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 1963

World Events

• In January, Alabama Governor George Wallace proclaims "...segregation now...tomorrow...forever!" During April and May, in Birmingham, Martin Luther King, Jr., other black leaders and demonstrators, many children, are arrested. In June, President Kennedy promises a Civil Rights Bill. In August, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.
• In June, Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in Germany.
• Travel and all other transactions with Cuba are made illegal.
• In November,  John Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He is buried in Arlington  Cemetery.
• Lyndon Johnson becomes president.  His "Gulf of Tonkin" resolution in Congress escalates US  involvement in the Vietnam civil war.
• Zip codes are introduced in U.S. AT&T makes push-button phones available. Viewers see improved instant-replay in TV sports broadcasts.
• Country music star Patsy Cline dies in a plane crash. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique sparks women's rights movement. Beatles' songs are released in the U.S. creating international  "Beatlemania"
• Academy Awards:"Tom Jones" (US), "8 1/2" (Italy). Prize-winning books: Morte d'Urban, J. F. Powers and "The Reivers", William Faulkner.

In Salem
The Capital Manor Retirement Center has been completed and the first residents moved in. Built along the highway to Dallas in West Salem, its 10 floors contain 255 apartments with views of the Willamette River. From its first construction, it was the largest and best known of the retirement facilities in this area.
The recent photograph shows landscaping and physical improvements that have softened the appearance of the structure. There are other additions to the retirement center including eighty-three villas added in 1987 and town houses added in 1994. Also incorporated over the years are a health care center, assisted living units, an indoor pool, fitness center, bank branch, computer lab, beauty salon, and auditorium.

When you visit
At Capital Manor or at other local retirement facilities, you may be visiting members of your own family or friends of many years. They have selected to live in a new environment with fewer household responsibilities or are in conditions of health that require assistance. Another factor in the benefit of a retirement facility is the fact that families today are often divided by distant career opportunities for the younger generations: senior citizens rarely live with adult children as was the custom in the past. The retirement home is a new social community and one visits friends or family there just as conveniently as at any former residence.

Other events

• After the disastrous Columbus Day storm in the previous year, restorations of properties in Salem continue for many months. Willson Park is a major project and a sign indicating a possible time line for completion of various elements of repair is posted for public information. The work was done by the City of Salem's Regional Park Agency. Soon thereafter, the park was transferred to the State of Oregon that is still responsible for its maintenance.

