an endowed fund within The Salem Foundation Charitable Trust. Each year, a distribution from the fund is made to the City for cemetery betterment above and beyond the basic maintenance that is supported from limited public funds. Recent proceeds from the endowment have been earmarked to restore the E. N. Cooke family mausoleum and make other repairs in common interest.

When you visit
The cemetery is open to the public and volunteers are always welcome. While the data base is maintained by the genealogical division, The Friends field unit recruits community volunteers to engage in monthly work parties, March through October. The volunteers prune heritage roses and other ornamental shrubs and pull ivy and other invasive plants. Under trained supervision, they remove moss from markers and pavements, level monument bases and safely reset fallen markers in mortar. Volunteers also assist genealogists in conducting research. For more information, contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Parks and Transportation Services Division, Salem Department of Public Works at 503-589-2197.

Another source of local genealogical information is the Lee Mission Cemetery on D Street in North Salem. It was incorporated in 1869 on a portion of the Elizabeth Winn Parrish land grant, but first burial at this site was in 1842 of Lucy Thompson Lee, the second wife of Jason Lee. His first wife, Anna Maria Pittman Lee, was reburied there at about the same time and, in 1906, Jason Lee. Other pioneers including Alanson Beers, Gustavus Hines, Josiah Parrish and Alvin Waller are buried there. The website references help find records of burials and the history of the Methodist Mission.

Other Events

Representatives from Kawagoe visit Salem, 2010

Mayor Susan Miller welcomes Kawagoe, Japan as a potential sister-city to Salem. The delegates from each city visit the other, determining if there is compatibility in promoting mutual cultural, educational and economic civic goals. A few months later the contracts were signed. This has proved to be our most lasting sister-city relationship as twenty-five years later, in July of 2010, a delegation from Kawagoe returned to renew the contract. A warm mayoral handshake followed the official signing with Janet Taylor, our second female mayor. Many friendships have been formed and visits made between Kawagoe and Salem. Both our educational institutions and our industrial enterprises have made firm bonds for the benefit of both cities. Barry Duell, now a professor at Tokyo International University in Kawagoe, was profiled for a newspaper article in which he recalled his many years living in Kawagoe.
(Willamette University also enters into sister-university relationships this year: with Xiamen University in Fujian Province of the People’s Republic of China, and with Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea.)

Gillbert House in as it looked in the 1980s

• The City of Salem purchases the 1887 Gilbert House as part of its future Riverfront Development Project. The house built at the intersection of Marion and Water Streets on the east bank of the Willamette River is significant as an outstanding large-scale example of Queen Anne architecture in Salem. At that time was the only substantial historic house remaining in the downtown core. A. T. Gilbert, for whom the house was built, was senior partner with his brother Frank in the Salem banking house of Gilbert Brothers, 1879-1901. Starting as bankers and brokers doing general agency business, they became a general banking establishment in 1885. A. T. Gilbert was a trustee of Pacific University in Forest Grove in the 1890’s. A. T. Gilbert had a distinguished nephew, the son of his brother and partner Frank Alfred Carlton Gilbert, founder of the A. C. Gilbert Co., world-renowned toy manufacturer and inventor of the Erector set, a metal construction toy. A. C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village acquired the Gilbert House through a no-cost lease from the city and restored it with grants from the Meyer Memorial Trust and the community. The Museum opened on December 15, 1989.
• The city purchased an additional 55 cfs of 1856 priority water rights from Boise Cascade after the water right transfer after the City of Stayton and the Santiam Water Control District challenged the water right transfer.
• Jackie Winters, writing in 2000: "I started my business in 1985 which was a big undertaking and risk; leaving the comfort of a pay check to rely on your own ingenuity can be perilous at best. (My business,) Jackie’s Ribs, exists because of my mother. She loved Kansas City barbecue, and watching her eat it was a delight, especially for my father. She did not cook it herself, but my father would go to the barbecue 'joint' to get it; it was his gift to her."
• The operation of the Paulus Brothers Packing Company ended this year. In 1954 they were the largest independently owned canning firm in the Northwest, and the sale of the company in 1955 to Dole Hawaiian Pineapple Company marked the end of an era. Berries, cherries, green beans, plums and pears were the principal products from the Dole plant in the 1950's-60's. Although the canning operation begun by the Paulus family ended and canning operations ceased, the building continued to be used for distribution.
• Salem has excessive snowfall: 6.2" on December 1-2.

