Jason Lee Historical Marker

   
960 NE Broadway

Jason Lee Historical Marker is located on .2 acre of property owned by the City of Salem. The marker was placed in this location in 1960 and was refurbished in Spring 2006.

Volunteers working to update the sign.  Below is the "before" photo in February 2006

 Below is the finished photo of the Jason Lee 
 Historical Marker after it was refurbished by historic
 sign restoration volunteer Wayne Sharp in May 2006.
 See sign wording below photos.

Oregon History
Salem Began Here

In the fall of 1840, the Oregon Methodist Mission under Jason Lee dammed Mill Creek below this bridge west of what is now Liberty Street. They erected a lumber mill. Two years later a flour mill was added. In 1856, the Willamette Woolen Manufacturing Company channeled more water from the Santiam River to Mill Creek for a new factory, the first power-operated woolen mills on the Pacific Coast. The mills burned in 1876.

In the spring of 1841, the missionaries built the first house in Salem, which with additions stood at 960 NE Broadway. It has since been moved to the Mission Mill Museum. Occupied by four families including that of Jason Lee, it later housed Salem’s second store, first post office, and the treasury of the territory of Oregon, later moved to the brick building at 888 NE Liberty.

Centennial 
      marker. 
 Marion County Historical Society.