McMahan House on Front Street after storm

Buren House on Court Street after storm

• Because of damage, the McMahan/McCully house on Front Street, then owned by David Duniway, is removed to John Street for a restoration. The house had been erected by David McCully in 1864 and purchased by Judge L. H. McMahon in about 1900. Mr. Duniway was Oregon State Archivist and a leading Salem proponent of historical preservation.
• Another residential victim of the windstorm was at 745 Court Street. An uprooted fir tree caused considerable damage to a three-story Tudor style house. The porch roof and the railing of the balcony above it sustained the most damage. A photograph taken at that time, shows the shallow roof system of the uprooted tree. The residence was razed two years later for the expansion of the Presbyterian Church buildings along Court Street. The home had been built in 1907 for a prominent Salem family, the Max Burens.
• The Jason Lee house, in its original location at 960 Broadway, is stripped of additions and prepared for a move to a temporary site while awaiting a permanent home. It was later moved to Mission Mill property, now Willamette Heritage Center.
• Another historical structure that is moved this year is the John Boon house. It was located originally next door to the Boon Store, now Boon's Treasury, a McMenamins restaurant enterprise. The historic residence was also relocated to Willamette Heritage Center.
• Horse racing was still a traditional entertainment at the Oregon State Fair in Salem in 1963. The grandstand looked over the Lone Oak raceway with horse barns across the track.
• Woodry's Furniture Store at 474 Commercial Street in downtown Salem suffers a major fire during the night of June 16. The store carried furniture, appliances, floor coverings and all types of household furnishings. It had been in business at that location since 1947.
• A fire also destroys the historic barn on the city-owned Bush Park property. It was the only building that pre-dated the 1860 purchase of the farm property from the Pringle family. It was rebuilt to resemble the original structure and is a part of the National Register Bush Park. Salem Art Association uses the building for offices, galleries and a shop.
• J. C. Penney moves north to a new location at 305 Liberty Street. The Nelson Building, on the northwest intersection with Chemeketa Street was torn down for this new construction. The Grand Opening of the new facility would not be until 1965. Meanwhile, the former Penney's becomes the Metropolitan, a variety store.
• Old City Hall was showing its age, and a bond measure referred to Salem voters on February 23, 1963, to build a new facility. Condemned by the Public Works Department as a fire hazard, the City Hall also had critical space limitations, forcing various City departments and agencies to seek office space elsewhere in town. Because the elevator often stalled between floors, employees joked it had been "installed by Mr. Otis himself." The bond issue failed, but its publicity alerted Salem residents to the realization that the old building was nearing its demise.
• In accordance with a state regulation, Salem creates a Citizen Budget Committee. The members are the City Council and nine appointed citizens representing the wards of the city and one member-at-large. Their duty is to examine, analyze and recommend an annual budget for the city. The committee conducts public meetings in Council Chambers for about 6 weeks in April and May. The public is welcome to attend and testify on matters of concern or may watch on CCTV. In 2008, the City Manager, Linda Norris, held a series of four community meetings, in advance of the Budget Committee sessions, in order to inform Salem residents of the current budget priorities and to hear comments from attendees. One of these was conducted in Spanish to accommodate residents who are more comfortable discussing civic matters in that language.

Salem in 1962

World Events

• In October, a two-week Cuban Missile Crisis ends as Kennedy announces that Khrushchev will remove Soviet missiles in Cuba. Linus Pauling is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against nuclear weapons testing.
• John Glenn orbits the earth in Friendship 7. Walter Schirra and Scott  Carpenter complete pioneer space flights. The U. S. Navy SEALS, elite special forces are commissioned for both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.
• Two world-famous American women die: August 5, Marilyn Monroe; November 7, Eleanor Roosevelt. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes TV viewers on a tour of the White House.
• Rachel Carson warns of eco-danger. Her book, Silent Spring, gives rise to the modern environmental  movement.
• The term "personal computer" is coined.  AT&T's commercial communications satellite is launched into orbit. "Big Box" stores are created: Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart. Taco Bell opens its doors.
• Wilt Chamberlain scores a record-breaking 100 points in a NBA game.
• Andy Warhol premieres his "Campbell's Soup Cans" art exhibition. The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair, with Space Needle, opens in Seattle.
• Academy Award:"Lawrence of Arabia" (US), "Sundays and Cybele" (France). Prize-winning Books: The Moviegoer, Walker Percy and The Edge of Sadness, Edwin O'Conner.

In Salem
If the 1935 fire that destroyed the State Capitol building is the most remembered event in the city's history, the windstorm of 1962 probably ranks as the second.
The majority of structures in Salem experienced damage during that calamitous storm on Columbus Day. At its peak, between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. that Friday, it brought gusts of 90 M.P.H. and sustained winds of over 70 M.P.H. The $4 million total damages to Salem were higher than for any disaster the City had yet seen. The storm came with little warning and hit hard. It crossed the Oregon-California border on Friday, October 12, at noon, moving north at 48 M.P.H., reaching Salem at mid-afternoon. The ferocity of the winds as they roared through Salem shocked residents. Downtown, pedestrians were hit by glass from shattering windows, and dodged flying debris. Shoppers trying to get home were knocked to the ground. Cars were blown onto sidewalks and yards. The large sign on the roof of the Elsinore Theater was battered and crumpled by the wind and part of a wall at the Capitol Press Building fell onto two cars; rain then poured into the building. The steeple was torn from the Christ Lutheran Church at 18th and State Streets and dropped onto the sidewalk. Trees were blown over and uprooted. On the Capitol grounds, a falling tree knocked over the 3 1/2 ton statue of The Circuit Rider. (The photo seen here is from the Hugh Stryker Collection.)