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 1983

World Events

• President Reagan says the USSR is an "evil empire" and proposes a defense system "Star Wars". Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to support the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. 
• Britain's Conservative government, lead by the controversial Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority. (Her political views became unpopular during her 3rd term: she retired in 1990.)
• The Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Syria and secures the release of U. S. Navy Lt. Robert Goodman who was shot down over Lebanon in a bombing mission in retaliation for Beirut bombing of the Multinational Force. The pilot, Mark Lange, died when his parachute did not deploy.
• M*A*S*H ends on TV having attracted the largest audience (125 million) for an episode. Motown celebrates its 25th anniversary with a TV special in which Michael Jackson introduces his Moonwalk.
• Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space on Space Shuttle Challenger mission. The first African-American in space is Guion Bluford.
• Vanessa Williams is the first African-American crowned Miss America.
• Academy Awards "Terms of Endearment" (US), "Fanny and Alexander" (Sweden). Prize-winning Book: The Color Purple, Alice Walker.

Interior of Governance Center, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon

In Salem
Grand Ronde Governance Center, 34 miles west of Salem on highways 22/18 in Polk County, was formerly within the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, established when several tribes of Native Americans were forced off their lands into this confinement. The southern Oregon tribes were marched 263 miles from their homelands to Grand Ronde during 33 days of February and March of 1856. In all, over 25 tribes from western Oregon, the Willamette Valley, the central Columbia River, the Cascade Range and the Umpqua and Rogue River valleys were removed to the reservation under seven treaties. The Bureau of Indian Affairs area office of the reservation was closed in 1925, but had been removed to various locations, either Siletz Agency, Chemawa Indian School or Portland from 1856 to 1954. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon was originally governed by a council of tribal representative chiefs. On May 13, 1935, the corporate charter of the reservation was accepted by the BIA. The tribe and reservation was terminated August 13, 1954 when the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act (Public Law 588) revoked the tribe's sovereignty. Kathryn Harrison, who has spent almost 25 years on the council, recalls each tribal member receiving $35 and being told they were no longer a sovereign people. She remembers that larger tribes with resources could go to Washington, DC and testify that they didn't want to be terminated. However, it was many years until Grand Ronde members could take part in their own petition process that began in 1972. By that year, of their originally allotted 69,100 acres, only 2.5 acres remained, the tribal cemetery. Mrs. Harrison said the restoration was a justice issue that required educating government representatives, historical societies, and other tribes of the Grand Ronde's distinctive culture. The long years of tribal effort were rewarded when Congress restored the sovereignty of the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes in 1983.

When you visit
In 1994 members voted to pursue gaming as a revenue source. A direct result of the successful Spirit Mountain Casino is the Spirit Mountain Community Fund established in 1997. Salem cultural and charitable enterprises benefit from part of the 6% of profits that are distributed in 11 Oregon counties. The casino entrance reminds visitors of the tribal culture; it features a representation of a tribal grandmother and child, Hattie Sands with her grandchild Gertrude (Hudson) Mercier. The Hall of Legends, leading to the lodge is lined with interpretive historical displays. "You have to keep telling your story", Mrs. Harrison says. "Otherwise, people will forget."

The Governance Center of the restored Grand Ronde Community is located a few miles from the casino. The sunlit interior, seen above, features a historic canoe donated to the tribe by the Willamette Heritage Center. The design of the Council Chamber recalls traditional Native American council chambers. An impressive Veteran's Memorial to tribal members of the US military forces stands near the Governance Center.

Our thanks to David G. Lewis, PhD, Cultural Resources Department Manager, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde for his editorial contributions.

Other events

• Ralph Hanley retires as City Manager and Russ Abolt, his assistant, is appointed.

Chief Moore joins a neighborhood celebration

• Our Police Department is one of the first in the nation to sponsor a local celebration of "National Night Out", an opportunity for a neighborhood start a special community project in their area with a goal to complete on National Night Out. Some areas have neighborhood clean-up, graffiti paint-overs, expand Neighborhood Watch or other neighborhood problems as their project. Some block parties sponsor food drives, neighbors bringing canned food donations.
• Salem Electric provides a Member Assistance Program for 100 member families to receive help in paying their utility bills during an exceptionally cold winter.

