PlacesPages: Salem, Oregon

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I originally posted the Salem PLACES pages on my website on April 27, 2008, and last updated them on March 17, 2010.

Living in Salem, Oregon for two years, I amassed a lot of pictures of the city; so many that one page wasn't enough. I broke my Salem information into four parts. Part 1 featured Salem's main historical sites. Part 2 featured downtown Salem. Part 3 featured government buildings in Salem, including parks and schools. Part 4 featured miscellaneous sites in Salem that didn’t fit in the other categories but that I still found interesting.

I referred to many internet resources for this project, including the Oregon State Library Photograph Collection, the City of Salem, the Salem Historic Landmarks Commission, Salem Online History, the Salem Public Library's Oregon Historic Photograph Collections, Salem Historical Quarterly, the Salem Oregon Community Guide, the Salem Heritage Network, and the Salem Historic Downtown Historic District Walking Tour by Virginia at Picasa Web Albums. Other internet resources are linked throughout the pages. I also used a 1965-1966 copy of the Oregon Blue Book. Historical photographs and some graphics were photographed from interpretive displays at various locations in Salem. Most other graphics, including maps, are my own creations, though they may be based on maps from other sources.

Please note that I did not include West Salem, Keizer, Turner, Aumsville, Stayton, Brooks, Gervais or other nearby towns.

Introduction

The location now known as Salem, Oregon was originally called Chemeketa, a Native American term the roughly translates to "place of rest." The word "Salem" comes from the Bible; it is derived from the Hebrew word shalom, and means peace. The Methodist missionaries who first settled here adopted the term in the late 1840s for their new town. Oregon's territorial capitol moved from Oregon City to Salem in 1850, and there were discussions in the territorial legislature in December 1853 of changing the name of the capitol city. One of the main suggestions was a return to the name Chemeketa, but other names considered included Chemawa, Woronoco, Multnomah, Willamette, Thurston, Bronson, Valena, Durham, Corrona, Victoria and Corvallis (which ended up being given to another city). Among the more interesting names suggested were Pike, Algebra, and Valleyopolis. In the end, the name of Salem was retained. Salem became the official Oregon state capitol in 1864 by popular vote. By 1920, Salem was one of four cities in Oregon with populations greater than 10,000 people; the other cities were Astoria, Eugene and Portland.

Salem is currently Oregon's third largest city, after Portland and Eugene. Salem once had a major cherry-growing industry, and is nicknamed the Cherry City. Salem has held cherry festivals in the past, and the local bus system is called Cherriots.

This map shows the locations covered in the Salem Part 1: Historic Salem. Inset 1 is detail of the Waller Dam and Inset 2 is detail of the Willamette University campus. These insets will be shown in the posts about those locations.

1: Grier Building
2: Mission Mill Museum
2A: Jason Lee House
2B: Methodist Parsonage
2C: John Daniel Boon House
2D: Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church
2E: Thomas Kay Woolen Mill.
2F: Marion County Historical Society
3: Waller Dam & Mill Race Park
4: Willamette University
4A: Waller Hall
4B: Lausanne Hall
4C: Gatke Hall
4D: Art Building
4E: Eaton Hall
4F: Smullin Hall
4G: Star Trees
4H: Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center
4I: Granite Erratic
4J: Town and Gown
4K: Hallie Ford Museum of Art
5: Lee Mission Cemetery
5 (continued): Diamond Square & Waller Vault
5 (continued): More Notable Graves
5 (continued): Large Monuments
6: Salem Pioneer Cemetery
7: Boon’s Treasury
8: A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village
8A: Andrew T. Gilbert House
8B: Rockenfield House
8C: Josiah L. Parrish House
8D: Little Gem Grocery
8E: Wilson-Durbin House
9: First United Methodist Church
10: Bush Pasture Park
11: Deepwood Estate (Dr. Luke A. Port House)
12: City View Cemetery
13: Thompson Public House
14: Justice Rossman House
15: Salem Heights Hall
16: Union Street Railroad Bridge
17: Salem Railroad Depot & Freight Depot
18: Elks Lodge
19: First Presbyterian Church
20: Bethel Baptist Church
21: First Congregational Church
22: First Christian Church
23: St. Joseph Parish of the Catholic Church
24: Willamette River Bridges