The Capitol City of the State of Oregon is Salem, located in the middle of the Willamette Valley at about latitude 45, about 50 miles south of Portland, the largest city in the State.(D5) The Willamette River flows through the city, although the majority of the city's population lives on the east side of the river. Most of the State's government buildings, including the domed Capitol building, are located in Salem.

The earliest settlers in the Willamette Valley, in the early 1800's were mountain men and many were French-Canadians. The dispute between the United States and Great Britain over the 'Oregon Territory' was settled in 1846 by President Polk, who was elected in 1844 using the slogan 'Fifty-four forty or Fight', which meant that the northern U.S. territory boundary must be at latitude 54, or the U.S. would fight Great Britain. The Oregon Territory then was established in 1848 The first governor of this territory was a businessman from Ohio named George Abernethy. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, and many settlers left Oregon to search for gold, but Congress passed the Donation Land Act of 1850, which gave large tracts of free land to settlers. My own gggrandfather, Jesse George Huffman, had brought his family from Missouri, by ox wagon to the Willamette Valley north of Aurora in 1847, but being too early a settler, he did not benefit from this act.

The area where Salem is now situated was originally called Chemeketa by the local Native Americans. The meaning of this word is believed to be 'meeting place' or 'resting place' or both. A local band of the Calapooya Indians were also called the Chemeketa. The name has remained in the present city, as Chemeketa Community College and Chemeketa Street. In the years 1840 and 1841, the Mission founded by Jason Lee was moved from its original location near the Willamette River (D6) to a place about ten miles upstream on the Chemeketa plain, and many improvements were started on the mission. The new establishment was called Chemeketa, but it would soon be known as the Mill, because its location on Mill Creek. In 1842, the missionaries founded the Oregon Institute(1) with a building which was started there. After that time, the place was frequently spoken of as the Institute.

The naming of the settlement as Salem is disputed by two historical sources. Bancroft, who wrote History of Oregon, says on page 222, that when the mission was dissolved in 1844, some of the settlers decided to lay out a townsite on the Institute lands. The president of the trustees, David Leslie, then named the place Salem, after his home town of Salem, Massachusetts. However, Leslie M. Scott, in his History of the Oregon Territory, p. 298, says the place was named by W.H. Willson. There is some consensus among early historians that Leslie had named the settlement. The name Salem comes from the Anglicized version of the Hebrew word Shalom, which means 'peace'.

The first post office was established there on Nov. 8, 1849, and the first postmaster was J.B. McClane. On March 3, 1849, the hero of the Mexican war, General Joseph Lane, had been appointed by President Polk to be the governor of the territory, arrived at Oregon City and proclaimed that Oregon country was now an official Territory of the United States. The original Oregon Territory included the present States of Washington and Oregon, and parts of Idaho and Montana. The first plats for the land surveys of Salem were filed in 1850-51.

In Dec., 1953, the territorial legislature attempted to change the name from Salem to Thurston or Valena. One legislator, Chester N. Terry, petitioned to have the name changed to Corvallis, but after much hearty debate, the name of Corvallis was given to the community in Benton County, site of Oregon State University. This latter community had been known as Marysville until that time. Other names which were suggested for the Salem community were Chemawa, Willamette and Bronson, and the names Pike and Victoria were also mentioned, but after considerable argument and debate, the legislature simply postponed the vote until Jan., 1854.(2)

Salem was not the first capitol of The Oregon Territory. Instead, the provisional government met at Oregon City by the famous Willamette Falls, in 1844. In 1851, an act was passed to move the capital to Salem, but in 1855, it was moved to Corvallis, but then moved back to Salem that same year. The reason for the move to Corvallis was a conflagration which destroyed the original capitol building, but a new statehouse was constructed quickly, but it burned down also on Dec. 31, 1855. Salem became the official capitol in 1860.(3)(A)(B)(C)

On March 15, 1859, the ship Brother Jonathan sailed into Portland with the news that Oregon had become the 33rd state, officially on February 14, 1859. By 1860, the population of Salem had risen to about 1, 100, and by 1870, it had doubled to over 2,000. A great spurt of population occured from 1900 to 1910 when the number of those living in Salem went from 4,258 to 14, 094. By 1920, the population had grown to 17, 679, and by 1950, there were over 43,000 people. By 1970, it had grown to 68,725, to 89,233 in 1980, 107,793 by 1990, and by the year 2000, the population of Salem was about 130,000. Salem is the second largest city in the State of Oregon, slightly ahead of third place Eugene, with an corporate limits of forty four square miles. About 13,000 full-time employees work for the State government. Salem has been nationally recognized as an All-America City twice, in 1960-61 and 1982-83. The oldest University on the West coast, Willamette University, founded in 1851 by missionary Jason Lee, is located near down town Salem. .

1. This institute building was probably the original building of Willamette University
2. Salem was incorporated as a city by an act of the legistlature, which defined its boundaries. It was approved and made a law on October 15, 1862.
3. The Capitols of Oregon were a) Champoeg (Old spelling- Champooick) in Marion County from Feb., 1841 to 1845; b) Willamette Falls or Oregon City in Clackamas County from February 19, 1845 to February 1, 1851; c) Salem in Marion County from Feb. 11, 1851 to Feb. 28, 1855; d) Marysville or Corvallis in Benton County, from March 1, 1855 to December 14, 1855; e) Salem in Marion County from December 15, 1855 to the present.
A. The Oregon Constitutional Convention was held from August 17 to November 8, 1857.- The constitution included Article 14 which stated that for the seat of govenment- the legislative assembly does not have authority to establish a permanent seat of government- provisions were made for the electorate to vote on it and the proclamation of December 14, 1857 said that the vote on November 9, 1857 was Yes- 7,195 and No- 3,195 to adopt this constitution.
B. During the legistlative session on December 10 to 17, 1855, the following cities were considered and rejected as potential Capitol cities: Eugene, Roseburg and Albany.
C. According to the note following PP1 GF Art. 14 of Oregon's Constitution: At the general election in June of 1864, the vote was Salem- 6,108 votes, Portland0 3,863 votes, Eugene- 1,588 votes & all other cities- 577 votes for the permanent seat of government (Capitol City) of Oregon.
D. The Oregon Territory on July 5, 1843 at Champoeg on the Willamette River, divided the territory into four districts- 1) Twality- N. of the Yamhill River; 2) Yamhill- S. of the Yamhill River to Latitude 42, West of Willamette River; 3) Clackamas- All of the land not included in the other 3; and 4) Champooick- N. from the mouth of the Pudding River to the Rocky Mountains, W. by the Willamette River; S. by the boundary of the State of California and the USA, E. by the summit of the Rocky Mountains. 5) Originally, Salem was entirely on the East side of the Willamette River, with the small town of Wet Salem on the West side and a railroad bridge spanned the Willametter River at the center of Salem. The two towns merged to form the larger city of Salem in the early 1950's, and by that time, two more bridges carried highway traffic over the river, to the south of the railroad bridge. 6) The original site of the Mission was on High St. in Salem, near the intersection of High St. and Liberty St. N.E., where there is a marker commemorating the beginning of Salem