Today was the grand opening ceremony for Salem's South River Harbor Walk. The Celebration featured music by Mamadu, speeches by Mayor Driscoll, Lt. Gov Murray, State Rep Keenan and Ward Councilor McCarthy. Followed by a dance performance.
Today is 96th anniversary of the Great Salem Fire.
You can see post cards of the damage here: click here or see the collections copies of the definitive book on the fire The Salem Fire by Arthur B Jones: here
If you couldn't be in Salem for the holiday or just missed the parade then your in luck. We have pictures up on the web. The photos are of almost every group in the parade. Also there is another set from the Catholic Mass the day before at St. John the Baptist church. Here is a link to Flickr for the photos. Either click the link below or cut and paste the link.
After a few emails a generous person from Pennsylvania sent me this Bank. It was manufactured by Banthrico of Chicago, Illinois. It was a promotional piece from the Naumkeag Trust Co. in the 1960's or 1970's.
I recently got this from eBay! It's obviously a pennant of the USS Salem. I'm not sure just which USS Salem it's from. There were three different USS Salem ships. The first is from early 1900's and was hull no. CL-3, second was from WWII number CM-11 and last was the CA-139 from the 1950's which is a ship museum in Quincy, Mass. If you can help date this pennant, post something in the comments section of this post.
This is a button from the 50th anniversary of Ste. Anne Catholic Church. It's interesting because it features a photograph of what the church used to look like. As some might not know the structure depicted on the button burned down in 1982. This button mas made in 1951 by a novelty company from Boston.