Why you'd want to live in Salem

Salem is the capital city of the state of Oregon and also the county seat of Marion County. It is situated about 46 miles southwest of Portland in Oregon's Willamette River valley, one of the nation's most fertile agricultural regions. The city lies at the junction of Oregon State Highways 22, 213, and 221. Interstate I-5 provides northerly transportation to Portland and southerly to the city of Eugene. One of Oregon's oldest communities, Salem was originally called Chemeketa, an Indian term meaning "meeting or resting place." It replaced Oregon City as the territorial capital in 1851, but in 1855 it was itself temporarily replaced as capital by the city of Corvallis (40 miles to the south). This arrangement lasted less than a year, after which time Salem was restored to its former status as territorial capital. Salem became incorporated as a city in 1857 and when Oregon achieved statehood two years later, Salem became its permanent state capital. Fire destroyed both of the city's first two Capitol buildings, one of which was copper-domed and modeled in part after the U.S. Capitol building. Salem's third (and present) Oregon State Capitol building was completed in 1938 at the site of the first two. The structure is distinguished by its gold-plated pioneer statue, known as the Oregon Pioneer, mounted atop the capitol dome. via citytowninfo.com