Oct 19 2007
Demolishing the Oregon State Hospital Was Considered Once Before
Twenty three years ago the Capitol Planning Commission created the J-Building Sub –Committee to review the issues surrounding the Mental Health Division’s proposal to demolish buildings 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 of the Oregon State Hosptal J-Building complex. The Sub-Committee requested the Department of General Services and Human Resources to study “whether or not renovation was economically feasible, and to look at viable alternative uses for the building, given its potential historic significance.”The request for demolition was withdrawn pending results of the study.
Nothing remains now to mark its presence but a stone shaft and plaque on the southwest corner of Chemeketa and High Streets. Erected in 1989, the monument was installed 17 years after demolition of the original City Hall building when the Civic Center Complex was completed in 1972.