Wilbur F. Boothby 1840-1946
Wilbur Boothby was prominent in Salem as a merchant, contractor and supervising architect for nearly fifty years. He prepared plans for the 1878 house of newspaper publisher and banker Asahel Bush. Located in Bushs’ Pasture Park it is now an historical museum and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1872 Boothby took the contract to build the Marion County Courthouse which was later demolished. In 1880 Boothby oversaw the construction of the State’s Insane Asylum Building located in Salem. He served as supervising architect and superintendent of construction of what is now known as the “J” Building. He was also involved in the construction of the old State Capitol and the State Penitentiary.

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The entire campus of the Oregon State Hospital has been deemed to be eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Approval from the State Historic Preservation office and the StateAdvisory Committee on Historic Preservation came in October.

Official notification from Washington DC should come sometime early next year.

Besides documenting the many buildings on the campus, the nomination also tells of the story of the care and treatment of the mentally ill in Oregon and the significance of the many architects that designed the hospital structures over the period from 1883 to 1957.