When you visit
A few months later, the statue was repaired and replaced on its plinth.
The Circuit Rider statue was sculpted by A. Phimister Proctor to honor Oregon's circuit-riding ministers. Robert A. Booth, whose father was a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, presented the statue to the state as a gift in 1924. It was originally placed in an imposing location in front of the 1876 State House. When the Capitol was rebuilt in 1937, facing north instead of west, the Circuit Rider was repositioned among other statuary in a wooded area. The imposing memorial can be seen to the east of the Capitol on the path leading to Waverly Street.

Other Events

Purification ponds on Minto Brown Island, 1965

• Boise Cascade purchases Oregon Pulp and Paper Company, a lumber company that began production at the same site in 1920. (The gabled roof of the Oregon Pulp and Paper Company building was still visible as part of the Boise Cascade plant when it was demolished in 2009.) After 1962 purchase, a yeast plant was added to convert byproducts of paper making into a food additive. In 1964 a container facility supplied cartons for food processing plants. Several improvements were made under Boise both to expand production and to meet air and water quality standards; purification lagoons were built on Minto Brown Island across the slough. Today these lagoons are both a protection from further water contamination and a hindrance to development of that section Minto Brown Island for public use. The industrial abuse of both the Willamette Slough and the island beyond makes urban development adjoining Riverfront Park's south border especially difficult. The plan for a pedestrian bridge from the park (beginning near the Eco Ball) must avoid disturbing the soil beneath the slough and the users of the bridge will have limited access to the island on the other side. A path will lead users to the now public section of the Minto Brown Park.
• The Chemeketa Street property of the Church of Christ Scientist is sold in September, providing space for the future development of the Nordstrom Mall. Meanwhile, church members have purchased property at High and Kearney Streets from Willamette University for the purpose of constructing a new church. This was the site of the 1860 John Carson house. (See 1954)
• Migrant Hispanic workers are employed in Marion County fields, but in Salem itself, the Latino population is small. Isabella Varela Ott moved to Salem in the 1950s to live with her daughter, Mary Varela Martinez, and her husband Pablo Martinez, a native of Peru. Mrs. Ott had a strong work ethic and wanted her children and grandchildren to have the same. She would take them out into the fields in the summers to pick beans, hops, and string beans. She also worked in local canneries. She was proud to be an American citizen and considered it a privilege to be able to vote and would do so at every opportunity. She also respected the people and culture of Mexico and stayed in contact with her son Luis who lived with his wife and family in Guadalajara. As the wife of a railway worker, she had access to a Southern Pacific pass that authorized her to travel free to Mexico. These trips continued every other year until her last one in 1971 at the age of seventy-six, twice taking her grandson David. She made it very clear that the American family should never forget their Mexican relatives. That grandson, Dr. David Martinez of Portland, recalls that theirs was one of only four Latino families in Salem in the 1960s and his social life as a high school teenager was difficult. 

Thomas Kay Mill in last years of operation

• Thomas Kay Woolen Mill closes due to loss of business in a changing market. The mill had been under continuous ownership and management of three generations of the Kay family until it was sold to the Mission Mill Museum Association for $160,000 in 1965, after having been closed for three years. The Mission Mill Association restored it to show authentic manufacturing processes from the time, and to depict the industrialization of America. Its buildings, exhibits and tours are now the centerpiece of the Willamette Heritage Center. The Kay family home on Court Street, only a few blocks away from the mill itself, had been demolished in 1937 when the State of Oregon had appropriated the property for the first building of the North Capitol Mall. The Oregon State Library stands on the former residence site.

