Salem in 1910

World Events

  • George V becomes King of Great Britain and Ireland on the death of his father, Edward VII, Victoria’s son.
  • Asia: Slavery is abolished in China. The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty gives Japan control over that country and the Korean Emperor abdicates. (The treaty is not formally declared void until 1965.)
  •  Neon lighting is displayed by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
  • Haley’s Comet is observed. (In Salem it was seen above Court Street from the upper balcony of the Cooke-Patton mansion.)
  • The first public radio broadcast is a live opera performance from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. NOTE: Charles Herrold of San Jose, California is considered as the first radio broadcaster. Beginning in 1909, he was on air daily, transmitting from his Wireless College to friends listening on their crystal radios. He is credited with being a pioneer in recognizing radio for entertainment.
  • African-American boxer Jack Johnson defeats white boxer James J. Jeffries in a heavyweight match. Race riots broke out across the U.S.
  • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is released in a horror film version by Edison Films. Notable new books: Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams and Howards End, E.M. Forster

In Salem
Forty years after his death, a memorial to one of Salem’s most important early pioneers, David Leslie, was created this year with the Leslie Methodist Church, built south of the city limits at the corner of Commercial and Myers Streets, near the site of the present St. Paul Episcopal Church. The parsonage (seen above in a 2008 photograph) was also constructed in 1910.
The Reverend David Leslie was prominent in the small pioneer settlement that would become Salem. In 1845, he was elected president of the board of trustees for the Oregon Institute, a school for settlers’ children. He held this position through the Institute’s transition into Willamette University and, in 1867, laid the cornerstone of Waller Hall. Leslie also was one of the founders of Salem’s Masonic Order chapter and the first chaplain of the territorial legislature. He received a sizeable portion of the Mission land claim, a section stretching between Mission and McGilchrist Streets. From Pringle Creek, the Leslie land grant extended to the Willamette Slough.

The 100 acres that included his home, barn and orchard were sold to Asahel Bush in 1860, nine years before his death. Leslie’s former home was moved to Mission and Cottage streets for the construction of the Bush house in 1877-8, but his barn was preserved. Reverend Leslie’s family life was punctuated by tragedy. His first wife, Mary Leslie, died in 1842 and was the first to be buried in a cemetery that was part of his land claim. Four of his five daughters by this marriage preceded him in death ~ two by drowning in a canoe accident. Rev. Leslie married a widow, Adelia Judson Olley, and had two more daughters, but both died in childhood.
The Leslie name is now remembered with a residential street near his property and Leslie Middle School, relocated from its original site on Howard Street to 3850 Pringle Road South.

When you visit
In 1981, the Leslie church closed and was demolished a few years later, making space for commercial buildings we see today as we drive south. However, in 1984, the parsonage was moved to 1305 Cannon Street SE to serve as a doctor’s office. Across Cannon Street is another relocated historic residence, the former home of Dr. Carleton Smith, moved here from 1153 Oak Street in the former University residential area. Dr. Smith served in WW I, was our first City Physician, a professor at Willamette University and was a state legislator. Both of these beautifully maintained Local Landmarks are in the present Morningside neighborhood.

The Leslie family is buried with Mary Leslie near her original grave in what is now Pioneer Cemetery.
It is possible that the original home, after it was moved, became the first building of the Oregon School for the Blind. It was demolished many years ago. The Leslie barn burned, but was rebuilt to continue being the offices, gift shop and galleries of the Salem Art Association.

Leslie Street is now only a fraction of its original length from the Willamette River to 12th Street, a major central section having been vacated for the Salem Hospital.

Other Events

  • Census records show the Salem population at 14,094.
  • Two schools are built in developing residential neighborhoods of North Salem, annexed to the city in 1903: Englewood School was constructed south of Garden Road (Market Street) and east of 17th Street, just north of the historic Jason Lee Cemetery. The Oregon School for the Deaf (in far grander buildings than are on the campus today) was established on Locust Street north of the present Market Street.
  • Construction began for the Jason Lee Memorial Church at the intersection of Fairgrounds Road and Jefferson Street.
  • A modest farmhouse is built on the narrow road leading to the Wallace property in West Salem now numbered 1340 Wallace Road, it is a Local Landmark, known as the Quarry House. There is no information about the original owner.
  • At 905 5th Street, along Mill Creek in the new Grant section of Salem, an English cottage was built for Fred and Nellie Broer who lived there for more than twenty years. Its architecture resembles that of the Douglas Minto house at 831 Saginaw and may have been designed by the same person.
  • The Endicott House is built at 675 Church Street, next door to the elegant D’Arcy House, twenty years its senior. This house was built for attorney Samuel M. Endicott who lived here with wife Emma until 1934. In 1945 the property was sold to Lenore Park who divided the house into two apartments calling it the Park Apartments. These houses are both in CAN-DO neighborhood have been designated as Local Landmarks.

 

Hinges-Kimball Home on Summer Street 1910
In the present location on Capitol Street 2010
  • Nearby on Summer Street, the Hinges family moved into a new home. Mrs. Hinges was the daughter of pioneer Josiah Parrish, mother of Hallie Parris Hinges, a noted local vocalist. Moved for the construction of the North Capitol Mall, it is now located on Capitol Street. It is remarkable that the house exterior is so unchanged after more than a hundred years. (It has been painted since this photograph.) An aerial photograph taken this year shows the Piety Hill neighborhood of the Hinges home and so many other prominent Salem families of that time.
  • South of downtown in the Fairmount area of the present SCAN neighborhood, the Cusick House is built at 415 Lincoln Street (See 1978 photo). This is a white, Edwardian-era mansion with wrought iron fencing and a large circular porch with square columns. Built by Dr. William A. Cusick, a prominent physician of the 1920s, it was occupied by his widow, Maria, for many years after his death. One of Salem’s outstanding residences, it is a National Register property.
  • In the present SESNA neighborhood, the modest Martin House is built at 1548 Lee Street. This property and surrounding lots were sold to J. W. Roork in 1891 and then, in the same year, this lot was sold to F. M. Rinehart. These were the first of many quick transactions over the next twenty years when the house had nine different owners. Jessie Martin bought the property in 1921 and continued to live here into the 1950s. Miss Martin was a teacher at the Park School. This is also designated Local Landmark.
  • Further south, at the present 230 Hrubetz Road in the Faye Wright neighborhood, there is built a house that is now associated with the name Townsend, but most was probably the home of Frederick and Jeanette Kuebler. That family owned property in this rural area south of Salem and there is now a busy suburban road named for them.
  • A remarkable photograph from this year shows stern-wheeler ships in the Salem harbor.