Salem in 1919

World Events

  • The Civil War spreads in Russia: The Red Army, a Communist force led by Lenin is opposed by the White Army, Conservatives who want a return to a monarchist government. (“Doctor Zhivago” 1965 film based on 1957 Boris Pasternak novel.)
  • The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles with 32 nations debating Allied terms of peace and reparations to be paid by the Central Powers.
  • The League of Nations, which will meet in Geneva, is founded with a first meeting to be in January 1920. The U.S. does not join, however President Wilson is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his crucial role in establishing the League of Nations”.
  • Prohibition of alcohol is passed by Congress to becomes the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
  • Babe Ruth, a sports hero, breaks the record for most MLB home runs.
  • Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company.
  • The Dutch airline, KLM is formed (now oldest airline flying under original name).
  • President Wilson suffers a severe stroke, his condition hidden from the public: his wife makes decisions for him until the end of his term.
  • New books: Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson and The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham. Carl Sandburg publishes Corn Huskers and Ring Lardner humorously captures the perils of buying a house in Own Your Own Home.

In Salem
Robert Paulus of Salem led an effort this year to form a statewide marketing organization of fruit packers and growers, serving as sales manager of the Oregon Growers Cooperative Association. He and his wife Juanita built this home at 1155 Summer Street at about the same time. A 1927 company with brother George was the first time vegetables in any quantity had been canned in Salem. In 1942, the Paulus brothers fruit packing company in Salem was authorized to provide dried fruits and vegetables for the armed forces. Their contributions to the war effort brought them awards for outstanding accomplishment as a food processor. In 1954 they were the largest independently owned canning firm in the Northwest. The sale of the company in 1955 to Dole Hawaiian Pineapple Company marked the end of an era.When you visit
This private residence on Summer Street is a designated Local Landmark. The exterior of the house has recently been renovated after Design Review by the Historic Landmarks Commission of the Salem Community Development Department. The property includes a lot to the north that once contained a formal garden (now being renovated) possibly designed by the outstanding local landscape architects of the 1930s, Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schrvyer. The low iron fence on the street side of the property came from the Pioneer Cemetery and was purchased when it was replaced at the cemetery. This home is located on one of the last remaining residential blocks of what was once a socially prominent residential area of Salem before the expansion of the North Capitol Mall. In this Grant neighborhood, volunteers are working with the State Historic Preservation Office to prepare a nomination to establish a National Register Historic District.Other Events
  • C. E. Albin becomes mayor.
  • The record low temperature reaches six degrees below zero and the city is blanketed with 22 inches of snow.
Valley Packing Company soon after it was established in 1919

 

The former meat packing facility as it looked in 2012.
  • Curtis Cross, the Steusloff brothers and A.N. Bush establish the Valley Packing Company. The large plant occupied 55 acres just west of the Southern Pacific Railway crossing on Portland Road in an almost deserted neighborhood. It was the only U.S. Inspected full-line meat processing plant in the state outside of Portland. Cascade Meats Inc. took over the plant in 1956. In 1959, the year before it closed, there were 130 employees. This Highland neighborhood building is now used for tire storage and has an abandoned appearance from the exterior.
  • Waller Hall burns for the second time. The fire was believed to have originated in the chemical laboratory in this classroom building. The work of dragging heavy hose 500 feet through deep snow handicapped firemen. Losses on the second, third and fourth floors amounted to more than $35,000.
  • Lausanne Hall is demolished on the Willamette University Campus.
  • The American Legion establishes Capital Post No. 9 that creates a relief fund for military veterans and their families.
  • Myrtle Gilbert is selected as president of the Salem Art League, later to become the Salem Art Association. That first year the Salem Arts League held art displays, conducted classes in art, literature, and design. The Weaver’s Guild and the Writer’s Club, organizations still serving Salem artists, grew out of those early years. She died in 1970 at the age of 88, but her many local contributions to the appreciation of the arts are a living Salem legacy.
  • The Rotary Club is founded by a few business and professional men who met above Giles Wholesale Fruit Store at South High and Trade Streets. From the beginning, Wednesday luncheons were held in the Hotel Marion. The Club went to work on community projects in cooperation with the Police and Juvenile Court authorities, the Children’s Playground Project and aid in furnishing supplies and funds for the Salem hospitals.
  • President Woodrow Wilson visits Salem during a speaking tour to gain support for America’s participation in the League of Nations. It is possibly one of his last engagements: he collapsed on September 25 in Pueblo, Colorado and suffered a disabling stroke the next month. The extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death in 1924.

Capitol Journal news:

  • Salem’s new city administration pledged itself to make every effort to stamp out the flu. The spitting ordinance would be enforced and restaurants must provide straws with drinks served.
  • All doctors were against lifting the ban against public meetings. More than 200 homes were under modified quarantine. An emergency hospital capable of caring for 23 patients was in operation. Nevertheless, except for dances, the city’s ban on public meetings was revoked on January 27.
  • The 91st Division made up of men from Washington, Oregon and California and known as the “Wild West” division, broke all records for wartime acquisition of decorations> 150 distinguished service crosses, 101 French Croix de Guerre, 150 Belgium Croix de Guerre and 5 Congressional medals.
  • The Salem Cigar factory resumed making “La Corona” and “Little Salem” cigars exactly as they were made before the war. “Smoking them reminds one of old times.”