TThhee KKaallaappuuyyaa
The Kalapuya people, a blend of thirteen distinct but related communities, lived as hunter-gatherers along the Willamette River for over 10,000 years prior to contact with European- Americans.1 By 1849, their population dwindled from 15,000 to 600 due to disease outbreaks of malaria and smallpox.2 Around this time, Joel Palmer, Oregon’s first Superintendent of Indian Affairs, was ordered to procure indigenous lands for settlers through treaties and placed their lands into a Donation Land Claim program for settlement.3 The treaties required the remaining native population to relocate to the Grand Ronde reservation in 1855 without financial compensation for their familial lands.4 TThhee SSeettttlleerrss
During the 1840s, pioneers traveled the Oregon Trail and settled in the Willamette Valley for its desirable, resource rich agricultural 1 Lane Community College. “The Kalapuya: Native Americans of the Willamette Valley, Oregon: Home.” LCC Research Guides. (October 22, 2019) https://libraryguides.lanecc.edu/kalapuya.
2 Ibid.
3 City of Eugene “Eugene’s Historic River Road.” River Road History. (June 22, 2006) https://www.eugene-
or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27106/Eugenes-Historic-River-Road. 4 Ibid.
5 Jaleel, Reed, and Galloway Zach. “River Road &Santa Clara Neighborhood
land and proximity to the Willamette River.5 The Donation Land Claim program of 1850 provided settlers with 320- or 640-acre plots depending on marital status and by the late 1850s, the area was fully resettled.6
In 1862, Eugene Skinner incorporated the City of Eugene.7 Following this, the community of Santa Clara was founded in 1888 with a land purchase of 36 parcels by Colonel A.J. Straight, who named the area after his California hometown.8 The area was primarily centered around subsistence farming and orchard production. With the introduction of the Oregon & California Railroad in 1871, subsistence farming transitioned to commercial farming, allowing for export of agricultural products.9
of Eugene. (2015). https://www.eugene-
or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/36119/RRSC_DemographicsIndicators_201 5analysis?bidId=.
6 “Eugene’s Historic River Road.”
7 Steve McQuiddy. “Eugene.” The Oregon Encyclopedia. (The Oregon Historical Society, June3,2019)
https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/eugene/#.Xd7mw3t7kuU. 8 “Eugene’s Historic River Road.”
9 Jaleel, Reed, and Galloway Zach. “River Road &Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan: Historical Context and Demographic Analysis.”
Background and Context
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Figure 1.01: A cow on flooded and muddy River Road
Source: “Eugene’s Historic River Road.” City of Eugene.
RRiivveerr RRooaadd
River Road was originally a section of a Native American trail, emerging as a natural path alongside the Willamette River.10 In 1846, Jesse Applegate cleared this route for use as an alternative 10 Ibid.
11 “Eugene’s Historic River Road.”
12 Jaleel, Reed, and Galloway Zach. “River Road &Santa Clara
Neighborhood Plan: Historical Context and Demographic Analysis.”
13 “Eugene’s Historic River Road.” 14 Ibid.
to the Oregon Trail, which became known as the Applegate Trail, while the 14-mile section from Eugene to Junction City came to be called “the river road” by locals.11
In 1923, River Road became the Pacific Highway, serving as a primary transportation route from California to Portland.12 Then,
in the 1930s, the road was improved and designated as Highway 99 North.13 However, this designation did not last for long, as the
River Road area was susceptible to frequent flooding due to its low elevation and location near the Willamette River.14 Highway 99N
was moved westward in 1936, just beyond the Southern Pacific railroad tracks, and River Road became a route for local traffic, further enhanced by the personal automobile.15 Roadway
infrastructure fundamentally transformed the area’s identity from one associated with the Willamette River to the infrastructure of the highway for transportation. Due to this structural change, the area became less agricultural and more rural suburban with a “checkerboard landscape of homes and farmland.”16 After World
War II, development accelerated dramatically, with around 45% of residences built between 1940 and 1959.17 Further south in
Eugene, population surged due to the growing timber industry, doubling the size of River Road-Santa Clara. The neighborhood became dominated by large-scale subdivisions in the 1960s, replacing the groves of hazelnut and walnut trees.18 Urbanization
15 Ibid.
16 Reed Jaleel and Galloway Zach, “River Road & Santa Clara Neighborhood
Plan: Historical Context and Demographic Analysis.”
17 Ibid.
18 “Eugene’s Historic River Road.”
Background and Context .
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continued and in the late 1980s tensions arose between the community and the City of Eugene related to the City’s requirement for properties to be annexed in order to receive sewer services.19 Residents questioned the legality and legitimacy
of this arrangement, which has led to the jurisdictional patchwork of city and county land within the community.
SSaannttaa CCllaarraa SScchhooooll
The eight-acre site at the intersection of Hunsaker Lane and River Road was the location of the former Santa Clara School. 20 Oregon was the first territory to designate land in every county and levy taxes to create educational facilities and schools. Santa Clara School was one of the first and was originally a log cabin schoolhouse situated a half mile west of the eight-acre site. In 1904, it was relocated to the eight-acre site and turned into a larger two-room building. The school continued to evolve and increase in size to meet the needs of the community. By 1931, it was a traditional public school serving elementary through high school students. It remained in use until the early 2000s when it was closed, and later burned down and destroyed in 2005.
19 Ibid.
Figure 1.02: The Santa Clara School, 1907
Source: “Eugene Region - c.1907". Lane County History Museum.
Background and Context