| STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Constructed in 1908, the Eugene Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot and the contributing associated Office/Bunkhouse are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for their association with the early development of Eugene as a major shipping and distribution center on the Southern Pacific Railroad’s mainline that linked Portland, Oregon to California. The railroad brought greater economic flexibility, opened markets for shipping local crops and goods, and increased the number of permanent residents in the city. The depot, the third station erected on the site, represents the Progressive Era and the City Beautiful Movement when cities across the United States improved their communities by creating inviting urban environments as a way to attract more businesses and full-time residents. The new depot was viewed as the “gateway” to the town.
The Southern Pacific Passenger Depot and associated office/bunkhouse are also eligible under Criterion C as well preserved examples of railroad-related buildings in Eugene. The depot is designed with stylistic elements of the Arts and Crafts/Craftsman movement. The associated Vernacular style office/bunkhouse is a simple utilitarian building, void of decorative details. The depot is architecturally significant as an example of a type and period of construction that reflects stylistic and functional elements common to railroad depot designs. More stylized and substantial in its construction than other depots in smaller towns, the Eugene depot shows the importance of Eugene as a major hub on the Southern Pacific line and its position as the Lane County Seat. The depot is one of five remaining masonry depots built along the original Southern Pacific main line to California.
The period of significance dates from 1908 to 1955. The beginning date represents the construction of the depot, and the end date represents the last major alteration to the exterior of the depot when the mailroom shed was added to the east facade (non-compatible). The end date also signifies the decline of the use of the railroad and the end of the Southern Pacific’s Shasta Line, one of the key railroad lines that connected Oregon and California. The Eugene Southern Pacific Passenger Depot were listed as a Eugene Historic Landmark in 1979, and determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in September 2001, under Criteria A and C, as part of the 2004 rehabilitation process. The areas of significance include transportation and architecture.
The Eugene Southern Pacific Passenger Depot and Office/Bunkhouse retain integrity of design, location, feeling, association, and material. The majority of the original materials, finishes, layout, and design were retained and restored in the 2004 rehabilitation project. A symbol of the city’s early reliance on the railroad, the Southern Pacific Passenger Depot has been in continuous use since its construction in 1908.
HISTORIC CONTEXT
Early Settlement of Eugene
The Kalapuya Indians were the first people to live in the Willamette Valley. Archeological evidence indicates that the Kalapuya occupied the area for several centuries. A hunting and gathering people, the Kalapuya frequently burned the grasses of the valley to clear brush and provide a better habitat for the game and vegetation they depended on for food. By the early 1800s, as explorers ventured into the Oregon Territory, the native Kalapuya population dwindled due to disease brought on by contact with Euroamericans.
Euro-Americans began arriving in the Willamette Valley in great numbers after the Oregon Trail was established across the country in the 1840s. After first settling in the northern Willamette Valley around present-day Portland and Oregon City, pioneers pushed further south in the valley and staked claims under the 1850 Donation Land Claim Act. The promise of free land brought a new waive of settlers into the Oregon Territory.
William Dodson, Felix Scott, Elijiah Bristow, and Eugene Skinner were the first Euro-Americans to stake claims in what is now the Eugene area. Skinner’s 1846 land claim of 640-acres included present-day Eugene and Skinner Butte, originally called the “high place” by the Kalapuyas. Although not prime agricultural land, Skinner’s claim included a ferry crossing and suitable land to establish a townsite. By 1847, Skinner had built a log cabin on the west side of Skinner Butte for his wife Mary and their first child. Others settlers staked claims adjacent to Skinner in the late 1840 and 1850s, each bringing new skills, and interests to the region. The Skinner Post Office was established by 1850, and the initial townsite of Eugene, originally called Eugene City, was platted in 1851. The same year, the Oregon Territory provisional government established Lane County with Eugene as the county seat. After the county was formed, Eugene City was resurveyed and platted. Schools, businesses, churches, lumber and flourmills, government buildings, and residences were erected in the new town plat under the guidance of the first mayor, Eugene Skinner. A millrace was built that served as the center of the industrial development of the city. Eugene City was incorporated in 1862 (and reincorporated in 1864 with some boundary adjustments).
