City of Salem, Ohio history

Salem, Ohio was founded by Zadok Street, a clockmaker from New Jersey, and John Straughan (pronounced Strawn), a Pennsylvania potter, on April 30, 1806.

Ohio’s capital, after being located in Chillicothe and Zanesville during the early years of statehood, was finally established in newly founded and centrally located Columbus in 1816.

Salem was incorporated in 1830.

In April 1850, Salem hosted the first Women’s Rights Convention in Ohio, the second such convention in the United States.

Renovation Story Located on the second level of the West Salem Village Hall, the West Salem Opera House was built in 1898 and was home to vaudeville shows and community movies.

The Salem Historical Society was formed in 1947, with Roy W. Harris as president.

The Salem campus of Kent State University was opened in 1962.

In December, 1971, W. Ray Pearce donated the first museum, Pearce Building, at 208 South Broadway Avenue in memory of his wife, Elizabeth.

The corner brick building, Schell Building, was purchased in 1974 and the two were then connected.

In 1979 a meeting room was added in the back of the Schell Building with a grant from the Salem Community Foundation.

Freedom Hall was built in 1987 as a replica of Liberty Hall, a carpenter shop once used by abolitionists to have secret meetings in an upstairs room above the shop.

In 2019, a storage and garden shed was added to blend in with Freedom Hall.