Salem's First Residence

Was Salem's first residence a condominium? This structure, known as the Jason Lee House, was built in 1841 as apartments for four missionary families ~ with a kitchen used in common. Far from being cramped in the small apartment space, these families who had already endured many hardships in their former settlement must have been gratified to have these new relatively comfortable quarters.
Jason Lee's second wife, the former Lucy Thompson, gave birth to a daughter here in 1842. Like his first wife, Anna Maria Pittman, the birth cost the mother her life. Shortly afterward, Jason Lee returned to New York to gain support for his contested leadership of the mission. He died before he could return to Oregon.
Other early missionary residents of the house were the Parrish family, the Raymonds and the Judsons. After the Methodist church closed the mission, private ownership of this house included that of Judge Reuben Boise.
The drawing seen above was published in 1858. Note one door downstairs is missing and there are probably other creative, artistic details. It is our earliest representation of the original appearance.
A more complete history of the house is found in the following post.

1841 The Jason Lee House

The first house built in Salem was constructed in the summer of 1841 by Jason Lee, the leader of the Methodist Mission, and other missionaries. The new settlement was on a waterway named Mill Creek where a small saw mill fashioned lumber from the surrounding forest.
The house was designed for several missionary families. Jason Lee lived there with his second wife Lucy, who died in 1842 a few weeks after giving birth to their daughter, Lucy Anna Maria. He left Oregon shortly afterward, to defend his leadership after being replaced by another minister. He died in his native Canada in 1845 and the mission establishment was closed four years later. However, the church-owned properties were distributed among the missionary settlers and the village grew. The Lee House is said to have housed planning for the 1850s Provisional Government and the actions of the first judiciary, first post office, and second store in the Salem area.
Among the families who lived there in the late 1800s was that of Judge Reuben Boise (1819-1907) who arrived in Oregon in 1850. He was appointed to the Territorial Supreme Court in 1857 and served on the State Supreme Court intermittently until 1880.
The picture above was taken in the 1930s when the house was still occupied and by that time designated as 960 Broadway, just north of the creek. Over the years, the house had many alterations and was hardly recognizable.
The house was in danger of demolition when local historical preservationists, led by Oregon State Archivist, David Duniway, made arrangements to have the house moved. It was temporarily placed on Front Street and then permanently settled on the Mission Mill Museum property (now Willamette Heritage Center) where it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Restored to its original configuration, it appears today as seen in the photograph below.

1841 Methodist Parsonage

This is a 1903 photograph of the 1841 Methodist Parsonage, the second building constructed in Salem. The Jason Lee residence preceded it by just a few months in the same year. The earliest families to occupy the building were those of Reverend Gustavus Hines and Reverend David Leslie who shared it with visiting teachers and circuit riders. It became the official boarding house of the Willamette Station.

The Parsonage was built originally where the water tower stands on 12th Street, north of Mission Mill Museum (now Willamette Heritage Center). This location was convenient to the Institute that was the center of early Methodist educational efforts, now Willamette University. The Parsonage may have served as the Indian Manual Labor School while the Institute was being built.

By the 1920s, the Parsonage had been moved to 1325 Ferry Street, a couple of blocks from its original location. In 1966, to preserve this historic building, which had remained relatively unchanged, the Parsonage was temporarily relocated back to its original site on the grounds of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill. By 1974, in its present location, the Parsonage was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Like the Jason Lee House, it is part of the historical exhibits at the Willamette Heritage Center where it appears as seen in the photograph below.

1847 The John D. Boon House

The John D. Boon house, center above, is likely the oldest single family dwelling in Salem. This photograph, taken about 1940, shows it as it was originally located on Liberty Street.
The building on the left housed the Boon Stone, built in 1860, which became the First State Treasury, and in later years was known as Karr's Tavern. Since the late 1970s it has been known as Boon's Treasury and is a popular local restaurant and hosts popular musical entertainment.
The small house to the right, the home of John D. Boon and his wife Martha Hawkins, was built in 1847. Mr. Boon was elected Treasurer by the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1851, and when Oregon became a state in 1859, he became the first Oregon State Treasurer, serving until 1862. The house was moved to the Mission Mill Museum complex (now Willamette Heritage Center) in 1973 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The wooden porch and four columns are gone, as is the roof over the porch.
The two-story building in the foreground was used as a furniture factory.
The photograph below shows the house as it appears today.

