West Salem Methodist Church, 1219 3rd. Street NW, (LL)

The congregation was organized in 1910, conducting services in a one room schoolhouse and community center. In 1921 Mrs. Joseph T. Hunt donated two lots that were later sold for the lots where the church is now located. Rev. Alexander Hawthorne was pastor of the church between 1921 and 1923 and headed the drive for building funds. Construction started in the winter of 1921 with a volunteer crew with teams of horses to dig the basement. The first 1925 meeting was held in the basement. The building completed in 1926.
(West Salem)

First Methodist Church, 600 State Street, (NR)

First Church is the oldest Methodist Church west of the Rockies. The present building was constructed between the years 1870 and 1878. It is listed as a Methodist Landmark. Its tall white steeple, 185 feet above street level, is the highest structure in Salem. A collection of church records and an exhibit of memorabilia are available for viewing by any interested visitor. See many earlier photographs of this church.
(CAN-DO)

Leslie Methodist Parsonage, 1305 Cannon Street SE, (LL)

This former parsonage of Leslie Methodist Church was built 1894 at the southeast corner of Commercial and Myers Streets on land donated by George H. and Mary Leslie Jones. She was the daughter of Rev. David Leslie who was prominent in the establishment of Salem. He received a portion of the Mission land claim, a section between Mission and McGilchrist Streets. His home and orchard were on the property sold to Asahel Bush,near this property.
The congregation was organized as a Sunday School in 1866, becoming South Salem Church. In 1889 it was renamed Leslie Methodist Church. The congregation dwindled over the years and in 1982 this building was offered for sale. The new owner, Dr. David West, moved the parsonage and restored it for medical offices that opened in the next year.

(Morningside)

The Hughes House, 480 Vista Avenue, D, Morningside

This Tudor style residence was built for J. Frank Hughes in 1933 on this several acre view lot in South Salem. After his death in 1944, the house was owned and occupied by the the son, John Hughes and his family. Upon the death of John in 1956, the house was owned by Robert and Fay Nelson and a nursery was located there in the grounds that had formerly been an extensive garden.
The builder's 1944 obituary recalls much about him and his prominent Salem family:
"Long interested in wildlife projects, Mr. Hughes was, in 1912, appointed to the first game commission by Governor Oswald West. He was for many years a member of the First Methodist Church choir. He attended Salem schools and Willamette University.

“Mr. Hughes father [John] was an early merchant of the city and one of the first painters of the vicinity, the son being associated with him in a store which stood on the present site of the Sears and Roebuck Store. His father-in-law, Virgil K. Pringle, was a pioneer shoemaker, later settling on a donation claim in the vicinity of the present Pringle School. Considerable downtown property was acquired by the elder Hughes during his business career, including holdings on South High Street and in the area where the old Chinatown was once located. Extensive tracks of farmland were also held on the South River Road, one track being the site of the present Salem Golf Club."

The interior of the house, except for a family room addition on the rear, still retains the original hardware and wood trim at doors and french windows. It is not hard to image the gracious entertaining that two generations of the Hughes family hosted here.