This photo is from the Cronise Studio in Salem. It is of the George Kirby Gay House, which was the first brick house west of the Rocky Mountains. The house was built 1841 on the Yamhill/Polk county boundary 11 miles northwest of Salem, Oregon. George Kirby Gay was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1796. After an adventerous life on the high seas, and as an Indian fighter, he started construction of the house by digging the clay, molding and burning the bricks on site. The house he built is two stories and sets on high land, each end had an inside fireplace two feet deep; the workmanship and wood carving were exceptional and the home was the site of many political and social functions in the 1840's. He was one of the men who formed the provisional government for Oregon at Champoeg on May 2, 1843. For years he was the wealthiest man in the Willamette Valley outside of the Hudson's Bay Company. He died October 7, 1882 and was buried with other members of his family near the house. The house, in the 1930's, was nearly completely deteriorated. This photo is from the Hugh Stryker Collection.
DATE
1915-1965
SUBJECTS
Polk County, Oregon; Gay, George Kirby; brick house; Gay (George Kirby) house
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