Sky bridges on Center Street in downtown Salem under construction in July 1987. (WHC Collections 1998.004.0011)
Once a month, Willamette Heritage Center curator Kylie Pine shares a historical photo from the center’s collections with a brief description of Salem history. July’s photo highlights a piece of downtown Salem soon to undergo major transformation as the Nordstrom building is torn down to make space for a new apartment building.
The summer of 1987, 34 years ago, a manhunt was on for Oregon Women’s Correctional Institution escapee Diane Downs and the Salem Centre Mall was prepping for a grand opening.
Newspaper headlines described the “new mall” as a $15 million dollar mall anchored by Mervyn’s Department store and a $7 million dollar public parking structure which was linked by new skybridges to the Nordstrom mall which had opened seven years before. It was described as 611,000 square feet of “interconnected, weatherprotected retail space.”
Construction of four new sky bridges was halted in June when the city found concerns with the welding specifications in June. These new skybridges were additions to the first one built between the Nordstrom and the J.C. Penney stores, which the city had already deemed safe. As predicted, by the city manager the delay didn’t last long, and the grand opening took place at the end of July.
Editor’s note: This column is part of an effort from Salem Reporter to highlight local history in collaboration with area historians and historical organizations. If you have any feedback or would like to participate in Salem Reporter’s local history series, please contact managing editor Rachel Alexander at [email protected].
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