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The Marion Hotel was one of at least seven Salem hotels destroyed
by fire. Early Saturday morning, November 13, 1971 what remained
was a jumble of rubble. An estimated 175 firefighters, all
of Salem Fire Department, some from Keizer and Marion County
Fire District 1 battled the blaze at one time. Eight pumper
trucks from the Salem Fire Department and a ladder and rescue
unit were called to the scene. Keizer provided to pumpers
and a ladder truck and Marion County sent a pumper and a compressor
unit to refill oxygen tanks.
The Marion Hotel stood out as a classic ever since it opened
as the Chemeketa on December 26, 1870, at the southeast corner
of Commercial and Ferry Streets. It was billed as "the
finest and largest in Oregon" and as "the finest
north of San Francisco, with all modern improvements."
But by early Saturday morning of 1971 what remained was a
jumble of rubble where wooden floors had collapsed, surrounded
by smoldering remains of jagged brick walls that had buckled
into many nearby streets. No loss of life occurred during
this historic fire that many remember to this day. The fire
started in the ceiling of the main floor kitchen.
The fire was first noticed by a hotel maintenance man, Rick
Snyder who was painting in the kitchen when he smelled smoked
around 2:10 a.m. Synder ran out to the "trash alley"
and found it "full of smoke". Then he went to the
mezzanine and smoke was so thick he could go no further. The
alarm was turned in by Robert Bones, a night janitor. Bones
explained, "I didn’t see any flames and I tried
to get into the kitchen area but it was too hot, just a blast
of heat and flames."
The fire had been underway for at least 45 minutes by the
time the fire department arrived, estimated Fire Chief Wesley
Baker. "The fire was in the walls, floors and ceiling,
but we could still walk through those smoky halls.",
Chief Baker explained. Gas-masked firefighters evacuated 15
guests from their smoke-filled rooms shortly after the 2:27
a.m. alarm. Firefighters and city police had to run through
the smoky halls beating on doors and yelling to arouse the
guests. Persons found in the burning segment, some of them
aged permanent residents of the older part of the hotel had
to be "walked out, down the stairways". Guests in
the modern motel, southeast section of the Marion complex
were also evacuated. There were 225 rooms in the hotel, including
100 in the old portion, but the manager said only about 75
of those were being used.
Roger Martin, the majority leader of the Oregon House of Representatives
was staying in the Hotel with a "touch of flu".
Martin explained, "I was lucky to wake up when I heard
the fire alarm. I looked out the window and saw the fire trucks
arriving. "I was thirsty and turned on the cold water.
It was very hot from the fire. I yelled out the window to
a fireman. He told me to go down the hall to a fire escape.
I opened the door, but the hall was filled with smoke, so
I shut it. I packed all my clothes in a suitcase and crawled
out onto a two-foot ledge. Then a fireman put up a ladder
that barely reached the ledge and I walked down with my suitcase."
A Seattle businessman evacuated from the burning hotel was
more worried about his bill than his loss of a room. "What
does a person do?" he asked. "I’m leaving this
morning. How do I pay my bill?" One guest living in the
old section worried about returning his room key. Hotel manager
Robert Miller explained "He tried to get past the firemen"(
to return his key). There were no more rooms for keys to unlock.
People who had been staying there and in the new section were
either standing on the corners or finding other accommodations
around Salem. "I lost everything. My clothes, my television,
even my false teeth and my eyeglasses. said 80 year old woman
who had lived at the Marion Hotel for 14 years.
"I sat across the street and watched that thing burn
and I could have died I was so heartbroken." said the
executive housekeeper who has worked 31 years at the Hotel.
"I loved that old building. My heart is really in that
older part of the building." Mabel Horneffer explained.
She will miss the special rooms she decorated after years
of study. The Lincoln Room decorated to match the room with
the same name in Washington D.C. was done by her. She will
miss the murals painted on the walls by Navajo Indians students
at Chemawa School. And she will miss the tremendous murals
in the ballroom and in the hallways. The Jason Lee Room and
the McLaughlin Room are gone. "I studied all these things
in Oregon history and decorated the rooms according to it.
