The Reynolds family were apparently the first owners of this house c. 1905 according to city records. John Reynolds was Dean of the Willamette Law School 1902-1907 and was instrumental in organizing North Salem prune farming ~ perhaps on this property. The present owners (since 1976) had to take down one old prune tree that was 100 years old.
Records previous to the construction of the house, show that in the late 1800s the property was passed, in various combinations of ownership, among female members of the WU faculty and Pres. Van Scoy. All were active in the women suffrage movement.
L. R. Peebles was a carpenter/builder who owned the house from 1911 to 1919. The house was plumbed and wired in 1922. In the 1920s, the Rankin family probably built the structure in the rear which appears to have been used to develop photographic film for a son’s business. A photograph of the property was taken in 1929. Other owners, before 1976, were Harriet Chenowith and her husband and John Stapleton.
(Highland)
(Highland)