Chemeketa Street Evangelical Church Salem, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places Data
The Chemeketa Street Evangelical Church has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Court Street--Chemeketa Street Historic District. The following information has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 87001373
- Date Listed
- August 26, 1987
- Name
- Court Street--Chemeketa Street Historic District
- Address
- An irregularly shaped area of appr. 38.57 acres bounded by the closures of Court Street & Chemeketa St. on the west, Mill Creek on the north & east, and on the south by the rear lot lines of properties on the south side of Court St.
- City/Town
- Salem
- County
- Marion
- State
- Oregon
- Category
- district
- Level of Sig.
- local
- Areas of Sig.
- EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT; POLITICS/GOVERNMENT; ARCHITECTURE
Description
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Assessor's Map 26AC 7-3W
Tax Lot 84400-220
Owner: Fred A. and Fay Moore, % Ardith Hellemn, 4273 Penny Drive, S, Salem, OR 97302 Primary Contributing
Located on the southeast corner of Chemeketa and 17th Streets, this wood frame church is a simple rectangular structure, end-gabled, with an entry/bell tower located on the west-facing side near the northwest corner.
The church is Gothic Revival in style. Its tower is comprised of a portico with chamfered posts supporting a louvred belfry with a spire. Carpentered details, including brackets with pendants under the eaves at the corners of the main roof, panels of boarding beneath the windows, and wall moldings framing the group of three gothic windows on the north end, give the structure a distinctive, well-made quality despite the weathering and deterioration that has set in.
History
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
The building was completed in 1894 as the East Salem extension of the Zion Evangelical Church, constructed in 1866 at the corner of Center and Liberty Streets.
At a conference of 1893, Rev. I. B. Fisher was appointed to East Salem in connection with his work as presiding elder of the Albany District. He first built a temporary church of rough lumber, replaced by the current church. Rev. N. Shupp of Spokane delivered the dedication message when the new building was completed in 1894.
The downtown church became the place of worship for the many German-speaking members of the congregation, while services in English were established at the East Salem church. In 1895, membership of 107 was reported, and the annual conferences of 1906 and 1913 were held in this church. Pastors included T. R. and E. G. Hornschuch (cf.
commentary on #81 and #83).
The last Evangelical pastor of the Chemeketa Street Church was Rev. E. A. Fogg, and on July 1, 1929, this church united with Salem First church — the consolidated Evangelical church, a reunion of several groups, which made its location a structure built in 1915 at the Center and Liberty Street site.
The structure at Chemeketa and 17th was later used by the Salem Mennonite church and the LDS Reorganized church. It has been vacant for many years but is a central focal point in the District, important for its visual and historic character.
(Church history from "One Hundred Years of Evangelical Witness in Salem, 1865-1965," booklet compiled by Frank Butler, church historian).