The same year Eugene was incorporated, Congress passed the Homestead Act, which allowed citizens to claim up to 160-acres of unclaimed public land, and receive title after making improvements and residing on the property for five years. The offer of free land attracted more settlers to Oregon and the Eugene area. At the same time (1862), Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies to build a transcontinental railroad.
The second railway act was enacted in 1864, as a way to further stimulate investment in the railroads by giving away more land and subsidies for each mile of track laid. In 1865 and 1866, other railroad bills allowed for other railroad companies to construct railways and granted more free land to the railroad companies. The government wanted a rail system that would be used to facilitate commercial, postal, and military communication among the states. These acts stimulated interest and competition in developing a rail system in Oregon, particularly between Portland and Northern California, through the fertile lands of the Willamette Valley. This railroad would connect to the transcontinental line under construction by the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. At this time, Eugene City was only accessible by wagon/stage road, or by transport on the Willamette River. Consequently, the town welcomed the idea of a train connecting the valley with the rest of the country.
The Construction of the Oregon and California Railroad
In 1868, construction of what would become the Oregon & California Railroad began when two competing companies initiated building a railroad from Portland through the Willamette Valley. The Oregon entrepreneurs wanted to be the first company to connect with the Central Pacific Railroad that was building the western portion of the transcontinental railroad from Sacramento, California, to Promontory, Utah. The rival railroad companies began rail construction on either side of the Willamette River in Portland, with Joseph Gaston and his supporters from Portland on the west side, and a group supported by Salem sponsors on the east side. Both factions started construction in April 1868.
The two companies engaged in a competition to cross the Clackamas River (20-miles upstream) by the end of December 1869. Incentives for the companies included loans from major financial centers, backed by federal land-grants, and subsidies. The federal government gave away land-grants in checkerboard patterns, and railroads could sell every-other square. Local and state governments also aided the financing for the construction of the lines. The two companies’ legal and political battles enticed a Kentucky-born native named Ben Holladay. Holladay, who came west to operate the Pony Express, steamship, and stage operations, quickly involved himself in the railroad venture, and “threw his hat” in for the east-side company. Under Holladay’s guidance, the east-side company won federal favor, and the last spike was driven on December 24, 1869. The east-siders claimed victory. In March 1870, Holladay purchased the west-side company and reorganized his railroad company under the name of the Oregon & California Railroad.
Still under Holladay’s control, construction of the railroad pressed further south, reaching Salem in 1870, just in time for the State Fair celebration. The train reached Albany on December 25, 1870, and Harrisburg on June 25, 1871. As the railroad pushed further south, Holladay began negotiating with Eugene City for the placement of the tracks and depot. In an effort to gain more revenue for the railroad, Holladay asked the City for forty-thousand dollars to insure that the railroad would be built through the city, and not in the neighboring community of Springfield.
Although the city initially balked at the fee, the business people convinced the City that it would be worth the money. The first Oregon & California train arrived in Eugene on October 8, 1871. The Eugene City Guard reported upon the coming of the railroad, “Many of our citizens turned out to observe the process of track laying, and to witness the arrival of the first train of cars, which made its appearance at a late hour in the afternoon.” A wooden depot was built at the north end of Willamette Street, at the base of Skinners Butte, a strategic location in downtown Eugene. The depot served as both a passenger and freight depot.
Construction of the railroad south of Eugene continued, reaching Roseburg on December 3, 1872. Once there, construction came to a halt for nine years. “Holladay failed financially. Money acquired by sale of bonds in advance of construction had been spent with reckless abandon. Traffic revenue from the sparsely settled region was not sufficient to meet expenses, and when bond interest could not be met in 1873, Holladay was forced out and the property taken over by . . . German investors” represented by Henry Villard.