Salem in 1961

World Events

• President Eisenhower, in a farewell address, warns of the increasing power of an American "military-industrial complex".
• John Kennedy inaugurated as president. In March, he establishes the Peace Corps. In April, he allows the "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba which fails at the cost of many Cuban lives. By November, he is sending 18,000 military advisors, U.S. personnel and helicopters to Viet Nam.
• "Freedom Riders" are attacked and beaten by Ku Klux Klan members as they promote integration in the South: a bus is fire-bombed.
• Russian Yuri Gagarin is first in space. American Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and then Gus Grissom, follow a few months later. Kennedy's announced goal is "to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade".
• The erection the Berlin Wall begins. The Soviets detonate a 58-magaton test bomb: the largest man-made explosion.
• Over Belgium, the U.S. figure skating team and several coaches die in a Sabina Boeing plane crash.
• Academy Awards: "West Side Story"(US),"Through a Glass Darkly" (Sweden). Prize-winning Books: The Waters of Kronos, Conrad Richter and To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

Heffley residence as a farmhouse before 1911

Same residence moved to new location

In Salem
Construction of new homes in the suburbs is booming. Old settlements of scattered rural farm homes are changing as developments cut up old rural properties into house lots. One example is the Heffley farm home, in the present North East Salem Community Association (NESCA).
Theodore and Ora Alice Heffley came to Oregon from Indiana in 1906, following other family members. After a short stay in Linn County, they settled on a 100-acre farm east of the Salem City limits on Garden Road (now Market Street), extending south to D Street. Evidently the farm enterprise went well as they built a fine home, seen in the photograph above, before 1911. Other large properties were adjacent, including a Garden Road nursery owned by the Lansing family.
A personal tragedy, affecting both families, occurred in 1913. Shortly after the marriage of an eighteen-year old Heffley daughter, Elma Eva ("Evie"), to a much older Robert Lansing, domestic problems arose. Evie took her own life and the story was widely publicized the local newspapers. Because the families needed to go on with their lives in the same neighborhood, the death was rarely spoken of and her grave remembered with only a small marker in the City View burial plot for the Lansing family.

When you visit
A member of the Heffley family recently discovered the fate of Evie, leading to an investigation of where the family home is today. A drive through the neighborhood south of Market Street identified a residence on Ellis Street that is the modification of that earlier home. The removal of the spacious porches and the lack of a windowed basement give it a different appearance, but it is recognizable. Early 1900s farm homes along Garden Road are as much a memory as the name of this country road. Annexed into the city in 1966, Market Street it has become a location for commercial enterprises and a route from the center of the city to I-5 and the Lancaster neighborhoods.
The Lansing family property was most likely between the present Sunnyview and Market Streets. In earlier maps, Lansing Avenue stretched north of Sunnyview, but did not intersect with Market. The Lansing nursery business and home must have occupied that acreage. The residential neighborhood of the city, between Market Street and Silverton Road is named for the Lansing family.

Other Events

• The new I-5 freeway is completed this year, connecting Salem to Portland and Eugene. This lays the groundwork for the development of the Lancaster Drive area for the use of highway travelers and Salem big-box business.
• Lincoln-Mercury automobiles are on sale at the northwest corner of Commercial and Center Streets in 1961. The department stores of Salem Center would not be constructed until 1978.

Salem: an All American City

• Banners are attached to city trash cans proclaiming, "Salem-Marion-Polk All American Area" with the admonishment written in capital letters underneath, KEEP IT THAT WAY. Flags announce the award along city streets. Mark Hatfield addresses an audience at the presentation ceremony.
• The theme of the 1961 State Fair was the "100th Birthday of the 96th Annual Fair." A birthday party was held on the Capitol steps, complete with a 16x16-foot cake, portrayals of Oregon's historical figures, and square dancing. A hit at the fair was the Thor rocket, one of which had earlier that year put a Pioneer satellite into orbit around the sun.
  
• On the north side of Center Street between Liberty and High, stands the Labor Temple. This local headquarters of the American Federation of Labor is a solid, three-story structure. Along the street is a large sign referring to the labor strike against Portland's Oregonian and the Oregon Journal. Viewers are urged not to buy these newspapers.
• Salem's most exotic foreign restaurant at this time is the Chinese Tea Garden on the east side of Commercial Street, between State and Court. Stairs beside the Peerless bakery led to the upstairs restaurant. Yee Sing, the proprietor, was one of the few Asians in Salem at this time. Many consider it an adventure to dine in his "chop suey" restaurant.