1849 The David Leslie House

The fourth house in Salem, seen above in a drawing, was built by the Rev. David Leslie. He lived here with his second wife, Adelia Judson Ollie, and two daughters of this marriage, Sarah and Emma. Both girls died before the age of 8.

When the Methodist mission was discontinued in 1849, Leslie had been assigned the claim lying between what is now Mission and McGilchrist streets and between the east edge of Bush Pasture Park and Willamette Slough. Here he built this home and planted an orchard with numerous varieties of apples and pears. In 1860, Leslie sold 100 acres of his property to Asahel Bush II, and Bush House now stands on the site of the Leslie's home. The Bush family lived in this house, moved down the hill to Mission Street before theirs was built in 1877-78. In 1863, while the family lived in the former Leslie home, 30 year old Eugenia Zieber Bush, wife of Asahel, died. She left four children under seven years of age to be raised by their father who did not remarry.

The 1900 photograph below, taken from the porch of Bush House, may give a glimpse of the Leslie House after its move. It would be the house to the right in photograph, approximately at the present intersection of Mission and Cottage Streets. It may have been moved from this location after the Oregon School for the Blind was established on that property.

The next location of the residence was probably a block west to the present northwest intersection of Mission and Church Streets. It may have remained there until the 1950s, but no picture is available.

1854 William and Chloe Willson's home

By 1854 William and Chloe Willson were settled in this home, pictured here in 1858, at the northeast corner of Capitol and Court Street. The Willsons were pioneers of the Methodist mission and founders of both Willamette University and the town that became Salem.

In 1881, when Chloe was a widow, Willamette University President Thomas Van Scoy purchased the "English Cottage" and moved it to the campus as the Woman's College.


Over the years it was enlarged, heightened, given a Mansard roof and, finally, a tower. The picture above, used by the courtesy of Willamette University Archives and Special Collections, shows the alterations made in the former home.

In 1919 it was demolished for the construction of the present Lausanne Hall. The Chronicles of Willamette states, "The original of unit of this outworn old building...was the beautiful old Willson mansion but the numerous additions to it had long before made it into an architectural monstrosity and there was general rejoicing when it could be blotted out of the landscape."
The name Lausanne, given to this university building, recalls the ship that brought missionaries to the Oregon settlement in 1843: Chloe was one of these. She became one of the first teachers at the school that is now Willamette University.


After the Willson house was moved to the Willamette campus, H. B. Theilsen and his wife Jennie purchased the property on Court Street where the Willson house had stood. They built a home where they lived with their three children. In about 1925 the house was demolished, although the family continued to own the land. A Shell Service Station was constructed and automobile facilities have continued to occupy the property since that time.

1855 St. Paul's Episcopal Church

The first Episcopal priest to reach the Oregon Territory worked his way west by driving the first flock of sheep to Oregon and later became the first Rector of St. Paul’s, Salem, was The Rev. St. Michael Fackler. He reached Oregon in 1847, and in 1848 became a teacher at the Oregon Institute [Willamette University]. In 1849, Fr. Fackler was given a lot on which to build a church by Dr. W. H. Willson.
It would not be until May 14, 1853 that the first Episcopal services were held in Salem. The Oregon Statesman, August 22, 1854, reported that an Episcopal Church (St. Paul’s) was under construction at the southwest corner of Church and Chemeketa. It was consecrated on Sunday, April 22, 1855, by Bishop Scott, assisted by Fr. Fackler. This was the third Episcopal Church structure in the Oregon Territory. The original St. Paul’s, was to stand 100 years, serving as a church for 70 years, and as a parish hall for 30 years.
In 1922, after moving the first church to the back of the lot, the second St. Paul's was built under Fr. Chambers at the corner of Chemeketa and Church Street. June 1929, the 17th Rector, Fr. George H. Swift, rapidly expanded the parish and built the third St. Paul's, in 1953. This church is located on the old Lincoln School site amongst the Willamette Prairie native oaks at the corner of Liberty and Myers, across from Bush Park.
(This text can be found at St. Paul's Episcopal Church online history.)

1860 The Waller-Chamberlin House

This is considered the oldest house in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District. Probably built by Alvin Waller, pioneer Methodist missionary and advocate for Willamette University (where Waller hall, which he helped build, is named for him) and his son, a carpenter. Originally on State Street, east of the C. C. Stratton house, it has been moved twice. In 1893, Martin O. Chamberlin, Waller's brother-in-law, moved the house to his property across 17th Street at Court Street. It remained there until 1912 when it was moved again to its present site. Rose Chamberlin, as a widow, owned the house until 1925, but rented it. Several Willamette professors lived there and the 1926-7 Sanborn map shows it as a kindergarten. Three other families owned the property until the present owners purchased it in 1980.
Considerable additional information, written by Bonnie and Roger Hull (owners), is available in the Court-Chemeketa National Register nomination for the district. The Hulls are prominent members of the neighborhood group who researched the homes in the district and Bonnie was Committee Chairman when the nomination was prepared in 1986.

