508-524 State Street
Bligh Building on September 4, 2006
Thomas Gregor Bligh moved his family from Canada to Portland in 1904 and then to Salem in 1908. T. G. Bligh and his son Frank D. Bligh, born in 1890, opened the Star Theater and later the Liberty Theater. In 1912 the Blighs built the Bligh Hotel and Theater on the north side of State Street between High and Liberty Streets. Following the death of T. G. Bligh in a November 1924 automobile accident, Frank D. Bligh took over the family’s hotel and theater business.
This corner was originally the site of a large two-story brick building that was set back from State Street. This building was originally built in 1864 as a hotel called the Monroe House. It was later renamed Cook’s House, and finally became the Hotel Salem. Frank D. Bligh and his mother, Anna Bligh, bought the property and demolished the Hotel Salem in 1926 in order to build this 21,438 square foot building that same year. Walter C. & Lottie D. Winslow bought the building in 1945 and it passed to their son Norman, who sold it to Samuel Blair and T. K. Haenny in 1976. This building once housed the Blue Bird Cafe.
Additional Links:
Bligh Building at Salem Online History
Historical Photos:
Cook's Hotel at State & High in 1890 (Salem Public Library)
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