A view of Willamette University campus

• Willamette University is selected by a U. S. News and World Report poll of college and university presidents as the best small comprehensive university in the West.
• The rodeo, which had suffered from lack of attendance and low revenues, is discontinued the State Fair. From its original agricultural focus, the fair has grown into a large and diverse event, with something for everyone: livestock, floral, 4-H and home economics exhibits, country western and jazz concerts, commercial exhibits, art and photography displays, food from all cultures and, of course, the carnival.
• The Salem Parkway is completed, allowing southbound 99E traffic to exit I-5 near the Lockhaven Drive/Chemawa Road in Keizer and connects with Broadway, Commercial or Front Streets in Salem. This is a by-pass of Portland Road, the traditional entrance to the city. This by-pass is near two local attractions: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium, hosting baseball games and the recently established Keizer Station, a complex of shopping venues.
• The Salem Cultural and Tourism Advisory Board is established to advise the City Council on matters pertaining to the use of the transient occupancy tax, cultural activities and convention/tourism business in Salem. The board encourages development of a unified approach to the promotion of Salem; recommending an annual budget to implement such activities; and reviewing and making recommendations on the performance of contractors funded by the transient occupancy tax. The CTPAB budget for 2012-13 offered three types of funding for local cultural attractions. Operating Expense funding was awarded on a competitive basis to 10 venues: the Salem Multicultural Institute, Willamette Heritage Center, Salem Art Association, Willamette Art Center, A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Elsinore Theatre, Deepwood Estate, Riverfront Carousel and Grand Theater. Three Capital Improvement projects were evaluated and awarded according to need. Twenty-one Special Event requests were also partially funded according to requests. This funding is directed both toward encouraging tourism and offering cultural opportunities for Salem residents.

Salem in 1982

World Events

• Canada's Constitution Act severs political ties to Great Britain and establishes a Bill of Rights.
• British territory, the Falklands islands, is invaded by Argentina. Two months later, the Argentines surrender to British forces.
• The Vietnam Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. The eye-level, marble panels list names of 58,000 Americans who died or are MIA in combat that ended in 1975.
• An Air Florida flight crashes into Washington, DC 14th Street Bridge, killing 78. The same day, a Washington Metro train derails and 3 passengers die.
• Princess Grace dies in Monaco when the car she is driving summersaults over a cliff.
• Three deaths near Chicago are traced to poison inserted in Tylenol capsules, criminal never identified.  Tamper-proof, sealed tops now protect consumers of foods and medicines.
• The Commodore 64 8-bit home computer is released, becoming the best-selling computer model. The first computer virus is found, infecting Apple II via floppy disk.  Sony launches first CD player.
• "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" is released in movie theaters.  The Academy Awards: "Gandhi"(US), "To Begin Again" (Spain). Prize-winning Book: Rabbit is Rich, John Updike.

In Salem
Keizer is incorporated as a city in this year. Many times the City of Salem tried to annex the growing community adjacent to its city limits. Beginning in 1964, a number of Keizer residents tried to convince the others that it would be cheaper and better to form their own city. It was not until November 2, 1982, when, with the support of the nearby Clear Lake, residents voted to make Keizer a city.

The original settlement was at Keizer Bottom, near the banks of the Willamette River. The community was named after Thomas Dove Keizur, one of its first settlers. Somewhere in the translation of donation land claim records, his name was misspelled. The settlement suffered in the flood of 1861, and the inhabitants rebuilt their homes on higher ground. Other early settlers of the area were the John Zieber family, whose home was on Clear Lake, St. Paul Road. Zieber bought rights to the property in 1854 and completed the claim. Part of the house was originally a log cabin built in the late 1840s. He was the maternal grandfather of A.N. Bush, who used to stay there as a boy. Stuart Bush demolished the house in the late 1940s to replace it with a modern dwelling.

