Southeast Salem

Southeast Salem's location just south of the city's historic train station on a network of horse-drawn and electric trolley routes that stretched across the city made it the perfect place for the waves of new residents who flocked to the area in the early 1900s to get their start. Today, the century-old houses they built in this neighborhood – one of three recognized by the Salem Heritage Neighborhood Program – continue to serve the city's residents with a convenient location.

When Salem's first train station opened just outside its downtown business district in 1871, it offered a direct link between the burgeoning city and Portland. The people who took advantage of this connection built their houses in the neighborhood's northwest corner where they could take advantage of the horse-drawn and electric trolley lines that ran down Southeast Salem's northern border on State Street, its western border on 12th Street, and its southern border on Mission Street. Add this to a combination of natural and man-made streams that attracted canneries, dairies, and woolen mills to the neighborhood's southern half, and you've got the makings for a strong community that could stand the test of time.

The neighborhood's residential development remains concentrated in its northwest corner. Here, you'll find a variety of housing styles that were popular before World War II, including white Cape Cods with dormer windows and light-blue arched doors, Craftsman houses with arts and crafts decorations and prominent front porches, English cottages with their sloping rooflines, and four-squares with the boxy shape you'll see all over the Pacific Northwest. You'll also find tiny bungalows and ranch-style houses on the neighborhood's fringes or a lot that once held an older building. These houses, which fetch $250,000 to $450,000 depending on their condition, sit on smaller, 4,000 to 8,000-square-foot lots that rarely feature a driveway or a garage. Mature oak and maple trees line the neighborhood streets and often crack the sidewalks running alongside them with their roots.

Children who live on the east side of 17th Street will attend Richmond Elementary School, which has served the community since 1912, while those on the west side of 17th Street will attend Bush Elementary School, which was built in 1936 and replaced with a new building in 2005. From here, they'll move on to Leslie Middle School and South Salem High School, which received an A- on Niche.com and was named the greater Salem area's best high school. The neighborhood also borders Willamette University, a small, private liberal arts college that, at the very least, could provide tutors for children who might need them.

Just south of this college's campus is the sprawling, 90-acre Bush's Pasture Park, where you'll find an amphitheater, baseball fields, horseshoe pits, a Rhododendron Garden, and the only official soapbox derby track west of the Mississippi. The much smaller Lee Park offers a basketball court, a basic playground and a walking trail at the neighborhood's center. And, the 100-acre Cascades Gateway Park features an off-leash dog area, a disc golf course, and an access point to Wirth Lake between Interstate 5 and the Salem Municipal Airport at the neighborhood's eastern boundary.

The neighborhood's two grocery stores , a Walmart Supercenter and a Costco, are also at the neighborhood's eastern edge. Meanwhile, its restaurants cluster together west of 17th Street. The Taproot Old Mill Café's location in the old Thomas Kay Woolen Mill offers the unique opportunity to learn about the city's history while enjoying pulled pork hash, cinnamon roll pancakes, and bottomless mimosas. Head a little deeper into the neighborhood's industrial area, and you can pair a proper fish & chips with one of Santiam Brewing's classic English ales, grab a bacon cheeseburger or a sriracha shrimp wrap from the Black Sheep Café for lunch, or try the pork bistek and other Filipino entrees served by at The Manila Fiesta restaurant.

Nearly 150 years ago, Southeast Salem served its community by providing a flood of new residents a place where they could live and work. It lives up to this legacy today by being a great place to call home.

Written By

Mac Mclean

Photography Contributed By

John Othic