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Eugene, Oregon
The city of Eugene ( "yoo-JEEN") is the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 60 miles (100 km) east of the Oregon Coast. According to the official 2007 population figures[1] Eugene is the second largest city in the state of Oregon, with an estimated population of 153,690, and the third largest metropolitan population. Eugene had long been the state's second largest city after Portland, but was overtaken by Salem in terms of population from around 2004 to 2006.[2][3] Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. The city is also noted for its natural beauty, activist political leanings, alternative lifestyles, recreation opportunities (especially bicycling, rafting, and kayaking), and arts focus. Eugene's motto is "The World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors." It is also referred to as "The Emerald Empire," "The Emerald City," "The People's Republic of Eugene," and "Track Town, USA". The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene. HistoryEugene is named after its founder, Eugene Franklin Skinner. In 1846, Skinner erected the first cabin in the area. It was used as a trading post and was registered as an official post office on January 8, 1850. At this time the location was known as Skinner's Mudhole.[4] Skinner founded Eugene in 1862 and later ran a ferry service across the Willamette River where the Ferry Street Bridge now stands. The first major educational institution in the area was Columbia College. It was founded in the same general area as, and a few years earlier than, the University of Oregon. It fell victim to two different major fires over four years, and after the second fire it was decided not to rebuild again. The part of south Eugene known as College Hill was the former location of Columbia College. There is no college there today. The town raised the initial funding to start a public University, which later became the University of Oregon, with the hope of turning the small town into a cultural center of learning. In 1872, the Legislative Assembly passed a bill ratifying the University. The nearby town of Albany was Eugene's biggest competitor to provide a home for this institute. In 1873, community member J. H. D. Henderson donated the hilltop land for the campus, overlooking the city. The University first opened in 1876 with the regents electing the first faculty and naming John Wesley Johnson as president. The first students registered on 16 October, 1876. It would not be until 1877 that the first building would be completed; it would be later known as Deady Hall (for the first Board of Regents President and community leader Judge Matthew P. Deady.) The University of Oregon has been a leader in diversity since its very beginning; its inaugural class included two Japanese students. 
Willamette Street circa 1920 Geography and climateGeographyEugene is located at (44.057663, -123.110345) at an elevation of 426 feet. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.6 square miles (105.0 km²). 40.5 square miles (104.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 sq mi or 0.10%) of it is water. To the north of downtown is Skinner Butte park. Hendricks Park, situated upon a knoll to the east of downtown, is known for its rhododendron garden and nearby memorial to Steve Prefontaine, known as Pre's Rock, where the legendary University of Oregon runner was killed in an auto accident. Alton Baker Park, next to the Willamette River, contains Pre's Trail. Also located next to the Willamette is the Owens Memorial Rose Garden, which is home to more than 4,500 roses of over 400 varieties, and the 150-year-old Black Tartarian Cherry tree[5], an Oregon Heritage Tree. A climb up Spencer Butte, south of the city, offers a look at Eugene and the headwaters of Amazon Creek, a waterway running from the butte to Fern Ridge Reservoir. Mount Pisgah Arboretum, part of Buford Park to the east, hosts annual mushroom and wildflower festivals. Eugene contains urban forest. The University of Oregon campus is itself an arboretum, with over 500 species of trees. The city operates and maintains scenic hiking trails that pass through and across the ridges of a cluster of hills in the southern portion of the city, on the fringe of residential neighborhoods. Some trails allow biking and others are for hikers and runners only. The Willamette and McKenzie rivers run through Eugene and neighboring city, Springfield. ClimateLike the rest of the Willamette Valley, Eugene lies in the Marine west coast climate zone, with some characteristics of the Mediterranean climate. Temperatures are mild year round, with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Spring and fall are also moist seasons, with light rain falling for long periods of time. Winter snowfall does occur, but it is sporadic and rarely accumulates in large amounts. Eugene's average annual temperature is 52.1 °F (11.2 °C);[6] its annual rainfall is 50.9 inches (1293 mm). Eugene is actually slightly colder on average than Portland, despite being located about 100 miles (approx. 160 km) south and having only a marginally higher elevation. Eugene's average July low temperature is 52.7 °F (11.5 °C),[7] while Portland's average July low is 56.5 °F (13.6 °C).[8] Average winter temperatures (and summer high temperatures) are similar for the two cities. This disparity may be largely caused by Portland's urban heat island, where the combination of black pavement and urban energy use can actually raise the temperature. A lesser heat island may also exist in the immediate downtown of Eugene.