When you visit
The annual Iris Festival takes place in May and showcases Keizer's iris-growing industry. The festival was founded by Schreiner's Iris Gardens, one of the country's largest retail iris growers, and has been facilitated by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce since 1987. Events include a carnival, a beer garden, craft and food vendors, a 5k walk/run, a vintage car show, and a parade.
The Keizer Heritage Museum is inside the Keizer Heritage Community Center (above), which was formerly the 1916 Keizer School. The original location was the northwest corner of North River and Chemewa Roads, now Schoolhouse Square, a shopping mall. With city support through urban renewal funds and generous contributions of volunteer time and money, the building was moved between 1996-9. It has been completely restored and is the only public historic building in Keizer. Other tenants of the building include the Keizer Community Library, the Keizer Art Association and gallery, and the Keizer Chamber of Commerce.

Other events

• Susan Miller, our first female mayor, is elected. In an interview for Salemhistory website, she attributed her successful campaign to the incredible commitment of hundreds of campaign volunteers and the campaign’s ability to excite Salem citizens about the community’s future. Her accomplishments as mayor included her efforts to acquire 22 acres of waterfront property on the Willamette River, known today as Riverfront Park. On an international level, sister-city relations were established with Simferopol in the then Soviet Union and with Kawagoe in Japan.
• Governor Atiyeh dedicates the new pagoda/bandstand in Willson Park. This new structure is similar to the original bandstand given by Joseph H. Albert. His home was on Winter Street, just across Court Street from the park.

Former First National Bank

• The imposing First National Bank at Chemeketa and Liberty Streets, designed by Pietro Belluschi, becomes the First Interstate Bank. This institution closed in 1996 and it has remained empty. The owners, wishing to demolish this prominent building in the Salem Historic Downtown Historic District, obtained permission from the Historic Landmarks Commission. The architects presented plans for new mixed-use development that would include the lot to east where the former City Hall stood. By 2014, the project had not begun.

• After 1982, housing developments took over most of the land in south Salem formerly used for prune orchards. Salem's involvement with prunes was chiefly with Italian, or "purple plum," prunes. In the depression of the 1930's, these canned prunes were the cheapest fruit one could buy, but in later years the market swung to pears and peaches, and fewer prunes were canned in Salem depressing the value of the orchards. Many residential homesteads in the Morningside neighborhood contain at least one old tree to recall the orchard that thrived there.
• The YWCA receives the Salem Human Rights Award for its work with Southeast Asian refugees.
• Mission Mill Museum Association and Salem Art Association enter an agreement to turn the mill into a center for research and development of textiles known as Northwest Textile Center.
• As enrollment grew at Chemeketa Community College, so did the number of programs offered. In the eight years between 1974 and 1982, the campus added six new buildings to house the growing enrollment and the new programs. To better serve the district's population, the Dallas, Santiam, McMinnville and Woodburn campuses were established.
• Waldo Middle School, in the Lansing neighborhood, was selected to pilot computer assisted instruction at the middle school level, receiving four Apple II+ computers, the first in the district. Apple distributed many computers to schools across the nation at this time, fostering a loyalty among teachers that continues thirty years later.
• The Statesman Journal records that Ernest Clark, Sr., Salem's oldest native-born son, rode as Grand Marshall in the city's celebration of the 125th anniversary of its founding by Methodist missionaries.

Salem in 1981

World Events

• In France, Francois Mitterrand becomes the first Socialist President
• President Reagan inaugurated, Hostages freed in Iran after 444 days.
• In March, the president, 2 police officers and Press Secretary Jim Brady, are wounded in an assassination attempt. In May, Pope John Paul II is shot, but also recovers. In October, Egyptian President Anwar Saddat is killed during a parade by an Islamic Jihad organization.
• Space shuttle Columbia orbits earth and makes the first successful manned landing.
• Sandra Day O'Conner is appointed to US Supreme Court.
• World-wide, over 700 million viewers watch the wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
• President Reagan signs a top secret National Security Directive authorizing the CIA to (illegally) support the right-wing Contra rebels who were in terrorist defiance of the socialist Sandinista government.
• Academy Awards: "Chariots of Fire" (US), "Mephisto"(Hungary). Prize-winning Books: Plains Song: For Female Voices, Wright Morris and A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

 
In Salem
After a much-publicized outbreak of violence on Front Street, police officer Leon Colas stands outside the Oregon Museum Tavern. A shooting inside the tavern the night before, May 8 had left four persons dead and 19 injured. Other photographs taken at the time show an injured person carried out on a cart, another in her hospital bed and the Marion County District Attorney, Chris Van Dyke answering questions from media reporters, cameramen and photographers.
The police arrested a resident of Lyons who was convicted and sent to prison.

