Today we visit the capital city of Salem, Oregon.Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk County, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County.
Salem had a population of 136,924 at the 2000 census, with an officially estimated population of 154,510 on July 1, 2008, making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties and had a combined population of 347,214 at the 2000 census. A 2007 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 378,570, the state's second largest.
The Native Americans who originally inhabited Salem, the Kalapuyans called the area Chemeketa, which means "meeting or resting place" in the Central Kalapuya language (Santiam). The original Kalapuya pronunciation of the word is Chim-i-ki-ti. When the Methodist Mission moved to the Chemeketa plain, the new establishment was called Chemeketa, but was more widely known as the Mill because of its situation on Mill Creek. When the Oregon Institute was established, the community was known as the Institute.
When the Institute was dissolved, the trustees decided to lay out a townsite on the Institute lands. It is uncertain who chose the name "Salem" for the new town, but it is believed to be one of two people: trustee David Leslie from Salem, Massachusetts, or William H. Willson who in 1850–1851 filed the plats for the main part of the city. There were many names suggested and even after the change to Salem, some people, such as Asahel Bush (editor of the Oregon Statesman), believed the name should be changed back to Chemeketa.
The name Salem is derived from the semitic words (Arabic salam and Hebrew shalom) for peace. The Vern Miller Civic Center which houses the city offices and library has a public space dedicated as the Peace Plaza in recognition of the names by which the city has been known.
It is estimated that the Willamette Valley area has been inhabited for 5,000 years. The Kalapuyan peoples would gather on the plateau east and south of the current downtown area in the winter and establish camps. They fished and harvested in the streams and fields of the area. One staple of life was the camas root and periodically the Kalapuya would set fires that would clear and fertilize the meadows where it grew.
The first people of European descent arrived in the area as early as 1812; they were trappers and food gatherers for the fur trading companies in Astoria, Oregon.
The first permanent American settlement in the area was the Jason Lee Methodist mission (1840) located in the area north of Salem known as Wheatland. In 1842, the missionaries established the Oregon Institute (the forerunner of Willamette University) in the area that was to become the site of Salem. In 1844, the mission was dissolved and the town site established.
In 1851, Salem became the territorial capital after it was moved from Oregon City. The capital was moved briefly to Corvallis in 1855, but was moved back to Salem permanently that same year. Salem incorporated as a city in 1857 and with the coming of statehood in 1859 became the state capital.
Oregon has had three capitol buildings in Salem. A two-story state house, which had been occupied for only two months, burned to the ground in December 1855. Oregon's second capitol building was completed in 1876 on the site of the original. The Greek revival-style building was based in part on the U.S. Capitol building. The building received its distinctive copper dome in 1893. Tragically, fire claimed the second Oregon capitol building on April 25, 1935. The third and current Oregon State Capitol was completed on the same site in 1938. It is recognizable by its distinctive pioneer statue atop the capitol dome that is plated with gold-leaf and officially named the Oregon Pioneer.
Agriculture has always been important to Salem and the city has historically recognized and celebrated that in a number of ways. In 1861, Salem was chosen as the permanent site of the Oregon State Fair by the Oregon State Agricultural Association. Salem is nicknamed the "Cherry City", because of the past importance of the local cherry growing industry. The first cherry festival in Salem was held in 1903 and was an annual event, with parades and the election of a cherry queen, until sometime after World War I. The event was revived briefly as the Salem Cherryland Festival for several years in the late 1940s.
1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
1356 - Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored.
1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo.
1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
1788 - The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides Botany Bay is unsuitable for location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1841 - Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
1937 - Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin agree on the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
1945 - Hungary ends its involvement in the Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
1961 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as the youngest man, and first ever Roman Catholic to become elected President of the United States.
1968 - The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.
1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
1990 - Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
1992 - Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.
1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.
2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2009 - Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the first African-American ever to hold the office.
1 comment:
Dr. Dad - I just wanted to compliment you on this site. The amount of work you do to travel, photograph, edit and document is incredible. I stop by fairly often just to see where you've been and I'm always amazed. Keep up the great work! It's appreciated.
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