What to See in Salem - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Salem, Indiana. The John Hay Center is on the eastern edge of the Salem Downtown Historic District in Salem, Indiana. It comprises:

• Hay-Morrison House: birthplace and home of Abraham Lincoln's private secretary and Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, John Hay, and is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971. It was purchased in 1837 by Hay's father, Dr. Charles Hay. The Washington County Historical Society purchased the home in 1967, and restored it to an 1840 appearance.
• Pioneer Village: a "living village" typical of the 1840s in Indiana. The general store and post office were from New Philadelphia, Indiana, and the bell tower, blacksmith, cabin, carpenter, church, jail, loom, school, and smokehouse buildings were constructed of logs from old Washington County stores and homes.
• Stevens Memorial Museum: It was built in 1970 from materials of several local historic buildings, particularly brick. It holds several artifacts of Indiana and American importance, and a genealogy center. Exhibits include a dentist office, a local candy maker, and antebellum attorneys. Additions were added in 1984 and 1995.
• Depot Railroad Museum: Built to resemble the depot burned by John Hunt Morgan in 1863, and holds various railroad memorabilia and panoramas of the Washington County, Indiana landscape in historical times. This includes a money chest that was checked by Morgan's Raiders for money, and when it revealed only tools, the depot was burned. It was dedicated on September 22, 2001, thanks to the efforts of local retired newspaper editor Cecil Smith; whose collection was the basis of the depot, with several grants from contributors and 39 students moved the model trains to the newly built building.

The annual expenses of the Center is $80,000, of which only $7,000 comes from the county. No money was ever borrowed to make improvements on the center; everything was paid with funds already in hand. The Center was the brainchild of native Everett Dean, who had a fondness for local history. Much of his memorabilia are within the museum.^[3]

The Salem Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located at Salem, Washington County, Indiana. The original plat of the town, founded in 1814, is within the district. It is bounded by Mulberry and Hackberry Street in the north, Hayes Street in the east, the CSX railroad tracks in the south, and Brock Creek to the west. It encompasses 253 contributing buildings, 3 contributing structures, and 5 contributing objects in the central business district of Salem. The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. Its architectural styles are Italianate, Gothic Revival, Classical Revival, Late Victorian, Early Republic, and Late 19th/20th Century Revivals.

Within the District are several building which are individually listed on the National Register:

• Hay-Morrison House, two blocks east of the square, which is part of the John Hay Center
• Washington County Courthouse was placed on the National Register of in 1980. It was built in Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style by Harry P. McDonald of Louisville and his brother in 1888, the third courthouse at that location. Limestone from the area was used in the construction.
• Washington County Jail and Sheriff's Residence is a half block south of the courthouse square. It was placed on the National Register in 1984. It was built by Joseph Balsley in a Second Empire architectural style. It is now a women's and Children's shelter.
• First Baptist Church, two blocks northeast of the square, was placed on the National Register in 1985. It was built by R.C. Stephans in 1921. It is of Romanesque style architecture.

Markers on the square note when John Hunt Morgan raided the town, with a cannon pointing as it did on that day when the Raiders arrived in town. The Salem Presbyterian Church, one block east of the square, is on the state register of historic places; all on the National register are automatically on the state register.^[5]