"Jason Lee House"

  

Jason Lee, was a Methodist missionary and doctor who is credited with founding Salem. In 1834 he came from New York and established a mission on the Willamette River several miles north of present-day Salem. He founded Willamette University: see Waller Hall Painting. Sad events including the death of two wives and the closure of the mission in 1844 brought on Lee's poor health and his early death in 1845.