I loved that old building".
An estimated 175 firefighters, all of Salem Fire Department,
some from Keizer and Marion County Fire District 1 battled
the blaze at one time. Eight pumper trucks from the Salem
Fire Department and a ladder and rescue unit were called to
the scene. Keizer provided to pumpers and a ladder truck and
Marion County sent a pumper and a compressor unit to refill
oxygen tanks.
The brick walls of the four-floor structure, facing on Commercial
Street and Ferry Streets, SE collapsed onto the streets. Green
painted red bricks smashed onto the pavement as flames shot
into the air. The first wall to go down was on the north corner
of the building facing Ferry Street. Fortunately, a fire pumper
truck and its crew had been ordered away from the spot "about
60 seconds before the wall came crashing down," said
Fire Chief Wesley Baker. Approximately one half hour later
the Commercial Street wall collapsed. "It started leaning
and cracking and then it came. It sounded like a load of gravel
being dumped on your roof. "said Battalion Chief Harvey
Reinke. Flames leaped 50 feet into the sky at one point and
soot and debris billowed in the downtown area. The fire was
considered contained about four hours later, four alarms had
been sounded.
An antique shop in the old building was destroyed. It was
reported that at one time there were more than 500 expensive
antiques in the inventory but that inventory had been reduced
because the shop was closing on December 1. The service facilities
for the hotel as well as 14 conference rooms and three large
meeting rooms were consumed by the fire. The lobby, dining
room, auditorium and new motel units were salvaged even though
there was extensive smoke and water damage in those areas.
Although the fire had been contained in the old northwest
segment of the one-block Marion Motor Hotel complex, the basement
ruins were still afire late Friday and Salem Fire Department
expected to "keep pouring water for the next couple of
days." Telephone service was disrupted to the Boise Cascade
Corporation plant on Saturday but was restored quickly. The
cable running on the Trade Street side of the motel had become
wet.
Salem public works said Commercial Street SE would be closed
at Court Street until the remaining portion of the west wall
of the Marion Hotel is taken down by wreckers. Commercial
Street traffic was moving by early evening the day after the
fire. Friday evening the demolition crew knocked down the
remaining portion of the west wall of the gutted building
and main traffic arterial Commercial Street was opened. Ferry
Street between Commercial and Liberty streets remained closed
for brick removal and fire investigations by the State Fire
Marshal’s office and the Salem Fire Department. Saturday,
November 13, a light crew of firefighters remained watching
the extinguished fire for signs of flare-up with canvas hoses
still linked to fire hydrants. The last of the pumpers had
left the scene.
Northwest Optimist Club were put to the test as their convention
headquarters had burned and meetings had to be shifted to
three separate places. The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce
acted as a clearing house to help find new locations for the
hotel’s scheduled conventions. The Oregon State Fair
received reservations for five major conventions at the Fairgrounds.
Salem area organizations which used the hotel regularly also
were looking for new places around town to conduct their meetings.
Salem Rotary, Downtown Lions, Salem City Club, the Marion
County Bar Association, Salem Clinic and Salem New Car Dealers
had to adjust temporarily to new meeting locations. Organizations
and businesses had to find new locations for their Christmas
parties, most of which were booked at the Marion Hotel a year
in advance. Marion Hotel management moved its offices to three
ground floor rooms in the modern wing. The operation even
of the modern wing could not resume for days after the fire.
And temporarily, the 50 people who worked in the hotel cooks,
waitresses, bartenders and custodial and maid services were
out of work.
Saturday, five blocks away from the burnt remains of the Marion
Hotel on the State Employment Division’s driveway, was
a burnt, single page from one of the Marion Hotel bibles.
It had floated blocks, still intact and readable. The page,
containing the last part of First Corinthians and the beginning
of Second Corinthians, was found at 8:00 a.m. The page referred
to overcoming adversities for a greater glory. "It’s
real nice. " said Doris Eaton, a secretary in the office.
"We’re going to keep it."
Compiled by Monica Mersinger
Bibliography:
Capitol Journal newspaper, November 12 and 13, 1971
Oregon Statesman newspaper, November 13 and 13, 1971
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