Salem is the capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.
Marion County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The population was 345,920 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-most populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Salem, which is also the state capital of Oregon. The county was originally named the Champooick District, after Champoeg, a meeting place on the Willamette River. On September 3, 1849, the territorial legislature renamed it in honor of Francis Marion, a Continental Army general from South Carolina who served in the American Revolutionary War.
Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated outgrowth of the Methodist Mission. The name was changed to Wallamet University in 1852, followed by the current spelling in 1870. Willamette founded the first medical school and law school in the Pacific Northwest in the second half of the 19th century.
The Buena Vista Ferry connects Marion County and Polk County across the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located a few miles south of Independence, near the community of Buena Vista. The river is approximately 720 feet wide at the crossing. The cable ferry has a capacity of six vehicles.
The Willamette University College of Law is the law school of Willamette University. Located in Salem, Oregon, and founded in 1883, Willamette is the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest. It has approximately 24 full-time law professors and enrolls about 300 students, with about 100 of those enrolled in their first year of law school. The campus is located across the street from the Oregon State Capitol and the Oregon Supreme Court Building; the College is located in the Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center.
Wallace P. Carson Jr. is an American attorney and politician from Oregon. He has spent time in both of Oregon's legislative branches and served on the Oregon Supreme Court for 24 years. Carson's fourteen-year tenure as chief justice was longer than that of any of his predecessors.
Reuben Patrick Boise was an American attorney, judge and politician in the Oregon Territory and the early years of the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he immigrated to Oregon in 1850, where he would twice serve on the Oregon Supreme Court for a total of 16 years, with three stints as chief justice. Early in his legal career, he worked as a district attorney.
Gatke Hall is the second-oldest building at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. A two-story structure, it was originally built in downtown Salem in 1903 across the street from the Marion County Courthouse and served as a post office. The Beaux Arts styled building was moved to the university in 1938 and first served as the home to the law school.
Everil Max "E.M." Page was an American lawyer and judge in the state of Oregon. He was appointed as the 63rd justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving for less than a year between 1949 and 1950.
William Marion Ramsay was an American politician and judge in Oregon. He was the 43rd justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving from 1913 to 1915. He was also the first dean of Willamette University College of Law and a mayor of Salem, Oregon, and McMinnville, Oregon.
John Hugh McNary was an American attorney and jurist in the state of Oregon. He served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Portland. A native of Oregon, he also served as a district attorney and as an assistant district attorney in Salem. His brother Charles would serve as a United States senator.
The Oregon Civic Justice Center is a three-story former library building on the campus of Willamette University in downtown Salem, Oregon, United States. Built in 1912 as a Carnegie library for the city of Salem, the building now houses several programs of Willamette University College of Law. Prior to the law school's moving into the facility in 2008, the building was used by the adjacent Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) from 1971 to 2006.
The Willamette Law Review is a law review academic journal published by Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1959 as a successor to an earlier publication, the triannual publication is housed in the Oregon Civic Justice Center. The journal is edited by students of the law school with oversight by the college's faculty. As of 2019, the Willamette Law Review has published a total of 55 volumes.
Walter Clarence Winslow was an American attorney in Oregon. A native of the state, he practiced law in Salem and later served temporarily on the Oregon Supreme Court. In legal practice he worked for brothers John Hugh McNary and Charles L. McNary in his early years as a lawyer.
George Greenwood Bingham was an American judge and legal educator in the state of Oregon. A native of Wisconsin, his family immigrated to Oregon in his teens, though he returned to the Midwest for his legal education. Bingham served as the second dean at the Willamette University College of Law and was also a judge for Multnomah County after previously serving as a district attorney for Salem and the state. His former home in Salem, the Dr. Luke A. Port House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Gus J. Solomon United States Courthouse is a federal courthouse located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1933, it previously housed the United States District Court for the District of Oregon until the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse opened in 1997. The Renaissance Revival courthouse currently is used by commercial tenants and formerly housed a U.S. Postal Service branch. In 1979, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as U.S. Courthouse.
Lady Justice is a 12-foot (3.7 m)-tall, 300-pound (140 kg) Lady Justice statue in Salem, Oregon, United States. Formerly located on the roof of the Marion County Courthouse, the sculpture is now installed in Willamette University's Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center. The Willamette University College of Law received the statue when the Marion County Courthouse was demolished to make way for a new one.
Truman Wesley Collins was an American businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist from the state of Oregon. He was born into a wealthy and influential business family. Collins graduated from Willamette University and then attended graduate school at Harvard University. After college, he returned to the Pacific Northwest to join his family's lumber business. Over the years, he was the top executive for a number of Collins family businesses. He was also an active leader in several timber-related industry groups and contributed to selected education and religious institutions.
