Kimberli Fitzgerald, Salem Police Department dig site, 2018 [Photo: KEF] January 17, 2019 Episode.
Sometimes when you are deeply entrenched in efforts to complete an endeavor of some sort, you might feel you are not making any headway, unexpected setbacks are clouding the process, or just that your efforts will never amount to much anyway. It's at times such as these that you need to step away a bit, take another breath, and look back to see those things that truly were accomplished. Today's guest, Kimberli Fitzgerald, the City of Salem's Historic Preservation Officer & City Archaeologist, provided us the opportunity to look back over a very busy year of discovering and preserving our rich historic legacy.
Sometimes when you are deeply entrenched in efforts to complete an endeavor of some sort, you might feel you are not making any headway, unexpected setbacks are clouding the process, or just that your efforts will never amount to much anyway. It's at times such as these that you need to step away a bit, take another breath, and look back to see those things that truly were accomplished. Today's guest, Kimberli Fitzgerald, the City of Salem's Historic Preservation Officer & City Archaeologist, provided us the opportunity to look back over a very busy year of discovering and preserving our rich historic legacy.
On the archaeology front, Salem worked on its second public archaeology project--this time at the site of the new Police Department building. When a government agency is proposing any development, federal law requires there be a study to determine that the proposed development poses no negative impact on any of the existing resources. Although this particular site was was ripe for discovery due to its proximity to the river, always the likely site of any human habitation, Kimberli accounted that the team was surprised at both the number of artifacts discovered (more than 17,000) and the eras of habitation (pre-European and forward) they represent. Some of the artifacts are now on display inside the Salem Library's Peace Plaza entrance. Here is a Salem Police Department video describing some of the artifacts that you might like to check out.
Chinese Shrine Archaeology Event, November 2018 [Photo: City of Salem] A second round of excavation was also undertaken in November at the site of the Chinese Shrine in Pioneer Cemetery. The earlier dig discovered some bricks that the team, having seen other similar shrines, suspected might be part of a ceremonial burner. By incinerating certain items at a shrine, the Chinese believe the smoke transports these items to their ancestors for use in the afterlife. Items excavated included an iron grill and more bricks that they feel certain were part of such a burner. As part of the Qing Ming ceremony last year, a scroll of the names of those interred was burned as part of the blessing ceremony. The City hopes to host a repeat of this ceremony in April 2019. [For more on the public archaeology projects, check out our Archives on the sidebar to the right for posts dated 4/18/2018, 7/19/2018, 10/4/2018 and 10/18/2018.]
 Kimberli Fitzgerald assisting citizens, Chinese Shrine event, November 2018 [Photo: CoS] |  Qing Ming Festival, Chinese Shrine, Salem, Oregon, April 2018 [Photo: CoS] |
Other accomplishments of 2018:
- the Baggage Freight Depot at the Amtrak Station, as well as its private donor Steve Kenney, received the DeMuro Award from Restore Oregon as an excellent rehabilitation project.
- the National Register documentation for the Downtown Historic District was updated with new photographs, more historical information, and the historic street addresses were sorted to match current addressing. This database should be available soon through the State Historic Preservation Office.
- the Heritage Neighborhood program with SESNA was completed with the installation of wraps depicting historical information to cover area utility vaults.
 Griswold-Murphy Building c1940, burned 2006 [Photo: salemhistory.net] Looking forward to 2019, Kimberli stated that the Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) will be reviewing two development applications that probably would interest our listeners. The first is a proposal to construct a new mixed-use building, including micro-units providing affordable housing in the downtown core, at the site of the former Murphy /McMahan's Furniture Building (1940/1970/2006) at 260 State Street. For more about this specific application, click here. |  Holman Building, Commercial & Ferry Streets, c1900 [Photo: SHINE.net] Another proposal requests approval to demolish the Marion Car Park, once the site of the Holman Building, on the northwest corner of Commercial Street SE & Ferry Street to construct a new hotel, to be named the Holman Hotel after the previous historic building, The Holman Building was the interim home for the state legislature from 1857 to 1876. Here is a Statesman Journal article by Andy Zimmerman outlining its history. For more information on this development application, click here. |
The Historic Landmarks Commission is very active in preserving our local historic resources, as well as finding ways to educate us all about these treasures that tell our community's story. For more information on the work the HLC accomplished in 2018 and their planned focus for 2019, check out their annual report to City Council.
~~Posted by Deb Meaghers
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