TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, Acting City Manager
FROM: Kristin Retherford, Community Planning and Development Department Director
SUBJECT:
title
Designation of the Criterion Schoolhouse as a Salem Local Historic Resource.
Ward(s): 5
Councilor(s): Brown
Neighborhood(s): None (State Fairgrounds)
Result Area(s): Welcoming and Livable Community
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SUMMARY:
summary
The Criterion Schoolhouse is eligible for listing as a local historic resource due to its significance as an excellent local example of the one-room schoolhouse building type. The Criterion Schoolhouse meets the applicable criteria in SRC 230.010 for age, integrity and significance, especially for its cultural significance as an embodiment of the early history of education in Oregon, as part of the educational section of the Oregon State Fair, and a symbol of the enormous effort that went into planning and celebrating America’s bicentennial.
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ISSUE:
Shall City Council Pass Ordinance Bill No. 2-25, designating the Criterion Schoolhouse as a local historic resource?
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Pass Ordinance Bill No. 2-25, designating the Salem Criterion Schoolhouse as a local historic resource.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
1. The Salem HLC held a public hearing on November 21, 2024 where they found that the Criterion Schoolhouse met the applicable criterion for designation as a local historic resource, and retains sufficient original integrity to convey its historical and cultural significance to the Salem community (Attachment 2).
2. The City Council conducted first reading of Ordinance Bill No. 2-25 on January 27, 2025 (Attachment 1).
3. The City Council held a public hearing on the proposed designation on February 10, 2025. Council closed the public hearing, conducted deliberations, and voted to approve the designation request.
BACKGROUND:
1. The Country School Association of American (CSAA) placed the Criterion Schoolhouse (c.1912) on the National Schoolhouse Historic Register on December 2, 2022, as an important Oregon example of a one-room schoolhouse from the early twentieth century. A vicinity map is included as Attachment 3.
Jake Morris
Historic Preservation Planner
Attachments:
1. Ordinance Bill No. 2-25
2. Exhibit A - HLC Recommendation HIS24-2
3. Exhibit B - Vicinity Map