DemographicsAs of the census of 2000, there were 137,893 people, 58,110 households, and 31,321 families residing in the city. As of July 1, 2003, the US Census Bureau estimated the population of Eugene to be 142,185. The city's population is expected to further grow to 228,400 within the next 10 years. The population density was 3,403.2 people per square mile (1,313.9/km²). There were 61,444 housing units at an average density of 1,516.4/sq mi (585.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.15% White, 3.57% Asian, 1.25% Black or African American, 0.93% Native American, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 2.18% from other races, and 3.72% from two or more races. 4.96% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 58,110 households, of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.1% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.87. In the city, the population was spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 17.3% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $35,850, and the median income for a family was $48,527. Males had a median income of $35,549 versus $26,721 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,315. About 8.7% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over. GovernmentIn 1944, Eugene adopted a council-manager form of government, replacing the day-to-day management of city affairs by the part-time mayor and volunteer city council with a full-time professional city manager. The subsequent history of Eugene city government has largely been one of the dynamics—often contentious—between the city manager, the mayor and city council. Ten people have held the city manager position. These include Deane Seeger (1945-49), Oren King (1949-53), Robert Finlayson (1953-59), Hugh McKinley (1959-75), Charles Henry (1975-80), Mike Gleason (1981-96), Vicki Elmer (1996-98), Jim Johnson (1998-2002), Dennis Taylor (2002-2007), Angel Jones (2007-2008), and Jon Ruiz (2008-present). Recent mayors include Edwin Cone (1958-69), Les Anderson (1969-77) Gus Keller (1977-84), Brian Obie (1985-88), Jeff Miller (1989-92), Ruth Bascom (1993-96), Jim Torrey (1997-2004), and Kitty Piercy (2005-present). Eugene City Council: Mayor: Kitty Piercy
City Manager: Jon Ruiz (April 14, 2008)[10][11] EconomyThe largest employers are the University of Oregon, local government, and Sacred Heart Medical Center. Eugene's largest industries are wood products manufacturing and recreational vehicle manufacturing. Corporate headquarters for the employee-owned Bi-Mart corporation and family-owned Market of Choice are located in Eugene. The Monaco Coach Corporation and Marathon Coach have their headquarters in nearby Coburg, Oregon. Hynix Semiconductor America announced on July 23, 2008 that it will close its large semiconductor plant in west Eugene. Emporium Department Stores, which was founded in North Bend, Oregon, had its headquarters in Eugene, but closed all stores in 2002. Organically Grown Company, the largest distributor of organic fruits and vegetables in the northwest, started in Eugene in 1978 as a non-profit co-op for organic farmers. Several local food processors, many of whom manufacture certified organic products, are nationally successful. These companies include Golden Temple (Yogi Tea), Mountain Rose Herbs, Surata Tofu, Toby's Tofu, Emerald Valley Kitchen, Turtle Mountain Foods (Soy Delicious Ice Cream) and Springfield Creamery (Nancy's Yogurt). Several locally-developed small businesses have formed a coalition called Unique Eugene, which coordinates advertising and promotion, and shares its pool of customers.[12] Many multinational businesses were launched in Eugene. Some of the most famous include Nike, Taco Time, Aldus Software (now part of Adobe Systems), and Broderbund Software. Education
Johnson Hall, University of Oregon CultureEugene has a significant population of people in pursuit of alternative ideas, and a large, though aging, hippie population.[13] There is also a significant population of outdoor enthusiasts and young retirees from California, the Northeast and elsewhere. Beginning in the 1960s, the countercultural ideas and viewpoints espoused by Ken Kesey became established as the seminal elements of the vibrant social tapestry that continue to define Eugene.[14] The Merry Prankster, as Kesey was known, has arguably left the most indelible imprint of any cultural icon in his hometown. He is best known as the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as the male protagonist in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.[14] Performing artsEugene is home to numerous cultural organizations, including the Eugene Symphony, the Eugene Ballet, the Eugene Opera, the Eugene Concert Choir, the Northwest Christian University Community Choir, the Oregon Mozart Players, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Children's Choir and Oregon Festival of American Music. Principal performing arts venues include the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts ("The Shedd"), Beall Concert Hall and the Erb Memorial Union ballroom on the University of Oregon campus, the McDonald Theatre, and W.O.W. Hall.A large number of live theater groups thrive in Eugene: Lord Leebrick Theatre, The Very Little Theatre, Actors Cabaret, LCC Theatre, and University Theatre each has its own performance venue. In addition, Eugene is home to the Bijou Art Cinemas, an independent movie theater. Museums and libraries
