This is part of an on-going series answering “Why is that?” questions about Salem and the Mid-Valley.
The question: Why is a street in south Salem called Hrubetz Road, and who or what is it named after? Plus, how the heck do you pronounce it? We have all the answers. But first, a little history.
The background: Hrubetz Road SE runs east to west and slices through a section of the Faye Wright Neighborhood, which includes Wright Elementary School and Judson Middle School.
The neighborhood is part of what once was called the Liberty district, back when much of south Salem as we know it today was miles outside the city limits and where addresses were identified by rural mail route.
The Liberty district was a farming community with its own post office, school district and volunteer fire department. Property listings often advertised farms claiming “no finer fruit land in Oregon.”
Berry and prune farms thrived in the fertile soil, and prunes were one of the most profitable crops. More than 80% of prunes in the United States were grown in Oregon in the early 1900s, practically all in the Willamette Valley. The area south of Salem regularly was referred to as the prune belt.