Family Fallout Shelter

• A Ben Maxwell photograph of this year shows a Salem family preparing to enter a fallout shelter for a three-day test. Although this model is seen on the surface, it is meant to be underground and is required to meet Civil Defense standards. The interior is also photographed. The cost for one of these units is about $2,000.
• On the evening of June 5, a Statesman Journal photographer is present to see a fireman scaling a ladder to fight a fire that has reached the roof of the Elks Club on State Street. The building survived and remained the headquarters of the lodge until 1992 when the organization moved to new quarters. It is was sold to the adjoining United Methodist Church and as the Micah Building is uses for a variety of services.
• A few weeks later, on the afternoon of June 30, a Statesman Journal photographer captures a dramatic scene as neighbors and residents of the Methodist home on Center Street watch as it burns. Willson House, part of the United Methodist Retirement Center, has continued the services of that earlier institution.
• West Salem Junior High School on 8th Street, now Walker Middle School, is opened in September.
• George Putnam (1882-1961), editor and publisher of the Capital Journal from 1919 through 1952 died this year. He was a strong advocate of the public interest and freedom of the press. His coverage of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon was only one of his many journalistic exposes. He had served as editor and publisher for more than 30 years when he sold the newspaper to an Idaho newspaperman he admired, Bernard Mainwaring.
  

Salem in 1960

World Events 

• President Eisenhower authorizes a million dollars toward relief of Cuban refugees arriving in Florida at a rate of 1000 a week.
• Gary Powers, U-2 pilot,  shot down over Russia, was given 10-year prison sentence for espionage. At a United Nations Assembly, Soviet Premiere Khrushchev pounds his shoe on the lectern to protest discussion of Soviet policies toward Eastern Europe.
• U.S. nuclear submarine USS Triton completed the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• In Buenos Aires, Mossad agents abduct Adolph Eichmann for trial in Israel for crimes against humanity.
• Wilma Rudolph, Cassius Clay and Rafer Johnson star in Rome Olympics. Ethiopian Abbie Bikila wins the marathon, running barefoot, to become the first Sub-Saharan to win Olympic Gold.
• After the first televised campaign debate, John F. Kennedy first Catholic and second-youngest candidate, wins election as President of the U.S.
• Birth-control pill approved by FDA.
• Academy Awards: "The Apartment" (US), The Virgin Spring (Sweden). Prize-winning Books: Goodbye, Columbus, Phillip Roth and Advise and Consent, Allen Drury..

In Salem

1960 ~ acid ball arrives in Salem

2010 ~ Eco Earth Ball as a symbol of our city's place in the world

In Salem
The 1960 Ben Maxwell photograph above shows a tugboat pushing a globe tank into a Salem facility identified as the Columbia Paper Company. The asphalt-covered stainless steel Acid Ball weighed 10 tons and was 25 feet in diameter. When installed, the pressurized tank held acid that was used to "cook" wood chips into pulp.
The Columbia Paper Company was associated with Oregon Pulp and Paper Company for the production of newsprint. The sawmill of Oregon Pulp and Paper closed in 1955 and Boise Cascade assumed that company's operations on the Salem waterfront in 1962. Boise Cascade demolished the portion on the mill that used this acid ball in 1982.

When you visit
When the city purchased the former industrial land along the Willamette River for a park, there was no plan for this relic. A community effort of 5 years, completed in 2003, turned this industrial tool into the work of art covered with 86,000 colored tiles. The Eco Earth Ball is positioned at the south end of Riverfront Park on a headland overlooking the Pringle Creek entrance into the Willamette River.
An interpretive marker recalls, " It was through community effort that the idea of Eco-Earth proceeded forward with generous local donations and countless hours of volunteer labor going into its creation. The final outcome was Eco-Earth, a vibrant symbol of our world's struggle for peace, cultural diversity and ecological awareness."

