. . ""4
Oregon City. Ore., March 28, 1851 Salem. Ore., March 28, 1931
Page Nineteen
LaC
!
P
reole Academy Played Large
art in Origin of Town of Dallas
By Lillian BiLYEui
The names of many individuals
is closely Interwoven i with; the
: early day history of Dallas, and
many of their descendants! are
still identified with the affairs of
"today.:-' .."j'.- I'
, The name; of John, E. Lyle
stands out In the educational
story of Dallas. Coming to Ore
gon in 1845, he Immediately
'started a. school In one i room of
the Nathaniel Ford home at Rlck
; reall. Attending this school; were
; members of j the Applegate, Em-
bree and Ford families. In 1846 a
log cabin was built on land don
ated by Cary Embreo where Lyle
opened the Jefferson Institute.
The term lasted for 2 weeks and
tuition was J5.00. en urea ser
vices were held In the building on
Sunday and the first county pro
visional court was held there
also. The first records of ;these
court proceedings were kept by
Lyle and are still to be found in
the vaults of the Polk county
courthouse. In 1855 due to the
keen interest of a group of men.
among them F. Waymlre, S.
Shelton, R. P. Boise, V. P. Lew
is, John Lyle and others,' suffici
ent land, materials and money
were donated for the construction
of the LaCreole Academic Insti
tute, for many years .an outstand
ing educational institution. Part of
the former building- Is now In
corporated in the present : high
school and a stadium has been
. constructed on the former cam
pus with funds given by trustees
of-this former institution, i
Courthouse Moved
Across Stream in '56
Two towns In Polk eounty at
one time aspired to become the
capital of the state, one jEola,
then known as Cincinnati, and
Buena Vista. The original settle
ment of Dallas was located at the
turn of 'the present Salem-Dallas
highway and was known as Cyn
thia Ann or Cynthian. Here in
1851 it was decided to build a
- courthouse two "stories high, on
the site now occupied by: the
corner store In North. Dallas; The
courthouse and town of Dallas,
the name having been changed by
legislative act. was moved to the
south side off the Rickreall in
1856. " . I : ' i
The new court house was built
on the present location and was
-a frame building with Doric col
umns rising to the top of the two
stories. There were many oak
trees on the block, Which had a
board fence around it with a row
of maple trees Inside. Hitching
posts were outsida the i board
walk. In June, 1898, this Court
house but-ned. All f&eotHs were
saved with the exception of tax
rolls. The present building was
, constructed In 1899 from "native
stone quarried near Dallas. I The
first county Jail was built In
1867. The account hook of Wil
liam C. Brown, then; In the mer
cantile business records that sev
en barrels, of lime cost $67.68;
hauling 1950 pounds of Iron j from
Portland to Dallas was $29.25
and the cost of the iron was $156.
In 1928 - 29 this Jail was aban
doned and the present addition
built to the court house, with jail
quarters upstairs and" sheriff's of
fices below. j
Grist Mill First
Industry in Community
Industry also had an early
start In and near Dallas. A grist
mill and small store! were erected
at Ellendale In 184445 by James
O'Neil and was purchased in
1849 by J. W. Nesmith and Henry
Owens and resold . !;by - them In
1S54 to a group from New York,
among them Ezra iHallock and
Luther Tuthlll proceeded to de
velop water power for a saw mill.
REED'S OPERA HOUSE, EARLY VIEW
r:.i
a i mil m i 'tr
7 ' " . Copyright; courtesy Croni Studio
THIKI FIOOR FOR OPERA HOISK. PEHTOD OF THE '70S. BCIMMXG
NOW K!COWX AS THC 1IILLER ELOCK, CORNER COURT AND LIBERTY.
Lewis brothers purchased the
grist mill in 1857 and 1863 ceas
ed to operate it and moved their
store to Dallas. In 1865 the grist
mill was torn down and a woolen
mill .erected on the site. The mill
employed some 20 men and
turned out 250 yards of cloth
each day.; Tom Kay, Sr., was em
ployed at this mill. The venture
was not a great financial suc
cess but operation continued un
til it was destroyed by fire in
1871.
Tannery, Begun in '63,
Still is in Operation
During the time Dallas was
making strides towards becoming
a city. Dr. John Boylo opened a
drug store in 1858 on the cor
ner now occupied- by Savery'3
drug store. The first church
which shortly became the Meth
odist was established this same
year. A tannery started up In
1863 and today is the oldest bus
iness in the county still operat
ing. Four charter members of the
first volunteer fire department
are, still living. They are TJ. S.
Grant, John Grant, F. J. Coad
and Frank Rowell. Ab Byerly
started the first saw mill in 1886
on a site later occupied by the
Spaulding mill. William Savage
opened the Dallas city; bank in
this same year. One hundred chil
dren were attending the public
school and the tax revenue was
$800 to maintain the school.
Wheat was selling for 67 cents
per bushel. .
Col. Cann Ball Bat
Held in Trophy Room
Col. Tl H. Cann .who formerly
held a position as clerk of the
school land board under Govern
or Grover's administration, dur
ing his incumbency in that of
fice, manufactured an elegant
baseball bat. The bat; however,
was better suited for ornament
than for use.
There were, in June 1875, two
active baseball clubp In existence.
The- college club had been ac
knowledged as the leading base
ball club in the state, but there!
was an Insurrection in the col
lege club ranks and, under the
captaincy of Captain J. L. Wort
man, ' another club! was formed.