Conger Street Clock museum 
The Eugene Public Library The largest library in Oregon is the Knight Library, at the University of Oregon with collections totaling more than 2 million volumes and approximately 17,000 journals.[15] The Eugene Public Library[16] moved into a new, larger building downtown in 2002. The four-story library is an increase from to 130,000 square feet.[17] Visual artsEugene's visual arts community is supported by over 20 private art galleries and several organizations, including Maude Kerns Art Center, Lane Arts Council, DIVA (the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts), the Hult Center's Jacobs Gallery, and the Eugene Glass School. Annual visual arts events include the Mayor's Art Show and Art and the Vineyard. Other cultural events and fairs
Eugene musicBecause of its status as a college town, Eugene has been home to many musicians and bands, ranging from mainstream garage rock, to hip hop, folk and heavy metal. Eugene also has a growing reggae and street-performing bluegrass and jug band scene. Multi-genre act the Cherry Poppin' Daddies became a prominent figure in Eugene's music scene and became the house band at Eugene's W.O.W. Hall. In the late 90s, their contributions to the swing revival movement rose them to national stardom. Dick Hyman, noted jazz pianist and musical director for many of Woody Allen's films, designs and hosts the annual Now Hear This! jazz festival at the Oregon Festival of American Music (OFAM). OFAM and the Hult Center routinely draw major jazz talent for concerts.[23][24] Eugene is also home to a large Zimbabwean music community. Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center, which is "dedicated to the music and people of Zimbabwe," is based in Eugene. Social danceDowntown Eugene has three major dedicated partner-dance venues. The largest is The Tango Center, a collectively-run non-profit dedicated to Argentine Tango, which also hosts the ELLA Swing Dance Club. Studio B is the oldest of the group, hosting Ballroom, Salsa, and Argentine Tango events and classes. Staver Dancesport, the newest facility, hosts Ballroom and Salsa, in a street-level dancehall like the Tango Center's. The University of Oregon and Lane Community College teach a full range of partner dancing classes as well as hosting the Oregon Ballroom Dance Club and student-run Swing and Argentine Tango events. Approximately 10 other venues in town host partner-dances. The oldest social dance group in town is the Eugene Folkore Society, which currently hosts Contra and Zydeco dances at various venues. MediaThe largest newspaper serving the area is The Register-Guard, a daily newspaper with a circulation of about 70,000, published independently by the Baker family of Eugene.[25] Other newspapers serving the area include the Eugene Weekly, the Oregon Daily Emerald, the student-run independent newspaper at the University of Oregon;The Torch, the student-run newspaper at Lane Community College, and The Mishpat, the student-run newspaper at Northwest Christian University. Eugene Magazine, Lane County's Lifestyle Quarterly and Eugene Living, Sustainable Home and Garden magazine also serves the area. Local television stations include KMTR (NBC), KVAL (CBS), KLSR-TV (FOX), KEVU, and KEZI (ABC). The local NPR affiliate is KLCC. The Pacifica Radio affiliate (airing Democracy Now! and FreeSpeech Radio News) is the University of Oregon student-run radio station, KWVA. Additionally, the community supports two other radio stations: KWAX (classical) and KRVM (alternative). Eugene has the distinction of having the most radio stations per capita of any other metropolitan area in the country, with 28 FM and AM stations serving approximately 300,000 people. CommunityEugene is perhaps most noted for its "community inventiveness." Many U.S. trends in community development originated here. The University of Oregon's participatory planning process, known as The Oregon Experiment, was the result of student protests in the early 1970s. The book of the same name is a major document in modern enlightenment thinking in planning and architectural circles. The process, still used