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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2016)
JULY 1, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11 PLACE: Architecture, age lend to significance (Continued from Page A1) Photo courtesy of the Keizer Heritage Center Willard Savage, son of William and Alwilda Savage, with the Keizer View Dairy truck in 1932. The Savages owned the property and home on Verda between 1914 and 1948. The people made Verda house a home By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The Donation Land Claim Act is likely what brought members of the Pugh family to Oregon. Enacted in 1850 by the U.S. Congress, the govern- ment offered 320 acres of land to every unmarried man and 640 acres to married couples willing to settle the Oregon Territory. Claimants were re- quired to live on and cultivate the land for four years before becoming the outright own- ers. The Pugh family camped on the Tualatin plains when they arrived in 1846, spent their first winter in Scio and migrated to Keizer where John Pugh (March 20, 1820-August 31, 1854) staked a claim that included what is now known as the cow pas- ture in the heart of Keizer. At the time, Pugh’s property stretched from Chemawa Road Northeast to Green- wood Avenue Northeast. He married Sarah Ann Claggett in 1854. They would eventually do- nate 1.5 acres of land, where the Schoolhouse Square Shopping Center now sits, for the construction of the town’s first school. The first teacher was Nina McNary. The home that currently sits on the property at 4845 Verda Lane N.E. is believed to have been constructed af- ter 1860 when a devastating flood hit the area. Neighbors reportedly told the Pughs to build on high ground and large rocks were hauled from the Santiam River to make the foundation. After John’s death, the house and 300 acres were sold to Benjamin and Mary Hall. It is possible that the home was either reconstructed or remodeled during this period. The property changed twice more before William and Al- wilda Savage purchased it in 1914. They named their farm Keizer View Dairy, and milk was delivered in the family car – first a 1923 Star and, later, a 1929 Chevrolet van. A large volume of the milk produced by the dairy went to Chema- wa Indian School. After raw milk fell out of favor, the land was used for pole bean farming. Joseph and Rosalie Herber were living in South Dakota when they de- cided to respond to the Sav- ages’ ad looking for someone to run the dairy. The Herbers brought their first child and rented the land for five years before buying it in 1948. The family stopped milk production when the price of equipping the farm for pasteurization proved too costly. Roaslie continued to live on the property until her death in 2007. The Pughs landed in Scio after completing the Oregon Trail in 1845, and moved to the Keizer area in 1850. The Pugh family ended up in possession of four donation land claims and around the Chemawa-Verda-Dearborn corridor. John was a son of the family patriarch and took possession of the land in question likely due its ability to withstand flooding – much of the property is located on a rising incline. By 1884, census reports suggest John Pugh was living in the “South Salem Precinct” and the home was sold to Benjamin Franklin and Mary Hall. An expert consulting on the ODOT report suggested that the home on the property most likely dates to the Hall era. Architectural features of the home, specifically “a gable-front-and-wing” in the classical revival style, led to the belief that it couldn't predate 1850 and likely not 1860. After some changes in ownership, William and Alwilda Savage began renting the property in 1910 or 1911 and established the Keizer View Dairy. In 1914, the Savages purchased the property. The Savages moved on by 1943 and began renting the property to Joseph and Rosalie Herber, who purchased the property in 1948. The Herbers sold off their dairy stock and focused on vegetables and beef cattle. Rosalie lived on the property until her death in 2007. TRIGGERING AN INVESTIGATION Hearings to rezone the Herber property, to allow apartments to be built there, would likely have come and gone in the usual way if not for a public records request from Keizer resident Eamon Bishop inquiring about the ODOT report. “That request directed our Member spotlight Keizer Heritage Foundation The Keizer Heritage Founda- tion, Inc. was formed in October, 1988 to move and restore the old 1916 Keizer Schoolhouse and con- vert it into a multicultural center and museum, serving Keizer and sur- rounding communities. Today the Keizer Heritage Center does just that. We are proud to asso- ciate with the Keizer Heritage Center as members of the Keizer Chamber of Commerce. In a recent conversation with Anna Scheler, Publicity and Events Manager, I learned of the rich culture stored in the Keizer Heritage Museum, the vast array of events hosted at the Center and about the little gem of a public library housed in the old schoolhouse. Visit local artifacts from area historians and local families. Exhibits are rotated—there’s a Lego collection at the museum right now! Are you looking for an old McNary High school chum? Visit the McNary room in the museum, you might just ind information about them there! Are you looking for a one-of-a-kind gift? Visit the Art Gallery for work by local artisans or just stop to admire their work. And, with summer here, stop by for an easy-read in the library. For only $10 a year you and your family can enjoy the public library. The Keizer Heritage Center is run by volunteers. JoAnne Beilke is the building manager and coordinates