1860s? Ferry/17th Street House

This house sits north of Mill Creek at 425 17th Street, north of the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District. The present owner has found evidence that it originally stood on Ferry Street, in the block behind the Methodist Church. According to an early Sanborn map, the house did not originally have the bay window, otherwise it is much the same.
A few years ago, a lady came to the house and said she (or perhaps her relatives) had lived in the house after its relocation here in 1903 when the owners placed it here and sub-divided the several acres around it ~ constructing the street that runs along the north side of the creek and selling lots for other houses.
We hope the owner will continue research so we may learn the names of earlier owners of this house and its history.

1863 First Congregational Church

The First Congregational Church was founded at the corner of Liberty and Center Streets with Obed Dickinson as minister. Charlotte and Obed Dickinson had been newlyweds in November of 1852 when they embarked on the long voyage around the Horn to Obed's assignment as a Congregational minister in frontier Oregon. Landing in Portland the following April, they had personal baggage and simple furnishings for their home: a stove, table, chairs, and bedding. It took them eighteen days to transport their belongings and themselves by boat and cart to Salem, a village of 500 people, ten dry goods stores, four physicians, a flouring mill, various mechanics - and five other ministers, all Methodist. His church was an abandoned schoolhouse at Commercial and Marion Streets described as "dirty as a pig sty, its floor covered with mud." Boarding was too expensive, so Obed purchased a half acre of land, deep in the brush between Front Street and the river, for a small 16 by 26 feet home.

His conflict with the membership, especially the founding Gilbert family, arose when he allowed African-Americans to attend services and one couple to marry there (see below). His wife Charlotte taught four of these women to read and write. Obed resigned his pulpit four years later, becoming a successful seed merchant. This church building was replaced in 1905. The third construction is at the corner of Marion and Cottage Streets, location of the boyhood home of A. C. Gilbert, demolished in 1941.

1865 McCully-McMahon House

In 1865 the area around Marion Square Park was considered a fashionable place to build a home. David McCully, a pioneer Salem merchant who had been successful in the California Gold Rush, built a home nearby at 891 Front Street.

The house was purchased by L. H. McMahon, an attorney and circuit court judge, in about 1900. The property was damaged in the 1962 windstorm. David Duniway, Oregon State Archivist and a leading Salem proponent of historical preservation, purchased the house and moved it to 1365 John Street where it was renovated. It is in the SCAN neighborhood and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1978).

1869-07 William Lincoln Wade House

This photo of the Wade house was taken when it was located at 862 Liberty Street NE, near Boon's Treasury where Broadway becomes High Street. It was moved to 1305 John Street by owners Mr. and Mrs Richard Neuman shortly after this photograph was taken.
The residence was built in the Liberty Street location in 1870 by William L. Wade, owner of a dry goods store at 888 N. Liberty Street where Salem first developed. The first mill was built on the creek there and the first homes and businesses began in the immediate vicinity, including the Boone's Treasury building. Mr. Wade (1831-1908) came to Oregon in 1867 and opened a dry goods store in Boon's Treasury where he sold "dry goods, clothing, groceries, boots and shoes, country produce, hardware and queensware". The house was later occupied by his son, Murray, who was a well-known newspaper cartoonist in California and Oregon and published the Oregon Magazine for 45 years.
The house was rescued from the wrecker's ball in 1971 and moved to John Street, a few houses away from another Carpenter Gothic cottage, the David McCully house, which is also on the National Register. The hillside lot they are both on could not accommodate the entire house and an added bedroom off the back parlor and a stem off the kitchen were left behind. The ceiling in the wing was lowered to accommodate a master bedroom and bath on the second floor. The balustrade railing was added to the second story porch in recent years. The William Lincoln Wade house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The photograph below was taken in 2008.