Other events

• The Salem population is 68,309.
• Willard Marshall accepts the Salem award as All American City.
• Five members of the Salem Diving Association are photographed in wetsuits and flippers as they prepare to jump from the deck of the "Maid of Bayne" into the chilly waters Willamette River.
• In August there is a groundbreaking ceremony for the new National Guard Armory on 17th Street. The armory building was completed that year. The auditorium was location for EJD sponsored concerts and dances for about twenty years and continues to host a variety of events, including visits from prominent entertainment and political personalities.
• In September, John Kennedy greets a supporter at the airport, and then visits the State Fair as part of his campaign for the presidency. His youngest brother Ted accompanied him.
• The Pringle Park building in completed in November. The present building and plaza were built after the flood of 1996. Funds from our Sister City in Japan, Kawagoe, helped with the restoration. (A Sister City Advisory Commission was established in 1966 that meets as needed.)

Prospects for Capitol Mall

• The state produces proposed scale models of how the Capitol Mall was expected to look when completed. It includes structures along the Winter-Summer-Capitol streets corridor as far as D Street. These plans, including the prospect that Summer Street would be eliminated south of "D" Street and a series of high-rise structures were envisioned for west of Winter Street, were never realized. Subsequent state buildings, located to the east of Winter Street and the State Archives Building are prominent alterations from this plan. Instead of the dome (pictured at the north end of the mall) there is now a Heritage Park along D Street that makes an attractive transition from state offices to the Grant residential neighborhood to the north.
• The Shasta Daylight, a fast west coast rail connection between Portland and San Francisco, makes stops in Salem. The train left Portland at 7:45 a.m., stopped in Salem a little over an hour later at 8:55, and arrived in San Francisco at 11:30 that night. The Southern Pacific Railroad maintained a freight station downtown on the northwest corner of Trade and Commercial. 

Religious Figures at Christmas at Capitol

• At Christmas, life-sized nativity figures were erected on the Capitol grounds. After the controversy over religious displays on government property, they were transferred to Willamette University the next year. Vandals later destroyed the figures.

Salem in 1959

World Events 

• The Tibetan government is abolished by China's Zhou Enlai. A puppet ruler replaces the Dalai Lama who granted asylum in India.
•  Fidel Castro's new, revolutionary Communist government in Cuba is recognized by the US and the Soviet Union.
• Alaska and Hawaii  become states this year.
• NASA selects seven military pilots as the first US  astronauts. Two monkeys are first living beings to successfully return to earth from space flight. Explorer 6 sends back first pictures of earth from orbit.
• The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic,  is opened by President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Buddy Holly, the musician considered a creator of  rock-and-roll and who influenced many other pop artists, died in the crash of a chartered plane. 
• Frank Lloyd Wright's eye-catching, cylindrical building, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, opens to the public in NYC.
• Mattel's Barbie doll and the Xerox copier are both introduced.
• "The Twilight Zone" premieres on TV. Academy Awards: "Ben Hur" (US), "Black Orpheus" (France). Prize-winning Books: The Magic Barrel, Bernard Malamud and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor.

In Salem
Mark Hatfield has been elected as governor, but his High Street residence, purchased the year before, has to be renovated before he can move in. [Meanwhile he and family are living at the Royal Court Apartments on Chemeketa Street.] In the photograph above, the view of his property is from Kearney Street looking toward High Street with Bush's Pasture Park in the background.
It is a sign of the times that extensive electronic networks and a bomb shelter must be added in the basement. J. Warren Carkin designed a large kitchen and servants' wing that was added at the rear. The Oregon Centennial of 1959 was celebrated with many social engagements at this house and during the Legislative sessions of the Governor Hatfield's two terms, the governor's wife, Antoinette, held weekly open houses. Thousands of residents and visitors attended these events. Both Governor Hatfield and his wife posed for photographs inside the house. All four of the Hatfield children were born here.

