Romance
Romance: Stories of Love and Passion in the Mid-Willamette Valley Coming January 2019 Hedda Swart and Ruth Elizabeth Brown Swart. Wedding Photo. WHC [...]
September 2018
Beans Delayed Start of Salem Schools in 1953
Beans Delayed Start of Salem Schools in 1953 Beans? Yes. Beans. The hot topic at the Salem School Board meetings in July of 1953 [...]
Belle Passi
Neill and Esther Johnson, Belpassi pioneers. Used with permission from Ancestry.com - MGB Family Tree. It was late August 1851, a miserably wet [...]
August 2018
Samuel E. Tolman – Woodmen of the World Headstone
There is something so poignant about sifting thru a probate packet at the Oregon State Archives. The remainders of a human life reduced to [...]
Movies Come to Salem
Movies Got a Slow Start in Salem This summer’s exhibit at the Willamette Heritage Center looks at how technology changed our community between 1880-1920. [...]
Boys of Summer: Baseball in the Mid-Willamette Valley
In 1867, members of Edward E. Dodge’s Salem “Town Nine” challenged the Salem “College Lads” to a game of baseball where the Marion County [...]
Salem U.S.O. the “It” Spot in WWII
Salem U.S.O. One of Salem’s USO buildings. Look familiar? It is now the offices for Sherman, Sherman, Johnnie & Hoyt, LLP, on the [...]
July 2018
Charles E. Couche – Rivercrest Jersey Farm
On a tour of the new Yesterdayland: Innovations of the Past exhibit at the Willamette Heritage Center I found myself stumped by a set [...]
Salem Water Woes Nothing New
What is the answer to the water pollution problem faced by the city of Salem? Photo Postcard showing artisian spring. c. 1920. Despite [...]
June 2018
Steam Cookers – the original instant pots
In preparation for our new exhibit Yesterdayland: Innovations of the Past we’ve been immersed in the history of early 20th century technology and having [...]