Salem in 1876

This artist's view of Salem was published the same year the new State House was completed. See it upper right center. The space before it is Willson Park with the Courthouse at the near end of the park. Court Street runs along its north border, to the left in this view. Summer Street is at right angle to Court Street, near the State House, extending a few blocks north into the countryside.
Please click on the image to enlarge it and you will be able to pick out familiar sites: Waller Hall on the Willamette University campus, perhaps the Leslie residence where Bush House now stands, the flour mill at Pringle Creek's entrance in the Willamette River, a covered bridge at Commercial Street and even a train puffing away out on the track at 12th Street ~ out in the countryside.

1883 Rockenfeld House

Built in 1883 on the northeast corner of Court and Summer Street, across from the State House, the Rockenfeld residence was later owned by Judge Henry Bean of the Oregon Supreme Court. This undated photograph was probably taken in the 1920s. The awnings over windows and front porch supplied shade on this warm summer day to this gracious home facing the State House and Willson Park directly south.
In 1937 the state purchased the property and moved it to 755 Capitol Street to make room for gardens and the State Library. The residence was placed in an empty lot north of the historic Parrish home of the 1860s.
Over 40 years later, in 1991, during the further expansion of the Capitol Mall for the Archives Building, the house was moved to its present location on the riverfront. In 1992 it was opened to the public as part of A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village.
(Photo used courtesy Oregon State Library.)

As we see it today, it has a different appearance as part of a cultural tourism attraction, highlighted with color in style similar to its present neighbor on Marion Street, the Andrew Gilbert house.

1887 Eugene Breyman House

This classic 1887 photograph shows Ben Taylor, a postman, riding his bike east at 619 Court Street, the home of Eugene Breyman.

The Court Street Breyman house was moved to Summer Street in 1932. This Shell service station was established in the Court Street location. The residence next door, originally built by Mr. Eugene Breyman for his daughter Jessie upon her marriage to Charles McNary, was later occupied by the Breyman Boise family. The WMCA, built in 1926, appears at the right.

Comparing the Eugene Breyman house as it appeared on Court Street in 1887 and this 1940 photograph of it in its second location at 795 Summer Street shows a contrast. The turret is gone and the depth of the house is illustrated.


This third photograph shows the Summer Street location of the house, just south of the Mill Creek bridge. Although the house was eventually demolished for the construction of the State Lands Building, it is included here as an example of a residence that occupied more than one site in its useful life to several generations of a Salem family.

1890 West-Klein House

In the original 1890 location at 1118 Oak Street (above), this house was the residence of the John G. West family: the Wests were parents of Oswald West, later governor of Oregon. At the time the family lived here, Mr. West was listed as "drover." In the mid 1890s the house was sold to C. M. Beak and in 1898 to Mrs. A. Klein. The Kleins continued in ownership and residency through the early 1920s; Mr. Klein's occupation is listed as "traveling salesman". Later owners were Harry and Lena Thorsen in the 1920s; in 1926 the house was purchased by Epsilon Delta Mu, a Willamette University living organization. It later reverted to the private ownership of Bertha Brians and Clifford and Agnes White in the 1930s. In 1993 it was divided into six living units. The house was moved to the present location at 2983 D Street in the late 1990s and is a rental property.

1893~1896 German Methodist Parsonage & The Moon House

The photograph above of residences at 772 and 774 Winter Street NE, was taken in the 1990s when these two Local Landmarks were about to be demolished or removed ~ fortunately, they were relocated and restored by the present owners, Sarah and Keith Chilcote. The house on the left was known historically as the 1893 German Methodist Parsonage. The one on the right is the 1896 Moon House. The North Capitol Mall Office Building stands there today. Below are earlier pictures of these houses in this location and ones taken recently on D Street.


This ghostly picture of the Parsonage (above) was reproduced from damaged glass plates recovered when the house was moved. It must have been taken in the 1890s when Winter Street was still rural and unpaved. The property was owned by R. P. Boise from the time it was platted until it was sold to the German Methodist Episcopal South Church for use as a parsonage in 1894. The church paid $500 for the property at 772 Winter Street, indicating that there was a dwelling on the property at that time. The photograph was supplied by Keith Chilcote.

Bob Koval took the 1978 photograph (above) in the same location. Except for the change of front porch detail, the house appears to be as built. Winter Street was much changed in 80 years between the pictures ~ by the late 1970s a residential area almost in the core of the city and, of course, the street was paved.

Below is a 2009 photograph in its restoration at 2981 D Street.


The Moon House
Next door to the Parsonage in the 1990s photograph, was a residence built c.1896 for Amos Long, a teacher in the North Salem School. Oscar Moon bought the property in 1911 and resided there until 1941. After the 1940s the house was a rental. The Moon House photograph below was taken by Bob Koval in 1978. We use his photographs through the courtesy of the Oregon Historical Photograph Collections of the Salem Public Library, Salem, Oregon.