If You Visit

The same site today is a trucking facility, advertising for a new tenant in 2014. Several taverns still exist on Front Street (one was recently demolished by fire), but the two-mile stretch from North River Road south to Trade Street has always accommodated a wide variety of enterprises. At the present time, residential streets fan off from Front Street at its northern beginning across from Fred Meyer. Several waterfront homes, either gated or out-of-sight beyond their private driveways, are located here. Driving south, small businesses, commercial service suppliers and state offices line the avenue until the Salvation Army facility at Academy Street. A turn to the right here will lead to the adjacent one-lane, appropriately named Water Street with a Local Landmark historic bungalow that was once owned by a member of the Gilbert family. In the next block is a large residential apartment complex, Willamette Landing, also facing the Willamette River.
At the Norway Street intersection, the railroad track joins the auto traffic. Larger trucking and storage warehouses are adjacent to Truitt Brothers Cannery which borders Mill Creek near the Market Street intersection. At Union Street, there is a jog to the right created by urban renewal projects of 1980-81 (see below). Here is the first traffic light for almost two miles. It is no wonder this a popular route for traffic between downtown Salem and Keizer. Continuing south, the widened Front Street passes our cultural attractions of A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village and Riverfront Park before its end at Trade and Commercial Streets.
Front Street is an important part of a City of Salem urban renewal overlay, designed for future development. A recent University of Oregon Sustainable Cities Initiative brought graduate student classes here to plan for 14 future local projects. Several properties on Front Street were featured for new enterprises and for residential, waterfront condos.

Other Events

• In 1980-1, Front Street is widened from Trade to just beyond Union Street where a left lane, crossing Division Street, continues north on Front Street, widened for one more block. The diversion to the right continues to Commercial Street and so on to Liberty to continue north. This is the historic core of the city: you cross Mill Creek, then Boon Store is on your right. Across the intersection with Broadway is the original site of the Jason Lee house.
• The highest temperature of Salem's history is recorded this year at 108 degrees.

These department stores are closed by 1981, the Salem Center mall will take their place.

• Newberry's Department Store, fondly remembered for its lunch counter and "soda fountain" closes; Lipman-Wolfe also disappears from the City Directory this year. Miller's long run (1921-1972) as a major department store had already ended.

• The years between 1979 and 1981 were hard for Chrysler Corporation and Roberson Motors, Inc. Several factors led to the near-bankruptcy of Chrysler Corporation: a deep recession, high unemployment, high interest rates, low housing starts, and the popularity of Japanese products.
• Jerry Falwell comes to visit. Rev. Falwell (1933-2007) was a fundamentalist Baptist preacher and co-founder of the Moral Majority, a 1980s political organization with the agenda of advancing evangelical Christian-oriented political action. 

• Frederick S. Lamport dies at the age of 90. Mr. Lamport was a Salem lawyer and banker; he practiced law with Charles McNary and served in the Legislature in 1951 and 1953. He left a million dollar trust for the Acute Care Center at Salem Memorial Hospital. The Lamport residence at 590 Lower Ben Lomond Drive SE in the SCAN neighborhood was successfully nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.This expanded English Cottage style residence with Tudor architectural details was designed by O. J. Fitch of Portland and included property developed for a tennis court and gardens. Frederick and Eleanor Rogers Lamport were leaders in Salem’s political, social and cultural life between the World Wars.

• While looking for a joint venture of a business nature, Barney Rogers spotted a picture in the Statesman Journal of Gerry Frank taking a huge bite of chocolate cake while judging the Gerry Frank Chocolate Layer Cake Contest at the Oregon State Fair. From this picture and Gerry's well-known love of chocolate, came the idea to start an Austrian-style Konditorei, which in short stands for "a place for coffee, confection, and conversation". It has been in the same location at 310 Kearney Street SE since this year.