'Old Marion' Teachers Guide


On December 5, 1900, the Sunday schools of Salem joined in a systematic house-to-house visitation of the entire city and outlying areas. The goal was a religious census.

The superintendents of all the 21 Sunday schools divided the city into eight districts. Each district was divided into 50 sub-districts, each small enough for one person to cover during the one-day canvas.

The survey revealed the following:

Families visited 1,683
Individuals surveyed 6,021
Church members 2,300
Adult population 3,691
Adult church members 1,911
Adults attending Sunday School 944
Of Individuals surveyed, number who attend church 4,042
No church preference indicated 487
Children 3-17 years of age 1,913
Children 3-17 who attend Sunday School 1,230
Number of children not attending Sunday School 683
Children under three years of age 117
Total number attending Sunday School 2,174


The committee refused to announce the number of adherents to each church lest comparisons or jealousies might arise.

The following churches were in existence in Salem in 1900.

African Methodist Episcopal
Central Congregational
Chemeketa Street Evangelical
Christian Science
Church of God
Church of the Latter-Day Saints
Cumberland Presbyterian
Dunkard
Episcopal
First Baptist
First Christian
First Congregational
First Methodist
First Presbyterian
Free Methodist
Friends
German Baptist
German Evangelical
German Methodist
German Reformed
Jewish
Leslie Methodist
Lutheran Methodist Episcopal South
Millennial Dawn
Old School Baptist
Progressive
Reformed Lutheran
St. Joseph Catholic
Salvation Army
Scandinavian Lutheran
Seventh-Day Adventist
Spiritualist
State Street Lutheran
Unitarian
United Brethren
United Evangelical
Universal
West Salem Union

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