Historic Downtown Salem #75: T.G. Bligh Building

223-233 High Street NE

T.G. 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. Bligh bought this property in August, 1922 from the Salem Elks, who had a lodge building here. Bligh built this Mission Revival style building in 1923. In November 1924, Bligh was killed in an automobile accident and the property passed to his wife, Anna Bligh. She sold the building to Charles P. Bishop in March 1927.

Charles P. Bishop was born in Contra Costa, California, in 1854 and came to Oregon with his parents in 1856, growing up on a Linn County farm. He came to Salem in 1889 where, as Thomas Kay's son-in-law, he helped build and operate the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill. In 1891, Bishop bought the Salem Woolen Mills Store that evolved into Bishop’s men’s furnishings store. Bishop served as mayor of Salem from 1899 to 1906, as an Oregon state senator from 1915 to 1918, and as a trustee of Willamette University for three decades. Between 1909 and 1920, Bishop and his sons Clarence, Roy, and Chauncey, purchased three woolen mills: the Oregon Worsted Company in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, the Washougal Woolen Mill in Washougal, Washington, and the Eureka Woolen Mills in Eureka, California. Charles Bishop died in 1941 at the age of 87. His family now owns Pendleton Woolen Mills.

T.G. Bligh Building Street Clock on September 4, 2006

Businesses housed in this building have included Ohmart & Calaba Real Estate, Clark's Sandwich Shop, Kay Typewriter Company, and Olson Florist, Inc., which has been here since 1926. The street clock was made by the Electric Time Company of Medfield, Massachusetts, and features a T-style face and WS-style hands. The T. G. Bligh Building passed from the Bishops Clothing Woolen Mill to the Franklin Group in 1980.

Additional Links:
T.G. Bligh Building at Salem Online History

Historical Photos:
Portrait of Thomas Gregory Bligh (Oregon State Library)
T.G. Bligh Building, unknown date (Salem Public Library)
Parade Float at T.G. Bligh Building, 11/26/55 (Salem Library)
T.G. Bligh Building, 1962 Columbus Day storm (Salem Library)

Continue to 76: Arthur H. Moore Building…