Its members called it the Al
diiie club. These two clubs were
composed mostly of Willamette
university men and competed for
the prize baseball bat offered by
Colonel Cann.
' The games cf the series were
played on the ground adjacent
to the university, bow occupied
by the supreme court and the
state office buildings. The first
game resulted in the score 30-17
in favor of the Aldines. The
second game was played about
two weeks afterwards and re
sulted In another victory for the
Aldine club, score 27-14. They
were accordingly awarded the
prize baseball bat by Col. Cann,
and it was accepted in lehalf of
the club by Captain Wortman.
Bat now Reposes
In Trophy Room
The bat was for a good many
years in the possession of George
H. Burnett who afterwards ten
dered It to A. N. Mooren. For
somp years past it has been in
the custody of the Ladd and
Bush bank. It now reposes In
the .trophy room of the Willani
ette university.
The following composed the
nine of the Aldine baseball club:
J. L. Wortman, catcher and cap
tain; Frank M. McCully, pitcher;
J. O. Riggs, short stop; A. N.
MOores, first baseman; E. D.
Crandall. second bat em an; iW D.
Fen ton, , third baseman; - M. Q,
Royal, left field; io. A. Peebles,
center field; Horace Knox, right
field. j - - . U ,1;
.The college nine, were I as fol
lows: J. R. Coleman, catcher;
D. W. . Belt,' pitcher and. captain;
J. C. McCully, short step; V Lee
Matheny, first basemafl; B. B.
Gesner, second baseman: A. B.
Croasman, third baseman; B. D.
Rickey, left field? William; Haw
kins, center field; Emmetl Wil
liams, right field. . ! i M
The umpire of the games was
C. M. Walker. Scorers were
George H. Burnett for the' Al
dines and Claude Gatch ; for the
College club. H '
J. L. Wortman was from Ore
gon City and afterwards: achieved
some distinction as a ; geologist.
Frank M. McCully vu a
school teacher and at one time
was assistant superintendent of
public instruction for the state
of Washington.
J. O. Riggs became a dentist
In Portland.
A. N. Moores, j for fover 20
years was superintendent of the
Salem Sawmill company, now
known as the Spaulding Logging
company. He is now engaged in
the Investment and insurance
business. .
E. D. Crandall is.a fine tenor
singer, engaged In the musical
profession near 8an Francisco.
W. D. Fenton Became
Espee Attorney,
W. D. Fenton is, a graduate of
the old Christian college at Mon
mouth now the ' State Normal
school. He was at one! time
democratic candidate fori con
gress. At the time of his death
he was atorney for the Southern
Pacific company.!-;
M. G. Royal was a successful
school teacher. ; : 1 .
G. A. Peebles also took up the
profession of pedagogy: and at
one time was superintendent of
schools at Salem. !
Horace Knox studied law and
died shortly after his admission
to the bar. j !
J. It. Coleman, at the! time of
his death, was ah employee of
the Ladd and Bush b. k.
G. W. Belt was a lawyer and
at one time was judge of the su
perior court In Spokane.
W.C.T.U. HAD
HUMBLE START
12 Women - in-; First Group
Io 1882;. Mrs. Hatch .
Their Leader
A small ijrroup of Salem women
met together February, 1882, to
organise the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union of Salem,. thus
initiating' this movement here be- .
fore it was started as state vork.
Mrs. S. C. Hatch presided at the
first meeting, and at the next ses
sion Mrs. M. A. Royal was chosen
president and Mrs. Nelle W. Cooke
secretary, j
There were 12 charter members;
Mrs. Hatch, Mrs. C. M. Patty, Mrs.
W. G. Piper, Mrs. L. H. McCul
lough, Mrs.' F. A.. Matthews, Mrs.
A. J. Leslie, Mrs. A. M. Bewley,
Miss M. L. Allen, Mrs. S. C. Gard
ner, Mrs. T. Jeffries, Mrs. B. W.
Cooke and Mrs. L. W. Huston.
Congregational, Methodist and
Presbyterian church memberships
were represented in' the initial
meeting, at which it was decided
gentlemen could be admitted to
honorary membership upon pay
ment of a dollar annually. At first
dues for women were 60 cents.
J. C. McCully was from Jack
sonville, was popular and noted
for his. keen wit. v
Lee Matheny was a native of
Salem, the son of Sheriff Ma
theny. ' It1 is understood he died
recently in Washington.
E. B. Gesner was a farmer and
now lives in Salem.
A. B. Croasman kept the lead
log clothing store is? Salem, was
at one time post master of Sa
lem. He then moved to Port
land and was appointed post
master there. He Is now em
ployed in the federal court In
Portland.
B. 'D. Rickey for many years
was an employee of the Salem
postoffice while his father was
postmaster. He was engaged at
the time of his death in the city
engineer's office In San Fran
cisco. W. Hawkins was a druggist in
Salem.
Emmett Williams was a print
er lfl( Salem and died a number
of years ago.
jjim rasp !
msr BUTTER 1 im
MARION CREAMERY COMPANY
F. G. DECKEBACH, President
Manafaetnrers of
MARION BUTTER
MARION POWDERED MILK
MARION COTTAGE CHEESE
MARION CHEESE
2f0 S. COMMERCIAL
Also Bayers of Eggs
SALEM, OREGON
TELEPHONE 688