Central Area in Salem in Marion County, Oregon — The American West (Northwest)
R.P. Boise Building
Photographed by Douglass Halvorsen, October 14, 2025
1. R.P. Boise Building Marker
placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior
Erected by United States Department of the Interior.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) series list.
Location. 44° 56.453′ N, 123° 2.512′ W. Marker is in Salem, Oregon, in Marion County. It is in the Central Area. It is at the intersection of State Street and Front Street NE, on the right when traveling west on State Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 217 State Street, Salem OR 97301, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Oregon Wine Country and in the Willamette Valley. It is also on the American Pacific Coast, in the Pacific Northwest, and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor. Globally, it is in North America, in the Cascade Range, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in
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Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: S.A. Manning Company Building (within shouting distance of this marker); Smith & Wade Building (within shouting distance of this marker); Meredith Building (within shouting distance of this marker); Salvation Army Building (within shouting distance of this marker); Catlin & Linn Building (within shouting distance of this marker); Bush-Breyman Block (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Watkins-Dearborn Building (about 400 feet away); Durbin Building (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Salem.
Also see . . . National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form (1981). Statement of Significance:
The two-story brick masonry commercial building with trim in the Georgian-Style completed in 1913 for businessman Reuben P. Boise, Jr., is significant to Salem as the best-preserved service building associated with the historic industrial-wholesale district along Front Street paralleling the east bank of the Willamette River. Designed by local architect Fred A. Legg, the Boise(Submitted on October 18, 2025, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon.)Building served as a farm machinery store, a garage and automotive center, and as a steel warehouse. In the 1970s, what remained of the waterfront industrial district west of Front, between Marion and State Streets, was cleared in preparation for construction of the Front Street By-pass, a primary system-Interstate freeway connector project which was completed early in 1981. The stylistic treatment of the Boise Building's 84-foot facade of red brick with cast-stone flat-arched lintels, Doric entablature of galvanized iron, and crested parapet was calculated to harmonize with the formally-organized facades of neighboring buildings to the east. At the time the building was erected, the intersection of State and Commercial Streets, a block east of the Boise Building, was the key banking corner, and it remains so today. With the loss of the Salem Iron Works (1868), which stood opposite the Boise Building on the west side of Front Street, the Boise Building now defines the westernmost edge of the Commercial Street Historic District by anchoring the west end of the eastwestPhotographed by Douglass Halvorsen, October 14, 20252. R.P. Boise Building Marker
State Street axis with competent street architecture. It replaceda similar type of building of wood construction and represents the shift toward fire-resisant building in the commercial core which began in the 1890s. The Boise Building has been listed in various reports on cultural resources presented to the Salem City Council since 1971 (the city has not yet endorsed the proposed Commercial Street Historic District). It embodies the distinctive characteristics of its commercial type, and it possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It is the only building remaining in Salem which is linked with either of the first two generations of the Boise family, which had been so prominent in the affairs of the capital city.Photographed by Douglass Halvorsen, October 14, 20253. R.P. Boise Building
Credits. This page was last revised on October 20, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 18, 2025, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon. This page has been viewed 44 times since then and 22 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 18, 2025, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
