Walter Pugh was a young, larger-than-life architect who helped shape the look of Salem as Oregon’s capital as early as 1885. He also designed, enhanced or oversaw construction of city halls, courthouses, hospitals, schools and Victorian-era homes in other Willamette Valley cities and further afield. But about 1910, the prolific Pugh abruptly turned to other pursuits. He died at age 83 in .