Below is the Moon House in its new location at 2983 D Street with a restoration highlighting the Queen Anne architecture and ornamentation.

1894 Dr. Carlton Smith

Dr. W. Carlton Smith may not have been the original owner of this 1894 house originally located at 1153 Oak Street (above). Dr. Smith was born in Marion County in 1874, graduated from the University of Oregon and University Medical College in Kansas, returning to Salem about 1903. Dr. Smith served as Major in World War II in France. He served as Salem's first city physician and county physician. He was professor of anatomy at Willamette University for ten years. Dr. Smith was elected to the Oregon Legislature, he died in 1929 while serving in the Legislature and was succeeded by his wife.
Evelyn Miner became owner of this home about 1949, it being willed to her by the previous owner. The next residents were Stewart and Esther Miner, her son and daughter in law. Esther was a nurse when the Salem Hospital was located at the opposite end of Oak Street from present location of hospital. Stewart worked for a company that built carnival rides, owned by an Eyerley, brother of the famous Western painter, Ray Eyerley.
The house is now a Local Landmark located on Cannon Street, across from the also relocated Leslie Methodist Church Parsonage.

1895 Collins Downing House

This 1963 photograph shows the Collins Downing residence in its original 1886 location at 245 Church Street NE, between Court and Chemeketa Streets. It was built by George Collins (1834-1913), successful contractor and brick manufacturer, who later served as Warden of the Oregon State Penitentiary and then as Superintendent of Prisons for the State of Oregon.
In 1895 the home was sold to Robert E. Downing, whose listings in Polk's directories through the years changed from insurance agent to capitalist to farmer. His family owned the house for more than 80 years.
For many of these years, it was the only large, well maintained residence remaining in the downtown business district. The clock tower of the old Salem City Hall on High St. can be seen on the right side of the photograph. The fire escapes of the concrete building on the left are on the old Senator Hotel building. The house displays distinctive Eastlake/Queen Anne architectural details such as bay windows; varied siding designs; multi-gabled roof; and finely detailed porch, balcony supports and railings.
Following the 1980s deaths of Hazel Downing Isbell and her husband, Leonard M. Isbell, their home was moved from its original location opposite the Statesman-Journal Building to 1340 Chemeketa Street (as seen below). The exterior was restored; the interior remodeled into professional offices and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

1903 Warner Breyman House

This is the first photograph we have of the Werner Breyman home, probably built in the 1870s. On this day, it it is host to guests assembled for the visit of President Teddy Roosevelt. Werner's house was located at the southeast corner of State and Cottage Streets, presently the site of the Micah Building of the United Methodist Church (formerly the Elks Temple).

The home was moved around the corner onto Cottage Street and remodeled to the building above prior to 1924.The house was three stories, the third being an addition.
The city directory of 1924 lists the Hydrotherapeudic Institute to be at this location in addition to apartments. In 1953, the 20 Palace Apartments were here.
Werner Breyman and his brother Eugene came to Salem in 1865 and operated a business at 147 Commercial Street NE until 1881 when they sold it and went into the construction business.
Eugene lived on the northeast corner of Court and Church Streets, diagonally across (over the property of the Post Office lawn) from his brother. In 1904 they presented a fountain to the city as a Spanish American War memorial, locating it at Winter Street entrance to the park. Legend recalls that they could both see it from their perspective front porches.
Neither of the houses exist today.

1903 Salem's Post Office

Above is our first photograph of the building that was erected in 1903 as Salem's post office in downtown Salem. In 1938 it was moved intact to State & 12th Street on the Willamette University campus, where it housed the College of Law until 1967. Residents still remember the rollers transporting this heavy stone building down State Street over a period of six months.
In 1967 the Collins Legal Center was completed, and since then it has served in other capacities. It is named after Dr. Robert M. Gatke, Willamette's first professor of Political Science.
The photograph below shows its appearance in 2011.

1907 The Duniway-Lachmund House

The house was constructed before 1907 when Willis S. Duniway (1856-1913) and wife Alice McCormack Duniway are listed in Polk's Salem City Directory as residents there. Willis Duniway was the eldest son of Benjamin and Abigail Scott Duniway, early Oregon settlers. Abigail Scott Duniway was a pioneer advocate of women's suffrage.

