THE OLD MARION COUNTY COURT HOUSE
SALEM, OREGON



Dated Feb. 26, 1906
Mailed from 1112 E. Taylor St.,
Portland, Oregon

Mailed To: Mr. & Mrs. Christ [?] Boock
New [?] Minn. [?]

Though the address and the return address are written in English it looks like the body of the message is written in Swedish. If its not, I've never seen handwriting so hard to read in all my life!

I think that this is my favorite old postcard. On the left is the old Marion Co. Court House, in the center is Willamette University, and to the far right is the old Salem State House. Of the three, the only remaining structure is the University. When I have the time I'll try to find out what became of the Court House. I'm sure that it probably burned down, like so many other beautiful old buildings of the past. But this one was truly spectacular wasn't it?

Mystery solved, I found out what happend. How sad, they tore it down in 1954 to make room for the new Marion County Court House. However, the photo that I saw was taken in 1938 and the poor building was already on its way to sinking shambles. Poor construction, I guess? That was also the cause of the State House fire. Maybe the same people designed both? You can't tell by this postcard, but the University is constructed of brick, thusly its longevity is explained.