After the Oregon & California Railroad reorganized and secured more funding, the company resumed construction of the railroad south of Roseburg in 1881. At the same time, the California & Oregon Railroad resumed construction north from Redding, California in 1883 in an effort to connect the Oregon and California railways. “The Oregon & California, and the California & Oregon railroads met in Ashland, Oregon near the border on December 17, 1887. By this time, the Central Pacific controlled the Oregon & California Railroad, placing the entire line between California and Oregon under the same name. At the same time, the Southern Pacific Railroad was incorporated. All affiliated railroads, including the Central Pacific, were then leased to the Southern Pacific.” The Southern Pacific railroad also acquired (by lease) the Oregon & California Railroad, marking an end to the reign of the Oregon & California Railroad. Despite the legal and financial difficulties during the construction of the railroad through the Willamette Valley, the cities and towns along the line became dependent on the railroad for transportation of goods and passengers, and the City of Eugene was no exception.
Eugene’s Development and the Railroad Era
After the Oregon & California Railroad reached Eugene, the industrial development that originally centered on the Millrace began shifting to the railroad depot, and associated freight warehouses. Farmers and agricultural organizations expanded their operations both physically and economically, as evident in the storage and distribution warehouses that were built along the track by the depot. The railroad owned a ribbon of land, known as the Southern Pacific Reserve, which the railroad company leased to various lumber, general merchandising, fruit, and milling companies for their storage warehouses. The company also had its own warehouses that stood west of the passenger station. The railroad became the focal point of the city. By the early 1880s, a new wooden passenger depot was built at the base of Willamette Street. The second depot, a wooden structure designed with Victorian-style elements, was rectangular in shape, with a center projection on the north side, and a smaller storage area annexed to its east end. A separate freight depot and small office building were located northwest of the depot on the opposite side of the tracks.
Streets around the new depot were graded and gas lamps installed to light the area around the station. The railroad connected the town with other communities in Oregon (and eventually the nation), bringing greater economic flexibility, opening more markets for the shipment of crops and goods, and increasing the number of permanent residents in the city. Residential development increased as more “high-style” homes replaced the simple structures of the 1860s and 1870s. The University of Oregon in Eugene was established by the state legislature a year after the first train came into the city, further solidifying the town’s permanency in the state. Larger brick commercial buildings replaced smaller wooden storefronts, as Eugene’s commercial core expanded further south of the depot along Willamette Street. Fraternal organizations, churches, and social organizations constructed buildings that were interspersed between the commercial and residential developments. By the end of the Railroad Era and the beginning of the Progressive Era, Eugene was on its way to becoming the commercial and cultural center of the southern Willamette Valley.
The Progressive Era
Eugene’s Progressive Era during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is marked by a period of increased interest in social reforms and humanitarian activities, as new aid organizations, social groups, and public interest committees were organized and the city’s industry and commerce expanded. “Overall it was a period of growth and prosperity, although the country experienced economic depressions in the 1890s and again in the late 1910s. By the mid-1880s, Eugene was firmly established as the main city in the southern Willamette Valley, and residents had overcome many of the hardships of early settlement. The population grew from less than 2,000 in 1884 to over 9,000 in 1910. The timber industry was well on its way to becoming the primary economic enterprise in Lane County and in Oregon, though agriculture continued to prosper.” The rail transport helped expand these important regional industries.
During this period, the City Council worked to improve the city’s infrastructure, government buildings, water system, fire department, public transportation, public utilities, and park system, in an effort to attract more residents and businesses. Business blocks were erected and new residential neighborhoods spread out from the downtown core. The early 1900s were a prosperous time for the city. More churches, residences, and schools were built, and the University of Oregon continued to expand its curriculum and campus. Many social and fraternal groups formed to help the less fortunate and bring about social reform through education and outreach. As new industries developed and the agricultural-based businesses grew, the relationship between the railroad and businesses became stronger, as productivity and demand increased. Commerce increased as a variety of specialty businesses started to meet the demands of increasing population and wealth.