When the residences of “Piety Hill” were demolished for the construction of the North Capitol Mall (1937-57), this one was shared. It was, at the time of the move, the residence of Louis Lachmund, President of the Capital Ice and Cold Storage Company for 20 years and mayor of Salem, was spared. It was purchased from the state by Willamette University and moved to the campus where it was the residence of the president. In the 1990s it was moved to its present location east at 2430 State Street.

1910 Leslie Methodist Church Parsonage

Built to serve as the parsonage of the Leslie Methodist Church in 1910, this former home was originally located on the corner of Commercial and Myers Street. The ministers who lived there included the Reverends S. Harlow Johnson, C. Dean Poindexter, Joseph Knotts and Kenneth Abbott. In 1984 the church was demolished and the Queen Anne style parsonage moved to its present location at 1305 Cannon Street SE. It was renovated to serve as a doctor's office.

1910 Hinges-Kimball House

The parents of Hallie Parrish Hinges (a local musician/vocalist known as the Oregon Nightingdale) built this house at 295 Summer Street. Her mother was the daughter of Rev. Parrish, a pioneer Methodist missionary in early Salem.
The house was one of the first Piety Hill removals (1938), in this case for the Oregon State Library. The house was approximately where a Sunken Garden was created and where the fountain now is located. It was owned by Samuel and Sara Kimball when it was moved to 700 block of Capitol Street. The new location was as the southern neighbor Rev. Parrish's home.
When the Mall was expanded in the 1980s, it was moved again, this time three blocks north to 1075 Capitol Street. The photograph below shows it in that location.

1910 Court Street and "Piety Hill"

This 1910 photograph is included to illustrate the changes in the historic Piety Hill residential neighborhood since it was then seen from the State House dome, a popular place for Salem aerial photography. This view of Court Street gives a good view of more than two blocks of homes:
At Summer Street in the foreground at right, the Cooke-Pattons shared a city block (between Winter and Summer Streets) with the Thomas Kay family.
At Winter Street were the Krause family, then the Bishops (Fannie Kay Bishop) and the Max Burens. Two other houses are obscured by trees.
At Cottage Street there is an empty lot and then, just visible, the McNary house. The Eugene Breyman house, just beyond at the corner is not seen. However, the old City Hall rises in the left margin of the picture. Notice the barren hills of what would be West Salem.
Looking up Winter Street, are the homes of Joseph Albert, George Pearce, Thomas Rigdon.
The numerous church spires illustrate why the neighborhood got its name.
The Unitarian Church (center), St. Joseph's Catholic Church's Sacred Heart Academy and St. Paul's Episcopal Church have all moved to new locations.
The Court Street houses would be demolished by 1963.
The one structure still remaining is Garfield School, the white building in the upper right margin.

1910 Parrish House

Among the several historic photographs of the Parrish House as it looked at 745 Capitol Street, the one above is the most charming. The original homestead may have built as early as 1856, but this picture shows the alterations made about 1910 which transformed the structure. The tall and narrow sash windows, capped by a wooden cornice, suggest an Italian style of architecture. By the time of this picture, the original direction of the gable had been changed, along with other alterations after two fires. A porte-corchere, not seen here, was added in 1915.

Reverend Parrish was a missionary who came to Oregon with Jason Lee in 1840. In 1854 he was appointed an Indian agent. He also was a circuit riding preacher in the Willamette Valley and chaplain at the state prison. He is credited with donating much land, time and money to the cause of education in the early years of Salem’s history. He died in 1895 and is buried in Jason Lee Cemetery. Parrish Middle School, built across the street from the original location of the house, was in a cluster of oak trees called “Parrish Grove”, on what had been his donation land claim.

Like two other houses in this block along Capitol Street in the 1980s, the expansion of the North Capitol Mall for the Oregon State Archives caused their removal. To its north was the Rockenfeld House, moved from Court Street; to its south was the Hinges-Kimball House, moved from Summer Street ~ both for the 1937-9 construction of the Oregon State Library. The Hinges-Kimballl House went north on Capitol Street. Both the Parrish House and the Rockenfeld House were moved to what became the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Village where they are today.

The two pictures below were taken just before the Parrish House move. The one immediately below was published in the local newspaper. The other was recorded by a neighbor with his video camera. On the way to its new home on Water Street, the movers faced a challenge when the Parrish house became temporarily trapped under the Marion Street Bridge.

Below is the house as it appeared in a restored condition in 2008. A lattice screen has since been added along the front porch.