SALEM — There’s been tough times before.
The same city that is known worldwide for a 17th century “witch” hysteria has faced fires, storms, droughts, wars, economic crises, and other catastrophes over the last four centuries, and its leaders want residents to know it will again overcome a disaster.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mayor’s office, the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem State University, and The Salem News have teamed up to provide stories of past hardships and accomplishments by the city of Salem and its residents under the hashtag #SalemTogether.
“We really are going to need to remember that our city has been through tough times before. These same streets and many of our buildings housed people who felt similar despair,” said Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll.
These stories are posted throughout a network of websites and blogs, including the city’s Facebook page, the city’s Twitter page, the Streets of Salem
blog, the website for the Salem Public Library, and the Salem State University online archives. The majority of posts may be found on the website for the organization Preserving Salem, www.preservingsalem.com/salemtogether.
For example, on the afternoon of June 25, 1914, an explosion at the Korn Leather Factory in an area along the North River started the “Great Salem Fire” of 1914. According to Preserving Salem, the fire raged for 15 hours, and more than 20 communities and 1,700 state militiamen battled the blaze. The next day, 250 acres of the city were in ruins, with more than 1,600 buildings destroyed, and more than one third of the city’s residents rendered homeless, jobless, or both.
But it was the recovery efforts that #SalemTogether wishes to memorialize. Residents and officials, along with the National Guard and Red Cross, mobilized immediately to deliver supplies to those affected by the great fire. Tent camps were set up, and countless fundraisers were initiated by local groups like the Boy Scouts, raising more than $130,000 — today worth more than $1 million — in relief funds. In two years much of the neighborhood known as the Point was rebuilt, and buildings and parks, such as Saltonstall School and Lafayette Park, were erected.
“We came together to overcome these past challenges, and we need to remember that we can do it again,” Driscoll said. “As a nearly 400-year-old city, being able to lean on our past to help inspire, enrich, and teach us as we move forward is a gift that we can share with today’s residents.”
On Oct. 29, 1929, the Great Depression began, rocking the economies of communities nationwide, including Salem’s.
“In Salem, a city that had only recently recovered from the 1914 Fire and the Great World War, building once again all but stopped during the Great Depression as local residents faced financial crisis and uncertainty,” according to a #SalemTogether post from Preserving Salem.
The city received help from the federal government under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program, documenting old buildings through the Historical American Building Survey (HABS), expanding the Greenlawn Cemetery, and restoring the Old Town Hall still standing today.
Resilient residents banded together during the depression to even improve the city, building the Classical Revival building at 104-106 Lafayette Street and, in 1935, Elizabeth Parker secured a patent and began producing a version of the then-little-known game Monopoly, which became the nation’s bestseller in the following year.
And, Gerber’s Restaurant, put up at its permanent location at 114 Washington St. in 1942, lasted for decades as a popular meeting spot, even gaining the nickname of “Little City Hall,” according to a statement from Jen Ratliff for Salem State University. But, in 1971, the restaurant burned down.
“The fire’s proximity to Salem’s unemployment office threatened hundreds of essential documents and firefighters scrambled to contain the flames,” Ratliff said. “The fire was especially difficult to control due to the below zero temperatures that quickly froze the water sprayed on it.”
Louis Gerber, the restaurant’s founder, was heartbroken over the loss, Ratliff said. But, in another display of resilience, Gerber remained active in the community and oversaw food preparation for many local festivals and events until his death in 1986.
And, finally, in 2020, the city of Salem was struck by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 20, 557 residents had contracted the virus, and 26 residents had lost their lives. However, that hasn’t stopped the city from coming together to overcome the struggle. A Salem-based sailing nonprofit has delivered more than 1,000 meals to healthcare workers during the pandemic, the city has launched its own, similarly titled “Salem Together” program enlisting volunteers to deliver food and supplies to the most vulnerable, and, in online posts, #SalemTogether has reminded residents that they will make it through these dark days.