The city promoted construction of a streetcar line, a mule-drawn trolley system that was completed in 1891. The system served the area until 1903. In 1907, a new electric trolley system was completed in Eugene, and as a result, Willamette Street was paved for the first time. By 1910, the electric trolley reached the neighboring community of Springfield, which formed an important transportation link for both communities. At its peak, the electric railroad system operated three main routes, with two originating at the train depot. Another form of transportation also made its appearance in Eugene in the early 1900s: the automobile. By the mid-1910s, the impact of automobiles was reflected by the development of new auto-related businesses, and the number of paved streets in the town.
Eugene’s local government included members of the community who worked to better the town and guide growth. In its expanded role, city officials helped stimulate commercial and residential development, and aided groups, such as the Eugene Commercial Club, who were involved in the national movement coined the “City Beautiful Movement.” Architect and planner Daniel Hudson Burnham, director of architectural works for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect, inspired the principals of the movement and helped promote its value to civic leaders across the United States. While other social reformers of the time concentrated on improving sanitary conditions or opening missions, the City Beautiful architects and leaders believed the emphasis should be on producing attractive urban settlings, as well as healthy social environments, which in turn would inspire its inhabitants to moral and civic virtue.
The concept of a new Eugene Southern Pacific Depot coincides with this movement that spread throughout Eugene as a way to beautify and attract more visitors and full-time residents to the city. It was also during this time that the Southern Pacific expanded its operations under the direction of Edward Harriman, who became president in 1901. More than $240,000,000 was spent during his eight-year administration (Harriman died September 9, 1909) on reconstruction and new equipment, erecting new railroad stations, and constructing or purchasing new lines. As a result of this railroad expansion period, and the lobbying efforts of prominent Eugene business people who wanted to improve the “gateway” to the city, plans for the new Eugene depot began in December 1907.
The New Depot
Vice-president and manager of the Southern Pacific Railroad, J.P. O’Brien, initiated plans for a new passenger depot in Eugene after intense lobbying by prominent members of the Eugene community. On February 28, 1908, the Morning Register Newspaper announced that a new depot would be constructed in Eugene. That same day, the City of Eugene signed a contract with the Portland Bridge and Building Company to construct the depot at a cost of $40,000 ($10,000 for the grounds).
Plans specified a 32 ft. by 143 ft. pressed-brick building with a concrete foundation, slate roof, steam heat, and electric lights. The interior of the depot was designed with a furnace and waiting/ticketing room, office, and baggage room, and the exterior design had elements of the Craftsman and Richardsonian-influenced architecture. The Southern Pacific’s engineer in the Portland office (no name cited) drew the plans for the station.
Construction of the new depot started shortly after the Southern Pacific made the announcement. The old depot was moved north of the tracks to continue its daily function while allowing the new depot to be sited near the original location. The new building was placed only ten feet southeast from the original footprint and encompasses a larger area compared to its predecessor's 20 ft. x 80 ft. footprint.
By June, the new depot was completed. The grand opening was celebrated on June 24, 1908, and drew people from all over Eugene and Portland. The Eugene Daily Guard described the opening:
The occasion is the opening of the fine new passenger station of the Southern Pacific Co. and the commencement exercises at the University of Oregon. The streets of the city are in gala attire and each citizen is vying [sic] with his neighbor in making the visitors feel that they are welcome. The excursion train arrived at the depot five minutes ahead of time. A crowd of a thousand or more people was waiting for it and as the locomotive puffed into the station the citizens warmly welcomed them.
The dedication took place on the depot's south platform with a welcome speech by Dr. Kuykendall stating that "Eugene was proud of its new depot and appreciative as well as happy.” He then presented Southern Pacific's General Manager, Mr. J.P. O'Brien, with a special key to the depot. Before opening the door, Mr. O'Brien spoke about Eugene's business people who "visited his office about a year ago, made for the purpose of asking for a new depot, and complimented them upon the business-like manner in which they negotiated for the improvements, which…had a great deal to do with his immediate promise to build the depot as soon as it could be done.” O'Brien then proceeded to open the door and invited guests and Eugene citizens in to view the interior. The Morning Register, on June 24, 1908, also complimented Eugene and its citizens by writing:
Eugene typifies the twentieth century idea of progress in the empire of the west…Eugene's progress is an open highway that any other city in Oregon may travel to like success. If there is any mystery connected with Eugene's wonderful advancement it lies hidden behind the energy of our citizenship. Today Eugene is a city of 10,000. Eugene has learned the lesson that you cannot build a city without the requisite material, which consists chiefly of paved streets, electric lines…[and] a $40,000 pressed brick depot.
