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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Historic Downtown Salem #69: Hubbard Building

494 State Street

IMG_3165 Hubbard-Oregon Building in Salem, Oregon on September 4, 2006
Hubbard Building on September 4, 2006

This four-story Commercial style building was built in 1913. Architects W. P. Dawson and Matt Flanagan reportedly designed this building in association with well-known Oregon architect Ellis F. Lawrence. The building was originally owned by Fannie E. Hubbard, wife of Thomas Hubbard. The building served as the original Salem depot for the Oregon Electric Railway, which ran from Portland to Eugene with tracks running down High Street in Salem. The building also housed the Globe Theater from 1913 to 1915. The theater reopened in 1917 as the Oregon Theater. Fannie Hubbard sold the building in 1918. A Wurlitzer organ was shipped to the Oregon Theater in September 1919. Harry M. Hawkins and Thomas Roberts bought the building in 1921. During their ownership, the building housed Metropolitan Stores, Sears, and various law offices, including the Hawkins and Roberts firm which had its offices on the second floor of the building from the 1920s to the 1940s. The Wurlitzer organ was removed from the Oregon Theater in 1925, and parts of its were used in the new organ at the Elsinore Theater. The Oregon Theater closed in 1928. Harry Hawkins moved to Portland in the late 1930s, and in the late 1950s, Hawkins and Roberts traded this building for the Senator Hotel (now demolished) at the corner of State and High Streets. Later, the building was a Sears store, a record store and a Pay Less drug store, Cupboard Cafe, Zilka Smither Investment Company, and a barber shop.

Additional Links:
Oregon Theatre at Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society

Historical Photos:
Hubbard Building, 1907 (Salem Public Library)
Hubbard Building, circa 1930 (Salem Public Library)
Hubbard Building, unknown date (Salem Public Library)
Oregon Building, 1951 (Salem Public Library)
Oregon Building, unknown date (Salem Public Library)

Continue to 70: Kelly Services Building

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