by the University in modified form, was created by Christopher Alexander, whose works also directly inspired the creation of the Wiki. Some of the research for the book A Pattern Language, which inspired the Design Patterns movement and Extreme Programming, was done by Alexander in Eugene. Not coincidentally, those engineering movements also had origins here. A Pattern Language is the best-selling book on architecture and planning of all time. Eugene was the birthplace of the earliest incarnation of a psychoeducational model now known as Health Realization which has received accolades for its contributions to community mental health in low income communities around the United States. Started by Roger C. Mills and George Pransky working under a National Institute of Mental Health grant through the University of Oregon, Health Realization arose from these psychologists' attempts?beginning circa 1976?to turn the teachings of Sydney Banks, into a new psychology focusing on what makes mentally healthy people healthy. In the 1970s, Eugene was packed with co-operative and community projects. It still has small natural food stores in many neighborhoods, some of the oldest student cooperatives in the country, and alternative schools have been part of the school district for years. The old Grower's Market, downtown near the train depot, is the only food co-operative in the U.S. with no employees. It is possible to see Eugene's trend-setting non-profit tendencies in much newer projects, such as the Tango Center and the Center for Appropriate Transport. In 2006, an initiative began to create a tenant-run development process for Downtown Eugene. AnarchismDuring the late 1990s and early 2000s Eugene contained a community of anarchists situated in the Whiteaker neighborhood west of downtown, which gained international notoriety in 1999 due to its perceived role in the battle of Seattle.[26] Following those protests, then-mayor Jim Torrey described the city as "the anarchist capital of the United States."[26] The Eugene anarchist movement grew out of the treesits and forest defense camps of the 1990s and soon began staging demonstrations and riots in Eugene, notably during a Reclaim the Streets event on June 18, 1999, when protesters blocked downtown streets and smashed the windows of three stores, and a few threw stones and bottles at police.[27] The anarcho-primitivist author John Zerzan, known for being a supporter and confidant of the Unabomber, lives in Eugene. Some of the anarchist activity could be said to have had its start in a "mud people's" protest.[28] On that day, the participants noticed two blocks of trees, in a parking lot near the downtown area, were slated for removal the Sunday following. The ensuing "treesit" protest a week later, on June 1, 1997 was reported widely as it involved a several-hours-long action that was forcibly ended by police using copious amounts of pepper spray. A lawsuit by protesters against police response to that protest was settled five years later.[29] Anarchist activity in Eugene has declined since September 11, 2001, but the ongoing trials of accused eco-terrorists continue to keep Eugene in the same spotlight.[30] Outdoor recreationThe nearest ski resort, Willamette Pass, is one hour from Eugene by car. On the way, along Oregon Route 58, are several reservoirs and lakes, the Oakridge mountain bike trails, hot springs, and Salt Creek Falls within Willamette National Forest. Eugene residents also frequent Hoodoo and Mount Bachelor ski resorts. The Three Sisters Wilderness, the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and Smith Rock are just a short drive away. Sports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sport | Founded | League | Venue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Football, Basketball, Track and Field, Softball, Volleyball, Golf, Tennis, Baseball, Ultimate, Lacrosse, Hockey, Soccer, Baseball | 1876 | National Collegiate Athletic Association: Pacific Ten Conference | Autzen Stadium, McArthur Court, Hayward Field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basketball, Cross Country, Distance Track, Golf, Soccer, Volleyball | 1895 | National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Cascade Collegiate Conference | Morse Event Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baseball | 1955 | Northwest League | Civic Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby | 1973 | Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basketball | 2006 | International Basketball League | Morse Event Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hockey | 2005 | Junior A Tier III-League Hockey: Northern Pacific Hockey League | Lane County Ice Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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