The waiting room of the new station was symmetrically arranged in a rectangular configuration. The ticket office was centrally located within the north bay, and the ticket counter was made of wood panels below and decorative iron-grillwork above. The openings on the south interior wall were symmetrically arranged with a series of three windows flanked by the two entrance doors and end windows. The offices and other auxiliary rooms were separated from the waiting room by full interior walls. The east wing housed the large baggage room, which measured approximately 36 feet in length, a sleeping room, and a storage closet. The west wing consisted of the women’s lounge, men's restroom, yardmaster and telegraph offices, boiler room, and locker room. Eugene residents were pleased with the new depot, which became a source of pride in the community.
A new freight depot was also constructed further west of the depot. A small office building was also erected between the depot and freight building (likely the extant building in the nominated area). Directly across from the freight depot were the Southern Pacific stockyard’s building and a grouping of houses. These were common railroad buildings associated with the passenger depot. A water tower, and the American Railway Express building, stood east of the depot.
Depot Park
After the completion of the depot, Eugene civic leaders again started lobbying the railroad to further help beautify the railroad yards. As a result, plans were made for a park surrounding the depot. The park was part of the City Beautiful Movement to visually improve the city, especially the areas first seen by visitors. The civic leaders hired W.F. Chance, a Portland landscape architect, to design the park as a gateway to the town. The design was completed in February, 1909, and was described in the February 23, 1909, Morning Register newspaper:
The curb line of Willamette Street will be combined in a broad curve to the east and west, leaving a wide drive to approach the Depot and Express Office to the west and the platform to the left. As the Depot divides the thousand-foot space in two parts, each part will have a distinctive feature. That to the west will have an Alpine garden or rockery. The ferns, plants, and flowers for these rooks have to be ordered from New York. The eastern half will have its special attraction in an Italian rose garden. Several cozy walks will lead up to this and through the Common Council, the park will be artificially lighted, thereby making the improvement doubly valuable, making it a point of attraction by night as well as day. It will be the first time in the history of Oregon that a community and a railroad corporation have worked hand in hand for a civic improvement of this kind, with the merchants and citizens, through their commercial club, as intermediary.
By June 1909, Depot Park was completed. The City of Eugene, the Commercial Club, Southern Pacific Railroad, and local businesses and citizens, coordinated and financed the construction of the park. An opening celebration took place on June 23 to the delight of the community. Decorative lampposts lined the tracks and depot grounds, while two concrete block columns and a central fountain marked the entrance to Willamette Street near the depot, the entry into downtown Eugene. The park was laid out with a formal rose garden at the eastern extent of the park, designed in a rectangular pattern, with a criss-cross walkway culminating in the circular fountain in the center of the rose garden. The area west of the rose garden was designed in a less formal manner with meandering paths interspersed with alpine plants and lawn areas. The water tower was also integrated into this garden area. A drive was designed in front of the station with a row of evergreens bordering the north side.
Another alpine garden, west of the depot, had a curvilinear border with rockery on the eastern side, and planted with a combination of evergreens and lawn areas. The park was a source of community pride for many years. The automobile's popularity also impacted the Southern Pacific Depot and its grounds. Sometime between 1956 and 1968, Depot Park was removed and replaced with a parking lot. Only some of the southern evergreens remained at this time.
The Automobile Era and World War I
Eugene continued to grow as the Automobile Era ushered in a new period of expansion, and new hotels and restaurants were built in the immediate vicinity of the depot. Many new commercial buildings and residential subdivisions were constructed. In the mid-1910s, a variety of transportation modes were used throughout the city and Oregon, including the train, electric streetcar, horse and buggy, automobile, and a new flying machine, the airplane. By the early 1910s, the Portland, Eugene, and Eastern Company (PE&E) built a streetcar system that serviced many nearby towns. In 1915, the company sold the streetcar system to the Southern Pacific Railroad. The railroad owned the system until it ceased operation in 1927, when the automobile became the favored mode of transportation. The Southern Pacific petitioned the City Council to replace the streetcars with buses.
