The Marion Hotel Fire: Friday, November 12, 1971

1971, Firemen using hose to douse a fire. Night time. Label on back of photo: “Marion Hotel fire Nov. 12, 1971, destoryed a four-story building constructed in 1870”, WHC Collections 2015.025.0110

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”.

Earl Crom, 1971, Marion Hotel Fire – Photo taken from the corner of Commercial St SE and Ferry St SE probably midmorning showing one engine and a police car, with spectators on NE corner of intersection., WHC Collections 2010.013.0002

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.

1971-11-12, Two Salem Firefighters looking at remains of Marion Hotel after the fire which consumed it. One on the left is Alden Addie, Battalion Chief. WHC Collections 1991.010.0004 OVR

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

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Bibliography:

Capitol Journal newspaper, November 12 and 13, 1971

Oregon Statesman newspaper, November 13 and 13, 1971

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