events for the center. With a beautiful gazebo on the premises and a venue for your wedding or meeting, don’t miss out on the opportunity to host it here. The Center has become the cultural heart of the Keizer community. Money raised including room rentals, help to inance on-going maintenance and renovation of one of Keizer’s few historic building. This year is the building’s centennial; the foundation has two upcoming events connected with celebrating this occasion. The irst one is Back to School Night with Wine Tasting (for all those who are kids at heart) on August 18th. The other is a Keizer School Reunion (November 12th) for anyone who attended classes in the schoolhouse. The foundation is also looking for photos or other memorabilia from Keizer School Alumni. There’s lots to see and do at the Keizer Heritage Center. Contact JoAnne Beilke for more information. Keizer Heritage Center JoAnne Beilke Event Coordinator/Building Manager 980 Chemawa Rd. N.E. 503-393-9660 keizerheritage.org July luncheon and new oficer installation Tuesday, July 12, Log House Gardens at Willow Lake 6075 Ulali Dr. N.E. Suite 102 | 503-393-9111 | keizerchamber.com Ad space donated by the Keizertimes attention and effort specifically bit of distance between what's to the paper trail. In hindsight, been done and what it would it would have been nice to take for the home to be listed have been more attune to on the national register.” the underlying issue, but it’s The report also concluded under standable that greater attention was Anyone can apply given to the nasty implications to have the home than on the recognized on the nuance of related i n f o r m a t i o n ,” National Registry of said Nate Historic Places, but the Brown, Keizer c o m m u n i t y owners can block the d e v e l o p m e n t application. director. Brown said city officials only discovered the report after that the home merited filing the agenda for the city elevated significance because council meeting and it meant Keizer lacks other sites of the issue had to be addressed historical significance within on the spot during the June 20 city limits. meeting. A QUESTIONABLE ODOT had to commission FUTURE the report, which was filed Even with the preliminary with the Oregon Parks and report on the books, the road Recreation Department ahead is a bit murky. (OPRD), because federal “If (a redevelopment funds were being used to project) uses all private money, install the roundabout at the there are no restrictions on intersection at Chemawa the home being torn down. If Road Northeast and Verda it's all private funds on private Lane Northeast. property, they can do whatever “As part of that project, they like within Keizer's there is a federal law that zoning code,” Johnson said. requires agencies using federal The state law only applies funds – in the case the Federal to publicly-owned properties Highway Administration – to and the federal law applies figure out how the project to anything that is federally may or may not affect historic funded, permitted or owned. properties,” said Ian Johnson, a That's not to say that some historian with OPRD. part of the project might The report concluded that return and result in a full the roundabout construction investigation. would not impact the “If the developers were to potentially historic home, but get a federal grant or if they that the home itself might had to get a federal permit, qualify for designation on the such as covering a stream National Registry of Historic with a parking lot, they would Places. have to get a permit from the That designation comes Army Corps of Engineers, with several requirements, the which would trigger a full least of which are the home investigation,” Johnson said. must be 50 years old and Anyone, property owner or maintain the majority of its not, can also apply to have the historic appearance, Johnson home considered for inclusion said. Other potential qualifiers on the national registry. include association with “However, the owner historic events and trends, may object and block the historic persons, historic nomination,” Johnson said. architecture or the ability to Moreover, there are yield research (typically the questions about the condition latter is reserved for site of of the home. archaeological significance). “As far as the condition, we “The house in question don’t have specific evaluation meets the requirements of information just observations association with historical from what has been seen from events and historical the doorway, such as missing architecture and, possibly, flooring and plaster, and historic persons,” Johnson said. complaints from the tenants At this point, the ODOT about various issues,” Brown report is the bare minimum said. required to answer the In the recent past, the questions of the roundabout's property has been the subject impact on the property. To of complaints to the city advance to the next stage, a including infractions such as: more thorough study of the burning, solid waste disposal, home’s traits and its historical chicken and turkey care, significance would be needed parking, housing codes and and a series of public hearings illegal habitation. would be held on regional and Brown is meeting with state levels. the rezone petitioners to “In this case, they did some hammer out the details of initial investigation that found how to assess the home’s a full investigation could be historical significance, and has done,” said Johnson, who reached out to State Historic agreed with those conclusions Preservation Office to figure when he signed off on the out the process moving report. “There's still quite a forward.