The Oregon Electric Railway Company built a rail line on the east side of the Willamette River that serviced Eugene to Portland passengers. A new depot, designed in the Georgian Revival Style by A.E. Doyle, was completed in 1914, just one block south of the Southern Pacific Passenger Depot. The line became popular with those traveling frequently to Portland until 1933, when the company ceased operation of the electric line. The area around 5th and Willamette streets became a transportation hub.
The Southern Pacific Railroad continued to impact the development of Eugene as the company expanded its holdings with the completion of a rail line between Eugene and Coos Bay in 1916, and adding more daily passenger trains between Eugene and Portland. Entry into World War I by the United States in the spring of 1917 put additional pressure on railroads across the nation. Less than a week after war was declared, the nation's railroad executives organized the Railroads' War Board to coordinate operations of the country's rail facilities. Government control and operation of the nation's railroads became effective at noon on December 28, 1917.
“Over Southern Pacific lines and elsewhere throughout the country, railroad facilities were consolidated, in some respects, for unified operations. The war ended less than eleven months after the government took over the railroads, but the properties were not returned to private operation until March 1, 1920, making a total of approximately 26 months under federal control.” Out of wartime operations, however, the railroads, the government, and the nation's shippers gained valuable experiences in operating an efficient railroad service that relied on a coordinated degree of teamwork. After the war, the Southern Pacific started planning for an increase in the railway’s capacity, and implementation of its rehabilitation and development programs.
From 1923 to 1930, the Southern Pacific completed several important projects. The railroad constructed a new line from Arizona through Phoenix, rebuilt the Nevada-California-Oregon line to standard gauge, and completed the Cascade Line (Natron Cut-off) from Natron, Oregon, near Eugene, to Black Butte, California. The 270-mile Cascade Line/Natron Cut-off provided a route with lower grade, less curvature, and shorter distance than the original line built over the Siskiyou Mountains during the late 1880s. The new Cascade Line became the main Southern Pacific route between Oregon and California. To accommodate the weight of the new line’s locomotives, a new bridge was built in 1926 spanning the Willamette River near Eugene. During this period, the Southern Pacific also decided to build a new terminal yard in the Eugene area. The new terminal yards were started in 1925 and completed in 1929 on a 205-acre site northwest of the passenger depot, outside the town center. The railroad’s maintenance shops were moved to the new yards in 1925 and a state-of-the-arts railroad tie plant supplied products to locations as far away as San Francisco. As a result, Eugene became an important hub on the Southern Pacific line.
Automobile usage and ownership soared during the 1920s, as cars became more commonplace in Eugene. A new sense of freedom in travel followed, as people did not need to rely as heavily on train schedules. Auto-related service and sales buildings were erected across town, and in an effort to accommodate the increase in auto usage, the State Highway Commission began construction of the Pacific Highway through the Willamette Valley to California in the early 1920s. Despite the wide use of automobiles, the Southern Pacific remained a popular means of transportation through the 1920s.
The Great Depression and World War II
The prosperity of the 1920s gave way to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Profitable operating revenues of the late 1920s started a downward spiral as the depression began. By 1930, revenue dropped to the lowest point in ten years. As a result, both freight and passenger service suffered. Railroad expenditures were confined to those necessary for operating purposes and safety, and some branch operations were consolidated, and even abandoned, as a way of saving money. By 1933, the total number of employees on the transportation system dropped by half.
The decline in railroad revenue inspired the Southern Pacific to develop innovative ways to increase use of the rail system. The introduction of new equipment and services promoted railroad usage. The company began using air-conditioning in the cars, provided expedited overnight merchandise freight trains, offered special low fares for passengers on coach trains, and introduced the p |
