public park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...
and
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
in
Salem, Oregon
Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...
, United States. It is the site of the Asahel Bush House, which was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1974, and is now operated as the Bush House Museum.
Bush House Museum
The park and
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literatur ...
house date to 1877–1878 when they were built for
Asahel Bush
Asahel Bush (June 4, 1824 – December 23, 1913) was an American newspaper publisher and businessman in Salem, Oregon. As publisher of the ''Oregon Statesman'' newspaper, he moved the paper to Salem when the territorial capital moved to that city. ...
, founder of the ''
Oregon Statesman
The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...
'' newspaper and subsequently of the Ladd and Bush Bank. In 1882 Bush added a still-extant conservatory for his daughters, claimed to be the first
greenhouse
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. It is now filled with period plants.
Owned by the City of Salem, the house has been open to the public since 1953 and is now operated by the Salem Art Association as the Bush House Museum. The museum features Victorian period furnishings and original wallpapers, and is open for guided tours from Wednesdays through Sundays. There is no admission fee.
Bush Barn Art Center
The estate's barn that was used to house farm equipment is now the Bush Barn Art Center, which is operated by the Salem Art Association. The Center features two contemporary art exhibition galleries, the A.N. Bush Gallery for exhibits by regional, national and international artists, and the smaller Focus Gallery for local artists. There is also a crafts gallery with consigned works for sale. Admission is free.
The Art Association also organizes the Salem Art Fair and Festival in the park each year on the third weekend of July.
Park features
Today the park contains trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, natural groves of old
Oregon white oak
''Quercus garryana'' is an oak tree species named for Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is commonly known as the Garry oak, Oregon white oak or Oregon oak.
The species is found in the Pacific Northwest, with a rang ...
trees,
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...
and
apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
s, and a rose garden with over 2,000
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
s.
Willamette University
Willamette University is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college with locations in Salem, Oregon, Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United ...
's
McCulloch Stadium
McCulloch Stadium is a 2,500-seat outdoor stadium in the Northwestern United States, located in Salem, Oregon. Built in 1950, the multi-use facility serves as home to Willamette University's football and track & field teams, and high school foo ...
(football, track and field), Spec Keene Stadium (baseball) and cross country course are located in the park, hosting a variety of university and community events, such as the Salem
Jaycees
The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). A ...
' Kids Relays and the amateur
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team the
Cascade Surge
Cascade Surge was an American association football, soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1995, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, when ...
of the
USL Premier Development League
USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...
.
The park also has a
soap box derby
The Soap Box Derby is a youth-oriented gravity racer program, founded in 1934 in the United States by Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio native Myron Scott, a photojournalist employed by the Dayton Daily News, and preceded by events such as ''Kid Aut ...
track that is home to the Salem Soap Box Derby and downhill
skateboarding
Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...