Asahel Bush

(1824-1913)

Portrait of Asahel Bush with a neatly trimmed grey beard and large bowtie. Photograph originally came from the Murray Wade Collection. WHC Collections 0080.005.0051.021

Asahel Bush, a publisher, banker and political leader, was raised on the East coast. Taken by “Oregon fever” he came west in 1850 and settled in Oregon City. Bush founded the Oregon Statesman and moved the paper and himself to Salem in 1853. He was active in politics and was named state printer in 1859. Bush entered the banking business in 1867, founding the Ladd & Bush Bank. Both the bank and the newspaper (now the Statesman Journal) survive. The Bush family played a major role in the political, business and social history of Salem. He and his wife Eugenia had four children and later in 1877 built the Bush House. This home and 86 acres of Bush’s land became Salem’s Bush Pasture Park in 1953.

Asahel Bush was born in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1824. The early death of his father forced Asahel to leave school when he was fifteen to find work. He learned the printing trade, studied law, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. In 1850 he was encouraged to come to Oregon to publish a Democratic paper in the new territory.

The party was successful in its selection: during the next decade the influence of the Statesman was such that only Democrats were elected to office. In 1853 Bush moved the paper to Salem. During the civil war, Mr.  Bush and his paper were loyal to the Union.. In 1863 he sold his paper and retired from the newspaper business. He entered banking and in 1867 founded the Ladd & Bush bank (still in business on the corner of State and Commercial Streets.) He managed and directed the bank for 45 years until his death in 1913, at the age of 89. In 1854, he married Eugenia Zieber, the daughter of one of his printers. They had four children: Estelle, Sally, Asahel III (known as A.N. Bush) and Eugenia. The young and beautiful wife and mother died of consumption in 1863 at age 30, and Mr. Bush raised the family with the help of servants. Mrs. Bush never lived in the Bush House constructed in 1877-78

The handsome mansion at 600 Mission Street, known as the Bush House, boasted such rarities as indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water, gas lights and central heating in addition to the ten marble fireplaces.  After graduating from Smith College in 1882, Miss Sally Bush became mistress of the of the house and hostess for her father, living in the home for more that 60 years. The house has been open to the public since 1953 and remains a cultural center and a source of pride to the community. As founder of the first bank in Salem, Asahel Bush was a important player in Oregon finance and as one of the authors of of the State constitution and an influential newspaper publisher, he was a major figure on the political landscape.

Researched and written by Suzanne B. Morrison

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This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.