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.

1923 The Cooley House

This property at 888 Summer Street (the southeast corner of Summer and D Street) was acquired by Ralph and Beryl Cooley in 1922 in two separate deeds from F.A. Legg for $10.00 and from the City of Salem for $1,950. Ralph Cooley was employed by the Bishop's Clothing Store in Salem for over 50 years; in 1960 when he served as manager of the store, he was honored for half a century of employment. The Cooleys sold the house to the State of Oregon in 1967 due to the state's planned construction of the Oregon State Archives adjacent to that site.
The house, as photographed below, is now located at 1320 Chemeketa Street in the NEN neighborhood and is designated as a Local Landmark.

1926 Bowersox House

The photograph above, showing the Hinges-Kimble house as it looked originally on Summer Street in the 1930s, is our only clue to the original appearance of the Bowersox house, just beyond it on Chemeketa Street. In this photograph, the profile of the front of the Bowersox house is at the right margin of the picture.
In 1926, Mr. Frank G. Bowersox and his wife Lillian lived here at 876 Chemeketa Street. He was a grocer with the Carl and Bowersox business establishment at 383 Court Street.
Mr. Dick Buren, whose family lived on Summer Street when he was a child, recently recalled seeing the house pictured below being moved north past his house in about 1937-9. Since this was the period of time when the State Library was being constructed, it must have come from the same block as the Huntington and Baumgartner homes. It has now been identified.
It is hard to reconcile this 776 Shipping Street house with the original since the typical front porch was removed for transporting the house over 70 years ago. The present owner appreciates this fine old house, built for another family and another neighborhood.

1928 First Presbyterian Church

This 1942 Hugh Stryker photograph shows the First Presbyterian Church structure in its original 1928 location on the northeast corner of Winter and Chemeketa Street. The Oregon State Labor and Industries Building is now in that site.
The manse is behind the tree to the right of the church. It is now at the northeast corner of Court and 18th streets in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District, as seen below.

By 1944 the church membership was planning to move the church diagonally across the intersection (to face Winter Street on the southwest corner) because of the new North Capitol Mall construction.
Beginning in 1946, and continuing to the 1957-8 move, several historic residential properties on Winter Street were acquired and demolished. Several are seen in the photograph below, taken in 1937 when the Oregon State Library was built.

From the left are the homes of Frank Derby (formerly owned by Joseph H. Albert, built by O. E. Krausse in 1885);George Pearce, built in 1892 and W. T Rigdon, built in 1890.
In the winter of 1957-8, the church was placed on rollers and moved to the former site of these residentces. In the aerial photograph below, the church has advanced into the intersection.

By 1963, the C. P. Bishop home, (formerly owned by George Rose , built by Judge J. J. Murphy before 1886)


and the 1907 Max Buren residence on Court Street (damaged in the 1962 wind storm as seen below) were also acquired and demolished for an educational annex to the church.