Welcome to Eugene!

Welcome to Eugene - the City for Arts and the Great Outdoors. The boundaries of Eugene encompass 41 square miles, but the main focus of this travel brochure is the University of Oregon area and the city’s core downtown area. What makes the City of Eugene so unique is the art and culture its people bring to the city and the many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. No wonder the city’s slogan is “Eugene -The city for the Arts and Outdoors.” The city likes to emphasize its great natural beauty, its many beautiful public parks and its outdoor amphitheater. All of these places offer attractive venues where the city can put its public art on display and where multiple festivals and concerts are held for its residents and visitors during the summer months. Eugene has art, culture, and a vast range of nature activities, from hiking up Spencer’s Butte to cannoning down the Willamette River. It is a great place to visit and an even better place to live. 

A Quick Look at Eugene city facts

A few charts to look Eugene's diversity, income, age and actual residents of Eugene since a large group of Eugene residents are students and don't stay all year around.

Eugene Ethnic Diversity

Age range of Eugene's population

Residences of Eugene

A comparison of Eugene, Portland and Oregon's Poverty line

Comparing the poverty line with Portland and the states poverty line shows really how much of a problem Eugene has with low income residences and large amounts of homeless population. 

A Short History of Eugene, Oregon

The city of Eugene is named after its founder Eugene F. Skinner, who arrived in 1846 and built the first cabin on land that is now Eugene. By 1848, the total population of Eugene was 150 people and the cabin Eugene Skinner built was the town’s first trading post and became its first post office in 1850. Eugene became an official city and adopted its charter in 1864, naming Eugene Skinner the first mayor. In 1872, the state legislature granted funding for a public college to open in Eugene. The University of Oregon officially opened in 1876, with the completion of Deady Hall. The University of Oregon continued to grow, canoes started racing on the Millrace adjacent to the university and T.G. Hendricks donated 10 acres of land to build a public park nearby. The city’s growth was and still is greatly influenced by the University of Oregon, especially with the developments of one of the most widely known company in the world Nike, which was started out of a car in Eugene, Oregon. Eugene population now is 146, 356 people, with the city still growing and developing.

If you would like to see a more detailed time line of Eugene, Oregon’s history, it is available at: http://www.friendlyareaneighbors.org/archive_docs/timeline.html

Places to Visit in Eugene: Cuthbert Outdoor Amphitheater

The Cuthbert Outdoor Amphitheater is a great place to experience a live music concert in Eugene, especially on a nice warm summer night. The Cuthbert Amphitheater is located on the edge of Alton Baker Park; right across the Willamette River from University of Oregon with lots several walking bridges to help you get there. The venue has hosted a variety of musical artists including Kidd Cuddie and Andrea Nikitina to the Grateful Dead. In Eugene, attending a Grateful Dead concert is like stepping back in time to a 1970’s Dead concert. Even though it has been more then a decade since the death of Jerry Garcia, the loyal Dead Heads still follow the bank and park their volkswagon vans in the parking lot nearby where people sell art work and tie-died T-shirts. This amphitheater is a great place to experience any live music concert especially on a warm summer night in Eugene.

For more information on up coming shows at Cuthbert Outdoor Amphitheater here is a link to their website: http://www.thecuthbert.com/index.html

Places to Visit in Eugene: Hendricks Park

Hendricks Park is right up the hill from University of Oregon, and when you climb to the top of Hendricks Butte, you can see Eugene’s beautiful skyline with Autzen stadium’s Yellow-O peaking out of the greenery. Hendricks Park is the oldest park in Eugene, created in 1906 with land donated by T.G. Hendrix. The park is 78 acres today, with some picnic and play areas and a 12-acre rhododendron garden that is just beautiful in the summer. The remainder of the park is a forest filled with lots of different hiking trails where you can wander around and enjoy the beautiful lush plants and trees of the northwest. The trails are great for hiking, jogging, dog walking and bird watching with little hidden patches of grassy areas throughout. It is the perfect place for a private day out in Eugene’s wonderful northwest nature.

Places to Visit in Eugene: Eugene’s Saturday Market

Eugene’s Saturday Market is a great place to visit rain or shine. Its uniquely local crafts, a variety of food carts ranging from the Vegan Tofu Palace to the India house. There is a live music stage right next to the food carts where you can eat and listen or eat and shop or just enjoy. A wonderful fresh farmers market right across the street from Saturday Market attracts an equal number of locals and visitors during the harvest season.  The first Saturday market opened in 1974 and continued to expand during the 1970’s due to the large increase of artists settling in Eugene. The market was a great way to show and sell one’s work and provided a place for local farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers. Both brought people back downtown from the recently built shopping mall at Valley River Center. The Eugene Saturday market is open April through Thanksgiving every year rain or shine. It is located on 8^th and Oak streets in downtown Eugene.  

If you would like more information on the Eugene Saturday Market here a link to visit: http://www.eugenesaturdaymarket.org/index.html

Critical Analysis of Eugene

My critical analysis of Eugene focuses on its downtown core and the problems I have observed there, which include too many asphalt parking lots and Eugene’s homeless population. Both the amount of unused space due to parking lots and the large homeless population in downtown Eugene creates a very unfriendly place for people to visit, shop and eat. Downtown Eugene is presently underutilized because many businesses have relocated to other areas of the city, but the downtown core has the potential to make a comeback. Before that can happen, however, the city needs to seriously address some the two major problems presented by the current downtown environment. These include the massive amount of unused and ugly parking spaces and making downtown a friendlier place by addressing the homeless population issues.

The unused parking spaces should be removed to create more space to build new public buildings, professional offices, restaurants and retail stores. Historical renovation would enhance and place emphasis on the older buildings that already exist. Improving the public transit system will also help encourage people to return to down town. Eugene should also create more homeless shelters should be created to get people off the streets even if they are intoxicated or high. Along with more shelters Eugene could also create a “10 year plan” like Portland has to help reduce homeless population.

The city could create a more inviting downtown by creating public spaces that could provide venues for community building events. Making these changes should encourage more people to come downtown. Businesses will also return downtown if they can be assured there are shoppers and dinners to buy their goods and enjoy their food.