| Built in 1878, the Bush House served as the home
of one of Salem's leading citizens, Asahel Bush, who founded
both the Oregon Statesman newspaper and Ladd & Bush Bank.
The Bush property remained in private, family ownership until
the 1940s, except for some acreage deeded to the city as public
parkland in 1917.
The spacious Bush estate, with its house, barn, outbuildings
and gardens, is now operated as a public park and forms the
hub and major portion of the historic district. The centerpiece
of the Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District is
the 100-acre public park known as Bush's Pasture Park. For
the past thirty-seven years the City of Salem and the Salem
Art Association have operated a cultural complex in the midst
of this vast area of preserved natural beauty.
In 1860, Asahel Bush II, prominent pioneer newspaper publisher
and banker, purchased the 100 acres from Dr. David Leslie,
the pioneer Methodist missionary who held the original donation
land claim, for $4,000. From 1877 to 1878, he built an impressive
Italianate structure, designed by Wilbur F. Boothby, which
was home to the Bush family for the next seventy-five years.
The home was the focal point of a farm complex which included
a large barn, a much-loved and used greenhouse, various gardens
and orchards, and open ground for pasturing cattle.
In the late 1940s, the City of Salem acquired the land from
two of Mr. Bush's children, A. N. and Sally Bush. When Mr.
Bush first acquired the land, it was outside the city limits
but as the years passed it became a central portion of the
growing City of Salem. The estate was coveted land and the
Bushes were offered a high price from a Seattle developer
who planned to demolish the house and subdivide the land.
The Bush family preferred to sell the estate to the City for
a much lower price. They specified that the area be named
"Bush's Pasture Park" in honor of their father.
The Bush House, operated since 1953 by the Salem Art Association,
is open to the public. A historic house museum, it features
the original furnishings, wallpapers, and gas lights as well
as ten fireplaces carved of Italian marble. The Bush House
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1974.
The family barn, rebuilt after a fire in 1963, is now the
Bush Barn Art Center, featuring exhibits and sales galleries,
classrooms for community art classes, and a pottery studio.
The conservatory, built by Mr. Bush for his daughters in
1882, is now the oldest greenhouse in Oregon and is filled
with period plants, maintained by volunteers.
During the third weekend of July the park blooms with art
and entertainment during the annual Salem Art Fair and Festival,
one of the largest and best art fairs in the Northwest.
Bush House and Bush Barn, the conservatory, the rose gardens,
the winding paths through the tall oak trees, the bubbling
creek where the Kalapuya Indians camped and collected camas;
today all of this remains as a preserved part of Salem's past.
It is a part of the fabric of Salem life and is a source of
great pride to the community.
Researched and written by Paul Porter and Susan Gibby.
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