1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Salem (Oregon)

SALEM, the capital of Oregon, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Marion county, on the east bank of the Willamette river, 52 m. S.S.W. of Portland. Pop. (1900), 4258, including 522 foreign-born; (1910) 14,094. It is served by the Southern Pacific railway, by the Oregon Electric line (to Portland), and by a steamship line to Portland. The city is in the centre of the Willamette Valley, a rich farming and fruit-growing country. It has wide, well shaded streets, and two public parks. Among the public buildings and institutions are the State Capitol, the State Library, a city public library, the county court-house, the Federal building, the state penitentiary and several charitable institutions. Salem is the seat of Willamette University (Methodist Episcopal, 1844), an outgrowth of the mission work of the Methodist Episcopal church begun in 1834 about 10 m. below the site of the present city; of the Academy of the Sacred Heart (Roman Catholic, 1860) and of two business colleges. Immediately north of the city at Chemawa is the Salem (non-reservation) government school for Indians, with an excellently equipped hospital. Water power is derived (in part, by an 18 m. canal) from the Santiam, an affluent of the Willamette river. The city is a market for the produce of the Willamette Valley. The settlement here, gathering about the Methodist mission and school, began to grow in the decade 1840-1850. Salem was chartered as a city in 1853, and in 1860 was made the capital of the state. It grew rapidly after 1900, and its territory was increased in 1903.