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.

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.

1921 Ford and Perry Houses

Ford House (above) and Perry House (below)

The histories of the two houses on Winter Street nearest to the D Street intersection are the least known. On the corner is the Katherine Ford house that was formerly at 894 Summers Street.
To the rear of that house, on Winter Street, is the former home of J. C. Perry, once the owner of a pharmacy on Commercial Street. That house was relocated from 835 Summer Street.
Both of these houses have a recorded construction date of 1921.


With them in the North Mall Heritage Park (above) are five other former residences.
The Irwin (1935) and Adolphson (1936) houses are in their original locations. They are both designated as Local Landmarks.
The Stiff, Huntington and McGilchrist houses are also Local Landmarks. Like the Ford and Perry houses, they were moved for Capitol Mall expansion for the North Mall Office Building in 2000-1, and are described in other posts. The park was completed and dedicated in 2003.

1925 Huntington House

This house has been moved several times since it was built in 1925 by Hollis and Marjorie Kay Huntington. Mrs. Huntington was the daughter of Thomas Kay and the Huntington house was originally constructed on the lot immediately behind her parents' home on Court Street.
Mr. Huntington owned "The Man's Shop" downtown and had earlier gained fame as an athlete at the University of Oregon, 1916-1919, when he was a member of the football team. He is one of only three men to play every minute in three different Rose Bowl games.
The location of this house was among the first to be considered for demolition when the North Mall was begun in 1937 with the new Oregon State Library. Unlike her parents' home, which was the first to fall, the Huntington house survived by being purchased and moved to 790 Winter Street, north of Union Street.
As the state expanded the Mall to construct the North Mall Office Building, the house was moved again, this time to join six other historic homes in the North Mall Heritage Park.

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 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.