A theme of history and change rings in several articles in the Sunday paper today. It's a reminder that the bundled product of a print edition remains pretty neat.
 |
| Concrete imprint on a loading dock (2015) |
On the front page was news that the former Truitt Bros. cannery had a proposed sale and redevelopment project in the works.
 |
| Front page today |
A century ago they were hyping dehydration at the plant.
 |
| June 1th, 1923 |
 |
| Dehydration hype, Canning Age, January 1920 |
It ran its course, important but not quite as revolutionary or enduring as it might have at one time seemed.
The area has been of interest. Here's a proposal for mixed-use zoning from the 1997 North Downtown Plan.
 |
| 1997 North Downtown Plan |
It suggested "interim preservation of industrial uses with a
longer-term (20-30 years) transition to residential mixed use...." As it
happens, the project proposal is right in that window. (It might be fulfillment more than "a new vision.")
The significance of the Oregon Electric railroad might not be getting enough attention, though.
 |
| Mill Creek Bridge, 1913 (ODOT booklet) |
The cannery/dehydration plant wouldn't have been built there without the rail connections. And dealing with the railroad and its location in the middle of Front Street will a factor in any redevelopment plan.
On the first page of an interior section, there's a column on the newish portraits at Bush House.
 |
| Column at the Bush House |
Back in February Salem Reporter had already written some on them, but it was nice to see it in print and with photos of the installed portraits.
The column also had some additional details. The two portraits of Ben Johnson and Beatrice Morrow Cannady, Johnson associated with Southern Oregon and Morrow Cannady with Portland, invoked Oregon history generally, but didn't have much connection to Bush or to Salem specifically.
A forthcoming portrait of America Waldo Bogle, who is in the history of the Waldo family, hovers on the edge of the history of the Meyer Farm parcel, and whose marriage Bush rudely criticized in deeply racist terms, will have real connections. The gallery space - inside his house! - is named for her also. That will be moving and tremendous to see.
And further inside the paper also was an unpacking of a photographic portrait.
 |
| History column today |
It was great to read.
We'll quibble with a tiny detail of autoist triumphalism and retrojection, though.
Referring to a document from 1898, it says
The term gardener here may be a bit deceiving. Anyone with 400 bushels of potatoes is no backyard, hobby gardener. He was more likely working as a truck farmer — a specialist in vegetables that are grown to be sent to market elsewhere. The “garden truck” he mentions likely has nothing to do with a pickup, but rather his produce.
"Likely" is not at all necessary! There should be no guesswork here. "Truck" predates the motorized truck or pickup.
Salem's first car came in 1903. Here's a discussion from 1899.
 |
| February 3rd, 1899 |
A couple of months later in a national piece, they talked about the problem of market roads:
There are already several main roads on [Long Island] that are first-class; but the truck gardeners there who supply the New York market...want more macadamized ways, in order to read the stations quickly with big loads without too much wear and tear on rigs and teams.
 |
| Truck ads, 1892 and 1896 Chemawa American, April 3rd, 1903 |
Truck didn't come primarily to imply a motorized vehicle for more than a decade. Even in 1919 it was still plausible to compare "motortruck hauls" with "wagon hauls" and to see a need to argue for "motor trucks."
 |
| January 1st, 1919 |
The paper was a delight to read this morning.
Last month you may have seen the Neiman Labs piece, "The scale of local news destruction in Gannett’s markets is astonishing." Subscribe harder isn't going to save the paper from the corporate pillaging. But even without any investigative journalism in these three articles, together they are a reminder of the pleasures of a traditional newspaper and its bundled content.
Addendum, June 17th, 2023
Yesterday the paper had a preview of Juneteenth events, and one of them was the official opening of the Waldo Bogle Gallery at Bush House and the painting of America Waldo Bogle and her family.
 |
| Friday paper |
 |
| Detail, with Waldo-Bogle portrait, SJ |
 |
| The photograph on which it was based (Breaking Chains, by R. Gregory Nokes) |
3 comments:
Rereading the Bush House piece: It is striking that Bush isn't mentioned as the founder of the Statesman, the very paper in which the article appears. That's quite an elision! And in contrast with the Oregonian's big package last fall on the racism of Henry Pittock and Harvey Scott and its expression in that paper.
I was on the North Downtown Plan committee. The project took place right about the time the big mixed use project on Broadway and the concept was all the rage. However, Truit was in the midst of a big new venture to do freeze dried fruit with Kellogg, so the City did not want to offend. The language in the final plan was very cautious. But also at play was some troubles with the Broadway project and the fact that the concept was not accepted as quickly as hoped. But mixed use has lots of issue to overcome if the whole area does not transition together like South Block further north did. Can you imagine the hassle of crossing those railroad tracks to get to anywhere by foot?
On the Gannett newspaper story, have your read, "The Chain Gang" by Richard McCord? It exposed what Gannett did/is going. Before its time in predicting the demise of local papers.
(Added more on the Waldo Bogle Gallery at Bush House.)
Post a Comment