« Oregon
 | Hotels | | Map | | Eugene; good to know | |
 | | |  |
Eugene is the third largest city (146,160 estimated as of 2005) and boasts the third largest metropolitan population in the state of Oregon, having recently been overtaken by Salem in terms of population size. Eugene is also the county seat of Lane County, ... more »
Save time & money with Hotels
View all hotels in Eugene...
Hotels 
Neighborhood 
Airports Eugene is the third largest city (146,160 estimated as of 2005) and boasts the third largest metropolitan population in the state of Oregon, having recently been overtaken by Salem in terms of population size. Eugene is also the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, USA. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie River and the Willamette River, about 60 miles (100 km) east of the Oregon Coast.
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 for the Arts and Outdoors." It is also referred to as "The Emerald Empire," "The Emerald City," and "The Track Capital of the World." The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene.
To the north of downtown is Skinner Butte park. Forested Hendricks Park is famous for its Rhododendron Garden. Alton Baker Park, along the Willamette river, attracts visitors to jog its running paths, bike its endless bike paths and bike bridges, swim the wild Willamette, canoe the millrace, sit at the duck ponds, and visit the Owens Rose Garden. A climb up Spencer Butte, south of the city, offers a lovely look at Eugene and the headwaters of the Willamette. Mount Pisgah Arboretum, to the east, is another large and special park, and host to the annual mushroom festival.
Eugene has a striking urban forest. The town is packed with trees, and its citizens are very proud and protective of them. The University of Oregon campus is itself a world-class arboretum, with over 500 species of trees, and its own tourbook. The city operates and maintains scenic hiking trails that pass through and across the ridges of a cluster of small mountains in the southern portion of the city, on the fringe of residential neighborhoods. Some trails allow biking and others are for hikers only.
The Willamette and McKenzie rivers run through Eugene and its sister city Springfield.
Eugene is the headquarters of the Lane Transit District (LTD), a public transportation agency formed in 1970. LTD covers 240 square miles (620 km²) of Lane County, including Creswell, Junction City and Veneta. Operating more than 90 buses during peak hours, LTD carries riders on 3.7 million trips every year. LTD's Eugene Station, downtown, covers nearly a city block, and is easily the busiest public plaza outside of the University. LTD is currently constructing a Bus Rapid Transit line between Eugene and Springfield, much of which will run in its own lane. The Emerald Express, as it is called, is scheduled to be up and running in fall 2006.
Cycling is popular in Eugene. Summertime events and festivals frequently have bike parking "corrals" that many times are filled to capacity by three hundred or more bikes. Many people commute to work by bicycle every month of the year. Numerous bike shops provide the finest rain gear products, running lights and everything a biker needs to ride and stay comfortable in heavy rain. Bike trails take commuting and recreational bikers along the Willamette River past a scenic rose garden, along Amazon Creek, through the downtown, and through the University of Oregon campus.
Going on a trip? Why not browse some of the luggage at eBags.com (external source)
The 1908 Amtrak depot downtown was restored in 2004; it is the south terminus for two daily runs of the Amtrak Cascades, and a stop along the route for the daily Coast Starlight. Air traffic is served by the Eugene Airport, also known as Mahlon Sweet Field, which is the fifth largest airport in the Northwest.
Highways traveling within and through Eugene include:
Going on a trip? Why not browse some of the luggage at eBags.com (external source)
Your vacation. A time to lose yourself. And sometimes your luggage, too. Need Travel Insurance? Why not try Travel Guard (external source)
Eugene 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 dubbed as a post office in 1850. Skinner founded Eugene in 1862 and later ran a ferry service across the Willamette River where the Ferry Street Bridge now stands.
Columbia College was founded around the same area as the University of Oregon, a few years earlier, but fell victim to two different major fires over four years, and it was decided not to rebuild it again. Even today, people commonly refer to parts of Eugene's campus area as "College Hill," and this name does not come from the adjacent location of the University of Oregon, but rather the former location of Columbia College.
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 regents electing first faculty and naming John Wesley Johnson as president with the first students registering 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.
Eugene is the home of Oregon's largest publicly owned electric utility, the Eugene Water & Electric Board, which got its start in the first decade of the 19th century after a typhoid epidemic was traced to the groundwater supply. Eugene condemned the private utility and began treating river water (first the Willamette, but now the McKenzie) for domestic use. EWEB got into the electric business when power was needed for the water pumps and excess electricity was used for street lighting.
* Eugene's mean annual temperature is 52.1 °F (11.2 °C); its annual rainfall is 50.9 inches (1293 mm). Eugene is actually colder on average than Portland, despite being located more than 160 km (approx. 100 miles) south and having only a marginally higher elevation. Eugene's average July low temperature is 10.6 °C (51.1 °F), while Portland's average July low is 13.6 °C (56.5 °F). Average winter temperatures (and summer high temperatures) are similar for the two cities. This disparity may be largely caused by a "heat island effect" in Portland, where the combination of black pavement and urban energy use can actually raise the temperature. A lesser heat island may also exist in downtown Eugene.
Temperature - Yearly Average
Lonely Planet Maps (external source)
Lonely Planet Language Guides (external source)
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
