August 15 & 22, 2019 Episodes

We often hear of "founding fathers," but isn't it realistically more correct to refer to our predecessors  as "founding families," since it takes an entire family to create a lasting impression on a community? Such is the case of the Holly Jackson family whose three-plus generations continue to be an integral part of the life of our town.  Ralph Jackson, Holly's youngest son, joined us today to share his family's story of living and working here in Salem.

Holly Jackson was born in Minnesota in 1903 into a family that would soon leave to establish a homestead and farm wheat in Saskatchewan, Canada. They later moved to California, and Holly came to Salem in 1930 when he accepted the position of watchmaker for Pomeroy & Keene Jewelers at 379-383 State Street, a position he would hold for 13 years. His watchmaker station is still situated in the left-hand corner of that building, now the home of the Ma Valise retail store. This building began its life as a boarding house in 1860 and was remodeled into the jewelry and optical store, a frequently found combination, in 1923.

Even though they owned and operated a city business, Holly & Ellen Jackson and their three boys, Philip, Clark and Ralph, lived a country lifestyle on 20 acres at the southern end of Salem where they grew and harvested their own hay to sustain their many horses. They were instrumental in forming the Salem Saddle Club. Ellen's family background includes a long association with the St Paul Rodeo, and Ellen and Holly became life members and were the official event timers for 13 years.

Since Holly was a member of the Oregon Mounted Posse & Governor's Guard for many years, the family enjoyed many horse-centered camping trips. The Posse also participated in many parades and celebrations. Once the store closed on Saturdays, the family could be often found camping at Detroit Lake or skiing up at HooDoo. Bill was a member of the "Blue Angels (along with Bill Johnston and  Mike Parker), an unofficial racing team who turned their baseball hats backwards and sped down the hill, run after run. Ralph boasted that he has skied every year since the age of 4 (also when he learned to ride horses) and, even with two artificial hips, continues to do so every year. 

By 1970, sons Phil and Ralph joined the family business. Both attended the Gemological Institute of America, as well as taking additional college classes in business, and became certified gemologists. When Holly passed away in 1994, the "boys" had a firm handle on running the business.

​Phil and Ralph purchased the building outright in 2001. Ralph's sons Tyler and Brett would follow the family footsteps through those doors within the decade, carrying on the tradition of expertise, and integrity into a third generation. The 1902 building underwent a comprehensive renovation in 2007, ensuring it will continue its useful life for many more years to come.

As we have interviewed longtime area families in our Yesterday's Voices series, a common thread we've found is their conscious choices to build a strong family foundation in their home community, to build an integral business that cares about its customers and supports its neighboring businesses, and to build a reputation of quality and integrity that will live on through future generations.  We hope that many future generations will continue to encounter area businesses based on these concepts, so well demonstrated by the Jackson family.  

August 1, 2019 Episode.

Historic preservation is alive and well in Salem, Oregon. The City of Salem's Historic Preservation Officer and Staff Archaeologist Kimberli Fitzgerald joined us to tell us about current and future projects going on all around us.

The Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) recently reviewed several proposals for alterations and new construction in our Downtown Salem Historic District. One that many of us are following is the project at 120 Commercial Street NE, formerly the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant and Alessandro's before that. Back in 1867, this was the site of Durbin Bros. Livery & Barn, as shown in the photograph above, followed by Minto & Lowe Livery in 1888, a hardware and stove shop in 1890, YMCA Rooms in 1895, and an electric painting company and photo shop in 1926. [For a photo history of the building, click here.] Current plans call for a restaurant on the ground floor with other uses on the upper floor. To read the entire staff report, click here.

Another character-defining resource in the Downtown Historic District is the Pomeroy-Keene Building at 379-383 State Street, just west of the Gray Building. This 1860s building began as a boarding house and was renovated into retail spaces by Charles Pomeroy and A.A. Keene in 1926, adding the marble and wood storefront. They used one half of the building from 1926-1994 for their jewelry and optical business. The west portion was later renovated for the Ma Valise store we know today. 

Although the marble and wood storefront was not original to the building, it has become a significant defining element that is certainly worth restoring. We applaud the current owners for being such responsible stewards of this lovely building that has been such a part of our downtown landscape. You can check out the HLC decision here.

Additionally, the City is continuing the project of daylighting Pringle Creek with the section on the west side of the Commercial Street bridge, an area formerly known as the Boise Cascade property, which will extend the pedestrian connection to Minto Island. Because the area along the waterfront from the Mill Creek on the north to Pringle Creek on the south has been a pre-history gathering area for Kalapuyan tribal bands, the City and three area tribes will be providing oversight to determine any archaeological impacts.  

As part of the city's long range planning efforts, staff will be working on the periodic review of the Comprehensive Plan. A component will be a review of the ten-year-old Historic Preservation Plan and subsequent recommendations to the historic preservation building code. The first part is a very important public survey to gather input from the public on how it perceives and values its historic resources. Stakeholder and technical advisory committees will be established to work on points garnered from the survey. This survey as well as a description of the full process for this update project can be accessed by this link.

Ending her report on a most positive note, Kimberli related that a buyer has come forward for the A.L. Gilbert/Zero Polaire house at 1970 Water Street NE. This home was built by A.L. Gilbert (no relation to the Gilbert Children's Museum family) in 1880 and was later purchased in 1926 by Zero Polaire (aka Martin Baker) who then lived in the house until 1950. The Salvation Army is the current owner and has recently sold the house to a couple who have expressed intentions to restore the home to its original form. We hope to have these new owners on our show in the near future.  

We are so lucky in Salem to have city staff who are passionate about our history and interpreting that story for future generations. To hear more of what Kimberli had to tell us about what's happening now and what's planned for the future, check out the podcast of this episode.