National Park Service Lists Mill Place House Site in Salem, Marion County in the National Register of Historic Places

The Mill Place House Site, also known as the Jason Lee House Site, is among Oregon’s latest entries in the National Register of Historic Places. The listing was submitted alongside the Oregon Country Methodist Mission Sites: 1834–1847 Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPD), which provides the historical framework for evaluating properties associated with the mid-nineteenth century Methodist mission to present-day Oregon and Washington. Both the site nomination and the MPD were recommended for approval by the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (SACHP) at its February 2025 meeting and accepted by the National Park Service in late June 2025.

Originally built in 1841 by Methodist missionaries as part of their newly established Central Mission Station, the Mill Place House was the first dwelling constructed in what would become Salem. The house itself was relocated to the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill site at the Willamette Heritage Center in the 1960s, and the site has since been covered with a modern parking lot. Excavations conducted in 2020 confirmed the presence of handmade brick foundation elements below the parking lot and recovered domestic artifacts from the mission period that reflect the structure’s early residential use and continued archaeological integrity.

The site is significant for its association with the Methodist Mission’s efforts to Christianize and assimilate Indigenous communities and to establish Euro-American settlement ahead of a period of rapid and widespread colonization in the Pacific Northwest. As part of the broader Central Mission Station campus overseen by Reverend Jason Lee, the site reflects national ideologies of Manifest Destiny and Christian missionary outreach during the mid-nineteenth century. It is also significant for its potential to yield further insights into the lives of Methodist missionaries and their interactions with the Santiam Kalapuya people in the Chemeketa region.

Excavation of the Mill Place House Site began in 2020 as the first phase of a public archaeology initiative led by the City of Salem. The work provided critical information that supported the site’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and laid the foundation for further research into locations associated with the former Oregon Indian Mission Manual Labor School. Fieldwork continued with investigations at the Parsonage site on the Willamette Heritage Center grounds between 2022 and 2024, followed by excavations on Willamette University’s campus in 2025. Funded by a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant awarded to the City of Salem’s Historic Landmarks Commission by Oregon Heritage, the multi-phase project continues to shed light on this important chapter in local history. Additional details and updates are available on the City of Salem’s project webpage: https://www.cityofsalem.net/community/things-to-do/history/oregon-mission-indian-manual-labor-training-school-archaeology-project.

The National Register of Historic Places is a federal program, maintained by the National Park Service under the authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and administered locally by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, an office of the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD). Properties listed in the National Register are:

• Recognized as significant to the nation, state, or community;
• Considered in the planning of federal or federally-assisted projects;
• Eligible for federal tax benefits;
• Qualify for historic preservation grants when funds are available;
• Eligible for leniency in meeting certain building code requirements;
• Subject to local laws pertaining to the conservation and protection of historic resources.

Oregon state law requires local governments to provide a minimal level of protection for properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Decisions about how to accomplish this goal reside with local governments, which also have the authority to create and regulate local historic districts and landmarks.

More information about the National Register and recent Oregon listings are online at oregonheritage.org (under the heading “Designate”).