When you visit
This house was built c. 1880 for Virgil Pringle (1804-1887) and was occupied by him until his death in 1887 and by his widow, Pherne, until her death in until 1891. His obituary recalls, "Mr. and Mrs. Pringle lived to a ripe old age and died at their home near Salem where shortly before they had celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary, surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This was a happy reunion". The nearby Pringle Creek was named for this Salem pioneer of 1848. Note: Mission Street was the southern border of Salem city limits at the time of his death.
Even after the Mark Hatfield sold the house in 1968, it remained as a private residence. This SCAN neighborhood residence is in the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historical District. It is featured on the SHINE Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Walking Tour.

Other events

• Russell F. Bonesteele is elected mayor. The house associated with Russell and Valerie Bonesteele is at 396 18th Street in the NEN neighborhood. Mr. Bonestelle's family was in the automobile business. He served on the hospital board and the Salem City Council before his election as mayor.
• The Thomas Kay Woolen Mill announces it will close. The advent of synthetic fabrics and advances in manufacturing technology left the traditional methods of the Kay Wooden Mill unable to compete. The property has served as a non-profit entity since then. Originally known as Mission Mill Museum, it is now Willamette Heritage Center. Four pioneer structures have been moved onto the property and the institution is preserving the city's history as well as providing tours of the former mill.

Vice President Nixon and Oregon dignitaries at Centennial Celebration in Salem

• In February, the Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, attends the Oregon Centennial Celebration at the Capitol. From a second floor balcony, the dignitaries listen as the Portland Symphony concert opens the ceremonies. The governor was still living at the Royal Court Apartments that February and the Vice President visited the Hatfields there. In this year, less security is required for our Vice President: the tenants, aware that Mr. Nixon would be visiting, lined the railings of the lobby balcony and applauded when he entered.
• On June 9, the Capital Journal publishes a 116-page issue, entitled Oregon Centennial. Four special sections feature the 100-year history of the Willamette Valley. It is edited by William Mainwaring, son of the late publisher, Bernard Mainwaring, and is his first "major assignment" since returning from military service.
• The much-debated use of a bequest by Carroll Moores, is finally resolved with a 12-foot statuary group entitled "Guidance of Youth". An earlier suggestion that a Renoir nude be purchased with the $34,000 had been met with indignant local protest. Avard Fairbanks of Salt Lake City created a more suitable statue that was accepted by Salem public vote. It presents a pioneer father with a hoe, a pioneer mother properly attired with skirt sweeping the ground and a pioneer youth. This group statue is sited in Bush Park’s southeast corner overlooking a playing field to the east.

Lancaster Area of Salem

State Street as "Four Corners"

• An aerial photograph of the Four Corners area of Salem (State and Lancaster intersection) taken this year shows a residential suburb of homes on generous lots surrounding this business corner. The street level view shows the small businesses on the unpaved State Street in this unincorporated section of Salem.

Capitol Funeral of Douglas McKay

• The funeral of former governor Douglas McKay, later US Secretary of the Interior, is held in the Capitol. It had been the intention of the family to hold the funeral in his church, First Presbyterian, but that structure was in the middle of Winter Street, still on its journey to its new location. Governor Hatfield led the procession out of the Capitol.

Salem in 1958

World Events 

• Drought, weather conditions and the political policies of Mao Zedong cause the "Great Famine" in China,  starving 20 million people.
• Van Cliborn wins Tchaikovsky international piano competition in Moscow easing Cold War tensions. Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier in USSR.
• Queen Elizabeth gives her son Charles the title Prince of Wales.
• Eisenhower sends Marines sent to Lebanon, citing United Arab Republic as responsible for violence.
• The word Aerospace comes into use. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is created by Congress. Authority for all aviation in the US is transferred to the new Federal Aviation Administration.
• Hoola Hoops become popular. Plastic Logo bricks are patented. The first House of Pancakes opens in California, the first Carrefour store in France.
• Elvis Presley is inducted into the Army. Roy Campanella of baseball fame is paralyzed by an automobile accident. 
• Academy Awards: "Gigi" (US), "My Uncle" (France). Prize-winning books: The Wapshot Chronicle, John Cheever and A Death in the Family, James Agee.

