Your Salem Through the Years

This week on Your Salem Though the Years, Jim takes a walk through the "home garden" of the famous Salem landscape architects Lord and Schryver with Bobbie Dolp and Gretchen Carnaby of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy. The home garden is at their home on Mission Street which is now being acquired and preserved by the Conservancy.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years — Salem in 1908. Virginia and Jim remember the Oregon Electric Railway that made 35 trips a day between downtown Salem and Portland at a cost of 25 cents. In addition Salem had an extensive streetcar network. Join us for a look at the golden age of mass transit in Salem over a century ago.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years, Jim takes a walk through the Methodist Parsonage with Keni Sturgeon, curator at the Willamette Heritage Center. Built in 1841, the Methodist Parsonage is the second oldest frame building still standing in Oregon.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years, Jim and Virginia take a look back to Salem in 1950. In 1950, post-war prosperity meant more cars and greater need for downtown parking. Because of this, in 1950 the historic Holman Building, where the Oregon Legislature met after the first Capitol building in Salem burned down, was torn down and replaced by Salem's first parking structure.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years, Jim goes on a walkabout at Lee Mission Cemetery with Cemetery President Jim Momyer and local historian Elisabeth Walton Potter. Lee Mission Cemetery on D Street is one of two great historic cemeteries in Salem. It features the burial site of Jason Lee, the founder of Salem, and many other pioneer Methodist missionaries and their descendents.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years Virginia and Jim take a look back at Salem in 1883. This was a very important year in our town because it saw the opening of the new Oregon State Insane Asylum on Asylum Avenue (now Center Street). Despite the name, the new institution was very progressive for its time. Today we have preserved the original main building, called the Kirkbride Building, which also houses the new Museum of Mental Health.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years, Jim goes on a walkabout through downtown Silverton with Silverton local historian Gus Frederick. No one knows more about the town and its colorful personalities than Gus, and he brings it all to life in this show.

This week it's Salem in 1919. World War I has ended and the canning and packing industries in Salem are starting to take off. Robert Paulus, who built a home on Summer St. in this year, would be a leader in the industry. The Valley Packing Company, a full-line meat packing plant, was established in this year on North Portland Road. The old building still stands today.

In 1946 the site for Detroit Dam was selected and construction would be completed in 1953. Learn what this meant for the community of Detroit by listening to our show.

This week on Your Salem Through the Years it's Part 2 of a walk through the Bush House with Ross Sutherland, director of the Bush House museum. This charming photo demonstrates why today we call it Bush's Pasture Park. A century or more ago we might have seen cows grazing there. Join us to learn more about the Bush family and their wonderful historic home.