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The Marion Hotel was one of at least seven Salem hotels destroyed
by fire.
The Marion House, a wooden structure built in 1853 on the
southeast corner of State and Liberty Streets, claimed to
have the best cook in Oregon. It became the Mansion House
in 1861. Like several other Salem hotels, the Marion House
suffered from one serious malady - - bedbugs.
One person staying in the Marion House hotel in 1857 reported
that the bedbugs "hardly let me go in the mornings."
A fire on January 2, 1864, wiped out the four-story building.
and the Marion House hotel was no more. It’s reputation
for having bugs was so bad that when the grand Marion Hotel
was built in 1870, it was named the Chemeketa House to avoid
confusion with its buggy predecessor.
That fire changed Salem 's firefighting force. Before the
Marion House fire, Salem had only the bucket brigade of the
"Alerts," organized December 4, 1857. Afterward,
the young city got serious, built a firehouse, and bought
a hand-pumper fire engine and hose for Webfoot Engine Co.
No. 1, as well as two water cisterns.
Another significant hotel fire occurred January 14, 1887,
at the Bennett House. This hotel was built in 1852 by Charles
Bennett, an 1845 settler who ventured to California and is
credited with being the co-finder of the first gold nuggets
at Sutter's Mill that sparked the famous "Forty-Niner"
gold rush.
The 1852 Bennett House, had a brilliant life before the fire
of January 14, 1887. Bennett built his hotel on the northwest
corner of State and High Streets. It faced the courthouse
and was close to the Capitol grounds. It had a second-floor
balcony built like a cabin deck, Bennett being a steamboat
man. One socialite woman visitor wrote that the Bennett was
"only a second-rate place" but "the best in
the town." She complained: "The governor and officers
sit down indiscriminately at the same table as the mechanic
and the stableboy, and all are attended upon alike."
As the years went by, the clientele changed from Legislators,
jurists, and the wealthy, to working-class people. When it
burned, its name had been changed to the Avenue House. Three
people died in the fire.
Other famous hotel fires include - -
Union Hotel - - Built about 1850 on the NE corner of Commercial
and Ferry Streets, it burned in May, 1863. The fire started
in Byrne's saloon.
Capital Hotel - - Built in 1867 at State and Liberty Streets,
it burned November 1, 1869.
Ohio House - - In the late 1860s, a fire that began at the
Durbin livery stable burned this 1853-built Commercial Street
hotel.
Island House - - Built on Liberty Street in 1852, this hotel
burned June 23, 1902. It was sometimes called the Halfway
House because it was halfway between two saloons. But it was
named Island House be derived from the "island"
that formed by the joining of High and Liberty Streets to
become Broadway.
Bligh Hotel - - T.G. Bligh built this hotel at 441 State Street
in 1912; it was gutted by fire June 8, 1975. Bligh's son,
Frank, built the Capitol Theater in 1926.
Other Salem hotels from the 1800s, not burned down by fire,
included - -
Commercial Hotel - 1871
Holman House - 1852
Western Hotel
Washington House - 1852
Eureka House- 1864
What Cheer House. The Cheer house closed in the 1860s. It
was across Liberty Street from the Island House hotel.
Cook's Hotel, built by E.N. Cooke in 1852-53. On the site
of today's Ladd & Bush Bank. Cook's was a popular meeting
place for a group of powerful local Democrats.
More recent structures include - -
Grand Hotel, built in 1902 on High Street.
Senator Hotel, built in 1928, which boasted 111 rooms, 3 tubs,
and 24 shower baths.
Bibliography:
Statesman Journal newspaper, Local section April 29, 1991
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