In Salem
The plan for constructing the fourth state structure on the North Capital Mall, the Labor and Industries Building, is well underway. The fourth section of Piety Hill, the houses on the block east of Winter Street between Chemeketa and Center Streets will be demolished or moved. This will be the enterprise that captures the most public attention as it requires the Presbyterian Church, then on the northeast corner of Chemeketa and Winter Streets facing Chemeketa Street, to be put on rollers and moved diagonally across Winter Street to face east. The move began in the winter of 1958 and continues for many weeks, the progress intentionally slow so as not to damage the sanctuary.
A number of houses on the west side of Winter and north side of Court Street have been purchased by the church and demolished. This included structures prominent in Salem history for the families who lived in them:
299 N. Winter Street, W. T. and Mattie Rigdon, son Lloyd (1890-1947)
267 N. Winter Street, George Pearce and daughters Helen and Dorothy (1892-1955)
245 N. Winter Street, Joseph and Josephine Albert (dates of house unknown)
785 Court Street, Otto Krause and earlier Robert Fleming (1870s-1954)
745 Court Street, Max Buren and earlier residence of Charles and Fannie Bishop, J. J. Murphy that had been moved to Willamette University to be the president's residence. (1880-1955)
 The Pearce sisters had moved out of their family home in 1955, after purchasing a residence at 490 Oak Street on Fry Hill. One confessed to a friend that she wondered what her late father, George Pearce, would think of them moving to such a large house. The sisters had a sentimental affection for their "auto house", one of Salem's first garages, and brought it with them to be placed in the rear of the house. It is a tradition among parishioners of the church that after the church moved, the sisters sat in the pew that was directly above the location where their house had been.

The last section of Piety Hill is demolished,

When you visit
The church is located on the southwest corner of Chemeketa and Winter Streets, above the former site of the Rigdon and Pearce houses. To the south there are other buildings replacing the Albert/Fleming houses and, around the corner on Court Street, another wing of the church where the Bishop and Buren (1907-1966) houses were located. The house on Oak Street where the Pearce sisters moved, has been the home of the Kohne family for thirty years, but has retained its historic name. Although it has had alterations, the Kohnes honor the history of the house.
The Colonial style manse of the church was also moved. Built in 1926, the first pastor to occupy the manse was the Rev. Ward Willis Long and his wife, Evangeline. Their daughter was born there. The house is now a private residence located at the northeast corner of 18th and Court Streets. It is a contributing property in the Court-Chemeketa Historic District of the NEN Neighborhood and can be seen on the SHINE walking tour of the district.

Other events

• Mark Hatfield is elected governor of Oregon.
• The early parsonage of the Methodist Mission is moved from its original location for the construction of the water tower at the Kay Mill complex. It will be permanently located on the Mission Mill property, now Willamette Heritage Center.

This Lincoln store survives, but in a new building

• The community of Lincoln was once a busy port transit center for wheat being shipped to other landings. In 1958 the town has almost disappeared, but an old house serves as a store at the crossroads where Wallace Road meets Zena Road. A few miles west in Spring Valley, the Presbyterian Church celebrates its 100th anniversary.
• Eola School, also established in the 1850s, celebrates its 100th graduating class. Eight students pose for a photograph with their teacher.

• Our Southern Pacific Freight Station, located in a building predating the 1918 station itself, is still doing business this year. In 2010, fifty years later, the structure is in poor shape although the roof has been repaired through the generosity of the local roofing industry. The freight station was included in the recent nomination of this railroad property for the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, the building will find a new use as the Salem Greyhound Bus Station due to a generous private donation for its renovation.
• Donut Daze, a product of the Salvation Army sold at a shop near the Gilbert House on the riverfront, is popular with residents and especially state employees.
• Walton House, a property bequeathed by William S. Walton to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, becomes the rectory. It has since become a hospitality guesthouse for out-of-town patients, family or loved ones of hospital patients.