Salem History Moment

October is National Community Planning month where we celebrate the role that planning plays in creating great communities. Our first planning commission was established in 1925 after a significant period of growth. Please join us as we celebrate Community Planning month, and the role that planning plays in creating great communities at Salem’s 4th Annual Planner Palooza on October 15, at 4:30 p.m...

The City of Salem has celebrated Indigenous People’s Day since 2021 to honor Native Americans and recognize significant indigenous people and their contributions to our community. Chemawa opened in Salem in 1885, and while it has a difficult history, this school currently focuses on fostering student achievement while honoring tribal cultural identity. Historically, Chemawa Indian School’s Athleti...

This weeks Salem History Moment highlights the work the City has completed this year on Human Rights in Salem, including a historic research report about how Salem’s policies have impacted underserved communities since 1857. We also share the results of Salem’s Human Rights Commission’s annual Community Belonging Survey, Salem Police Department’s new use of force policies as well as the results of...

September 15th is the start of National Hispanic Heritage month. This week in September was consciously chosen to coincide with Independence Day celebrations in several Latin American Countries. Here in Salem,O regon’s Latino Leadership Network, celebrated the 16th anniversary of the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast & Summit at the Salem Convention Center on September 15. The Urban Art...

Salem’s 47th Annual Capital Pride in the Park Festival will be held on September 20th, to celebrate the LGBTQIA2S community in Salem. In the past few years, the Grand Ronde Museum has held several art exhibits honoring queer indigenous history including an exhibit about Shimkhin, a Two Spirit healer who lived in the 19th Century. Two Spirit is a term used by some Native American communities to des...

The first Salem Art Fair sponsored by the Salem Art Association was celebrated in 1949. The first Art Fairs in Salem were celebrated at Willson Park, near the Capitol Building before they were held at Bush’s Pasture Park. However, before SAA’s Art Fair there was an annual Salem Art Fair held in November from the late 1930s through the early 1940s. These were held at the Salem community Art Center...

This week many children, college students and teachers are heading back to school. In Salem in the 19th century the first schoolhouse was a log cabin, and the school year was shorter than it is now, and only for elementary school. By the turn of the century, Salem had grown to have five schools, but they were all of wood, and susceptible to fire. By 1909, the Salem community voted to fund the cons...

The first fair for the Oregon Agricultural Society was held at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds, near Oregon City on the 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th days of October in 1861. The Weekly Oregon reported on June 28, 1862 that the Board of Managers for the Oregon State Agricultural Society, meeting in Salem on June 16, 1862, decided to hold the second State Fair at the Fairgrounds of the Marion County Society...

Englewood was the first Park to be purchased by the City in 1926 and how this came about was a bit of a controversial story. Regardless of this controversy, Salem’s first park had been acquired and in 1936 the first Parks Committee was established by the Council. Elisabeth Lord, of Lord and Schryver, was one of three members who were appointed to manage Salem’s first 8 parks. Englewood Park Forest...

100 years ago this week, on July 29, 1925, the first man from Marion County entered prison for violating prohibition laws. He was the first to be sentenced to the Oregon state prison. Amy Platt wrote “The Moon Shines on the Moonshine” An Oregon Bootlegging Story for the Oregon Historical Society in 2020 and she shares a story about a bootlegging adventure on the Oregon coast in 1932 which went awr...

During World War II there was also a Women’s reserve of the US Coast Guard during World War II called SPARS – this was an acronym derived from the Coast Guard’s motto “Semper Paratus” – meaning always ready. SPARs was established in 1942 along with the Army WAC and the Navy WAVES. To learn more about the history of the SPARS, please visit the United States Coast Guard webpage and search for the ar...

Guide Dogs for the Blind is the Largest guide dog school in North America. Since their founding in 1942, they have raised and trained over 16,000 Guide dogs. Their services are provided free of charge to their Blind clients, including personalized training and ongoing support. Their work improves mobility for their clients, empowering people of all ages who are blind or visually impaired to make t...

May is when the annual "UFO Festival" in McMinnville is celebrated. This is the second-largest UFO festival in the nation after the one held in Roswell, New Mexico . The McMinnville UFO festival began in 1999 – and was a way to honor the 1950 sighting where two local citizens witness and photographed a UFO. The photos were printed in Life magazine by Paul and Evelyn Trent at their farm outside of...

April is World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM). Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver practiced landscape architecture together in Salem, Oregon, from 1929 to the 1969. Their firm was the first office of professional women landscape architects on the West Coast. In Salem, the Lord and Schryver Conservancy works to ensure the home gardens designed by Elisabeth Lord and Edith Schryver are maintained...

On April 5th we celebrated our 7th annual Qing Ming Festival. Qing Ming is an annual celebration where we honor the Chinese who have lived and worked in our community. This year Salem’s Mayor, Julie Hoy read the Qing Ming Proclamation and swept the Chinese community funerary table at Pioneer’s Cemetery – and also shared her connection of a relative of hers, to Helen Ng Mun Tayne, who was born here...

Salem had a Chinatown downtown from the late 19th Century through the early 20th Century. Salem's Chinese contributed significantly to Salem's community and culture during this period, with George Lai Sun serving as a key leader in this community. While Salem's Chinatown is no longer extant downtown, we still have evidence of their culture and tradition, which can still be found within Salem’s Pio...

March is Women’s History Month. 2025’s theme is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations.” Chloe Aurelia Clark was a Methodist Missionary who initially came to Oregon in 1840 and served as a Missionary teacher in Nisqually, Oregon City and Salem. Chloe reflects the intelligence, strength and resiliency of a woman from this period. Chloe was born in Connecticut, and edu...

Show notes: March is Women’s History Month. 2025’s theme is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations.” Caralyn (Carrie) B. Shelton, was the Nation’s first female Governor, who served right here in Oregon in 1909. She stepped into this role after Governor Chamberlain resigned and before Governor Benson could be sworn in. This was three years before Oregon women even had...

March is Women’s History Month. 2025’s theme is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations.” Nell Sykes was a Salem schoolteacher, who lived at 1251 Center Street NE here in Salem during the 1920s. She was a teacher in Salem Public Schools - dietician who served the American Red Cross Commission to Siberia between 1918 and 1920. To see a photo of Nell in the Library of C...

In the Spring of 1964 an 11 year old boy named Charles from Salem Oregon sent a hand written letter to Cape Kennedy in Florida. The Chief of the Aerial Phenomena Branch at the Airforce wrote back to Charles in October of that year, and the sighting became part of the thousands of reports collected by the Air Force as part of Project Blue Book, which was the code name for the systematic study of un...