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.

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.

1918 Busick- Schlesinger House

The original location of this house at 1195 Summer Street is a mystery.
The 1987 Historic Landmarks inventory states it was owned from 1926 to 1940 by J L. Busick, owner of a grocery on Commercial Street. There is a member of the Busick family at 640 Chemeketa in the City Directory of 1926. This house was built, or transported here, by 1940, a date appropriate to houses moved from Piety Hill for the first state buildings on North Capitol Mall . Records show the occupant that year was Max Schlesinger who owned the popular Sally's Dress Shop downtown.
More ownership research is needed. It is designated as a Local Landmark.

1919 Thompson-Brand House

A neighbor of the Moores was Dr. Frederick Thompson at 351 Summer Street. By March of 1952, when both houses were moved, it was occupied by Judge Brand who was a Justice at the Nuremburg Trials.

This house was was purchased by the Stephens family, but moved at the same time as the Moores House, by the same mover, Augie Koenig, and followed a similar route south through city streets and across Bush Park. (see below)

It was placed beside the former home of the Moores. The two are side by side in this Leffelle Street photo taken in the late 1950s. (The south edge of Bush Park is in the foreground with the Moores house at the right.)

Katherine Miller, daughter of the family that lived in the Moores house after it was moved, married in the garden of the home. She and her husband, Wallace Reed, moved away from Salem, but returned nearly every summer, visiting Nick and Kris and later Nick and Mary Liepins. They enjoyed the view across the back yard to the house next door. In the 1990s, they asked the owners, Dawn and Ed Marges, if they would consider giving the Reeds a "first refusal price" if the Marges ever wanted to sell. This happened in 1990. The Reeds retired from their careers at the University of Virginia and took possession of the Thompson-Brand house in 1991. They continue to live there in 2011 and have been active in the SCAN neighborhood projects for which they have been honored by the City of Salem. The two properties have become a compound with shared garden, equipment and other activities.
The generously sized house, over 4000 square feet, is seen below as it looks today.
Our thanks to Kathy and Wally Reed for the stories and pictures of this "moving history".

1926 David Eyre House

photograph used through the courtesy of Oregon State Library

David Eyre, president of US National Bank, and his wife Beryl lived at 370 North Summer Street (above), facing the Thompson residence. Mr. Eyre was the second generation of a prominent Salem family and was the brother of Mary Eyre, a popular high school American history teacher for whom a Salem school is named.

The Eyre house, designed by the well known local architect, Clarence Smith, survived the 1940s demolition of Piety Hill houses, being purchased by Harry Dorman and moved to the northeast corner of Mission and High Streets.

The house in its present location is seen below.

1926 Baumgartner House

This dignified house at 1160 Summer Street has has been moved progressively north three times over the last 70+ years. "Maybe it's trying to get out of town!" its owner says.
Joel Baumgartner was a young teller at the Ladd and Bush Bank in 1900 and there are many photographs of him, his wife Ada and daughters Lenta and Josephine, in the Bush family photograph collection. He was listed as a Hop Dealer living at this house, 208 Winter Street, in 1926. The date of construction is not known.
In 1937, the North Capitol Mall's first state building, the Oregon State Library, was planned for this location. It stood as the third house north of the Thomas Kay residence (on the northeast corner of Court and State) and that of his daughter and son-in-law, Hollis Huntington. The Kay residence was demolished, perhaps because Mrs. Kay was a widow and was willing to sell it to the state for that purpose. (She moved to 260 Washington Street, the former home of Mr. Ulysses Shipley.)
The Huntington house was purchased from the state in 1937 and moved north to 790 Winter Street. The Baumgartner house was also purchased from the state and was moved to 785 Summer street. As the North Capitol Mall continued to expand, this house stood where the North Capitol Mall Office Building was to be constructed. In the 1980s, it was moved again, this time to its present address.

1928 The Charles Cole House

This Norman Farmhouse styled home was originally located at 715 Summer Street. Its original owner is not known, but from 1932 to 1942 it was the home of Charles A. and Bessie Cole. Mr. Cole was the Chief of Plant Industry for the Oregon State Department of Forestry. A later owner was Robert L. Shinn who lived there with his wife Lenora. Mr. Shinn was the Secretary/Manager of the Willamette Cherry Growers.

The house was one of several purchased by the State of Oregon in anticipation of extending the North Capitol Mall. It was being used as office space by the state in 1981 and sold to a private party in 1988. In 1993 it was owned by Stephen Teeter and Judy Wilson and was possibly a rental property.

It is now located at 925 Hood Street in the Grant Neighborhood and is designated a Local Landmark.