A Century Ago, a Gas Station and Hotel on Corner of State and High

Wednesday the Mill posted a nice picture of the corner of State and High before the New Bligh Building and Capitol Theater was built.

Union Oil gas station, c.1925
(detail WHC 2016.090.0001.041)

Images of this part of State Street hadn't circulated much, and it is interesting to highlight it a little.

Behind the service station you can see one of Salem's early hotels. It had multiple names and owners, and an early one was Cook's Hotel.

Cook's Hotel, c. 1890 (Oregon State Library)

Throughout early  1889

Later, at the time of the gas station, I believe it was called the Salem Hotel.

The hotel was set back from the corner, and there was a decent-sized lawn or field there.

Cook's Hotel, corner of State and High, c.1900-1910
(detail, Oregon State Library)

T. G. Bligh purchased the corner lot with the hotel in 1919 and there was at least one more purchase for lots on the alley a little later. (You can see two houses behind the street trees.) The corner lawn area had room for a gas station, and in early 1920 one opened.

September 24th, 1919

February 11th, 1920

You can see the gas station on the right in the image below, and centered in next image. Also the loss of street trees compared to the earlier image, taken above from the Grand Theater.

State Street looking southwest from Court House
on alley between High and Church, c. 1925
WHC 2016.090.0001.018

State and High looking southeast from Masonic building
c.1925 WHC 2016.090.0001.041

T. G. died in 1924 and son Frank took over the project. The gas station didn't last long, and it was removed in early 1926. The Buzz Shop seems to have been a Kodak photography shop, and that might be interesting to look into another time.

February 7th and February 27th, 1926

That fall the Capitol Theater opened on the alley and the New Bligh Building opened shortly afterwards. (The Elsinore also opened at this time, so there was a real burst right on this block.)

October 5th, 1926

A little later in 1939 (Salem Library Historic Photos)

Epilogue and Icarus are on the ground floor of the New Bligh now, and our MPO has offices above. The Capitol Theater is a parking lot now. 

The sites of early gas stations downtown might be interesting to consider some time, and maybe that will be another post. All this is also another reminder that our "historic" downtown is nearly all of it second-generation redevelopment, masonry buildings that replaced wood-frame buildings.

The historic sign on the High St. entry