History! Grant Walking Tour and Mission Mill World War II Event Today

The Grant neighborhood and Mission Mill have history on tap today.

So this is a little late, but it's been making the rounds some on social media, and maybe you already know about it.

As part of their plot for world domination, the biking and walking propagandists with ODOT and Cherriots have organized an historic walking tour of the Grant neighborhood for this morning.

You may remember that the Grant neighborhood just wrapped up a brochure on housing types and it has a brief bit of history in it.

Houses of Grant Neighborhood

In addition to talking about some of the individual houses and architectural styles, there will also I'm sure be a walk down some of the most interesting alleys in Salem, the H-alleys of Oaks Addition.

The H-alleys of Oaks Addition

The poster features the 1928 Bethel Baptist Church, the current home of Evergreen Church, as well as the old Grant School, now replaced by the current building.

Marker at the childhood home of Herbert Hoover

And even though it's in Highland, not Grant, no tour is complete without the childhood home of Herbert Hoover, remodeled now beyond recognition.

I'm sure there will be much more.

The walk and talk meets at 10am, today Saturday the 11th, at the North Mall Heritage Park off D Street. (Click on the poster at top for a locator map.)

World War II at Mission Mill

From 10am to 4pm today the 11th, Mission Mill has an event on World War II history.

As the propaganda-style imagery in poster might suggest, and recent flag debates confirm, the word "heritage" is a bit of a loaded term, and the history of Vanport and the Japanese Internment Camps are also an important part of our local heritage. They will be featured in short talks during the event.

12:15 Gordon Nagai Japanese Internment Camp
12:45 Linda Tamura A Sensei Daughter
-and-
2:30 Ed Washington Vanport Revisited

Classmates #1, Roger Shimomura
(via Hallie Ford Museum of Art)

There will also be tales of "Scrappo," our wartime monument to scrap and recycling.

Scrappo in front of the Courthouse, 1942
(Salem Library Historic Photos)

Climate change deserves the same level of mobilization. Here are some favorite contemporary propaganda posters.

The Victory Garden of Tomorrow

Script and Seal