River Road Overview

Settlement in the River Road area dates back to 1850 with the passing of the Donation Land Claim Act. The area was inhabited by only a handful of families in the beginning and eventually grew to become an important agricultural area growing crops such as: hops, flax, wheat, oats, rye, barley, and numerous orchards. As agricultural output increased, there became more trade and an increased demand for regional transportation. The Old Territorial Highway, which was Oregon’s first north-south road, ran through the area. We know this transportation route today as River Road. 

To document the unique cultural and historic features of the River Road area the City of Eugene was awarded a matching grant from the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. This grant funded research and a written history of the River Road area south of the Beltline Highway. The final document is titled "Eugene's Historic River Road" which explains the development history of the area from Native American settlement to 1965, with attention paid to the existing historic resources that are over 50 years old. While this project is focused on the area south of the Beltline Highway, we have also received a previous history of the Santa Clara area entitled “A Short History of Santa Clara” from a local resident, Mr. Chuck Bierman.

The River Road Community Organization, the River Road Park District at Emerald Park, and 4J School District have been supportive of our efforts, and have been key partners in coordinating community involvement and outreach.  To learn from the collective memory of long time River Road citizens we have developed a survey questionnaire to help us understand and organize the undocumented history of the River Road area. If you have not received a survey and would like to share your memories, there is a digital survey available for download. Mr. Mike Sims has offered his exemplary survey response to help us better understand the unique history of the area. Our efforts to learn more about the River Road area continues to show promise as residents come forward with new information to share. 

While doing field work, our lead consultants at Historic Preservation Northwest led by David Pinyerd discovered that River Road may also contain mail order kit houses from the early to mid 1900s. We have since confirmed two kit houses on Sunnyside Drive in the River Road area. Do you live in a kit house? To learn more, refer to Eugene Kit Houses.

Eugene's Historic River Road is now attached to the web page as a PDF file, so feel welcome to read more about the unique history of the area.