Oregon State Hospital Kirkbride “U” Building 2008

In Salem
In this year, Salem is introduced to the Kirkbride building of the new Oregon State Hospital. Located at 2600 Center Street NE, it stood in expansive grounds. Envisioned as an ideal sanctuary for the mentally ill, it promised to promote a healthy environment and to convey a sense of respectability. But growing patient populations and insufficient funding led to unfortunate medical conditions, impeding this goal. Over the years, much of the oldest section of the hospital became unusable and unsafe. In 2008, when this photograph was taken, the state planed an extensive renovation. In the same year, the entire campus of this 1883 institution was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now returned to a red brick color.

When you visit
The campus is open to cars and all the walking paths are usable.  The new facility features a different treatment model and most of the older buildings on the south side of Center Street, in progress of renovation for several years, have been demolished and replaced. The cupola seen here, a landmark in Salem, was taken down for repair and returned to its place.  Only the front section of the “J” building was preserved and a Museum of Mental Health was created just inside the former main entrance.

Other events

• Andrew Kelly is elected mayor and will serve for two years.
• Salem Engine Company No. 3 is created in March. Equipped with the Hunneman hand pumper from Tiger Engine Company No. 2 and a hose cart. This pumper can be seen at Fire Station No. 5. It is also featured in our post entitled Fire Station Museums.
• Dr. Daniel Payton, who was one of the organizers of the Willamette University Medical School in 1866, retires from his local practice of gynecology this year. At the university he had served as Chair of the new medical specialty, Obstetrics and Diseases of Woman and Children, holding that position for thirteen years.

Rockenfield house in its original Court Street Location

• The Rockenfield House is built on the northeast corner of Court and Summer Streets, across from State House. Originally owned by C.S. Rockenfeld and his wife Sally, it later became the home of Henry Bean, Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. In 1937, two years after the State House burned, the state purchased this property and moved the house to 755 Capitol Street to make room for the gardens adjacent to the new State Library. In 1991, during the further expansion of the Capitol Mall for construction of the State Archives, the house was moved to its present location. In the next year it opened as a part of the A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village. After a colorful renovation, it continues to be an attractive part of our cultural community.
• A prison break at the State Penitentiary in July of this year (prior to the building of a brick stockade to enclose the facility) resulted in five casualties; fourteen prisoners broke through the first gate, four convicts were killed outright, another died during recapture.
• Quinaby Station on the Oregon Electric Railway was named after one of the most colorful Indians in the region. In 1854, when all the Indians in the Valley were removed to the new reservation at Grand Ronde, Quinaby decided life was much more comfortable in Salem. So, despite regulations to the contrary, Quinaby, who was about 50 at the time, mounted his old horse and headed for Salem on the Fourth of July. He arrived shouting praises of the Great White Father in Washington, D. C. Actually, he expected to share in the barbecue he knew was held annually on that date. Unfortunately, it wasn’t held that year. That didn’t stop Quinaby, who scrounged food from his white friends, reminding them of how he had stood up for the whites in the early days. He lived in Salem for about 30 years, cadging food, conducting Indian gambling games and being generally accepted by the populace. “Chief” Quinaby died this year.
• This year the Oregon School for the Blind found its third new home. Opened in 1873, it had closed twice, but now reopened with C. E. Moore as superintendent on 12th Street between Ferry and State. The school’s mission–to provide a residential facility for the state’s blind people to receive training in self-help skills, language development, and work skills–remained the same. Physical education was also emphasized as “in many cases the cause which produced blindness brought also a weakening of the entire constitution.” Music and debating societies were featured activities, and, just as with the other Salem institutions, a small garden and orchard was attached to the facility to provide food for the table and employment for the older students. A library stocked with books in Braille had, almost from the school’s first inception provided reading opportunities for the boys and girls, men and women.