Glenwood is an unincorporated community in Lane County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States. It is located between the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

and downtown Springfield on Franklin Boulevard, along the former route of the Pacific Highway, now

Oregon Route 99 Oregon Route 99 is a state highway that runs between the southern border of Oregon, and the city of Junction City. Oregon Route 99 was formed from parts of the former U.S. Route 99; it shares much of its route with I-5, but much of it is al ...

. It is a

mixed-use Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

industrial and residential area. The unincorporated character of the area has tended to attract "experimental and individualistic" inhabitants. For decades, Glenwood, which has been seen as a blighted area, has been the subject of redevelopment projects and proposals, including a riverfront redevelopment project.

History

Charles B. Sweet was the first settler in Glenwood, filing for a

Donation Land Claim The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pree ...

in 1851. Glenwood was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted as Glenwood Park in 1888. Henderson Avenue was the primary north–south corridor for the plat. The Springfield Wagon Road ran west–east near the center of the plat, while a county road (now Franklin Boulevard) ran north of the plat. The area remained largely undeveloped due to flooding from the Willamette River. The area's location along Pacific Highway and the ability to move cars during flooding made it a good location for auto camps. The auto camps were later replaced with

mobile home park A trailer park, caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and e ...

s. In 2004, Glenwood was established as an

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

district by the voters of Springfield.

African-American history

Historically Black residents had trouble buying or renting property in Eugene, so they settled on county land on the north bank of the Willamette River. Glenwood was one of the places outside the Eugene city limits where Black people moved after being evicted from the Ferry Street Settlement tent city near present-day

Alton Baker Park Alton Baker Park is located in Eugene, Oregon, United States, near Autzen Stadium. In June 1967, it was dedicated to Alton F. Baker Sr., the eleventh owner (60 years after it was founded) of Eugene's ''The Guard'' newspaper (later ''The Registe ...

due to the construction of a new Ferry Street Bridge in 1948. In 1948, twelve Black families rented small homes or cabins in Glenwood. An area of Glenwood known in 1950 as “Skunk Hollow” had 16 Black residents, many of whom worked for the railroad. Glenwood had a predominantly Black church, which was attended by construction worker Arthur J. Shankle. He became a reverend, and with his wife Luvenia, founded the Bethel Temple, which later purchased the church property. He built a new church there on Brooklyn Street that today is a homeless shelter known as the Shankle Safe Haven. Bethel Temple moved to Eugene in 1995 and continues to hold services.

Geography

The

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

borders the area on the north and east. The western and southern borders are defined by

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

(I-5). Glenwood Slough is a cut off

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

of the Willamette River that passes through Glenwood. Augusta Creek, which drains Moon Mountain on the Eugene side of I-5 was historically connected to Glenwood Slough.

Demographics

In 1940, Glenwood's population was 1,800. As of 2006, the population of Glenwood was 1,300. Median income for the area was $23,000 in 2006, compared to $37,000 for the county.

Economy

Glenwood formerly was an agricultural area, with a large

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

yard in the 1940s. In the 1940s, Glenwood had three grocery stores, one of which was the second-highest grossing market in Oregon. The market burned down in 1950. Williams' Bakery relocated to Glenwood after being displaced by the University of Oregon's

Matthew Knight Arena The Matthew Knight Arena (MKA) is a 12,364-seat, multi-purpose arena in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It is home of the Oregon Ducks men's & women's basketball teams, along with the volleyball team, replacing McArthur Court. All teams compet ...

Parks and recreation

James Park was the first park in the Willamalane Park and Recreation District, created in 1944.

Government

Glenwood is within Springfield's urban growth area. Planning of the area was taken over from Eugene in 1998. The community uses a Eugene postal address and has Springfield phone numbers.

Education

Glenwood School was a four-room

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

built in 1935 and closed in the 1960s. Today students attend Eugene public schools.

Infrastructure

Glenwood is the site of Glenwood Central Receiving Station

municipal solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the American English, United States and rubbish in British English, Britain, is a List of waste types, waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. ...

and recycling facility. Materials collected at the receiving station are transported to Short Mountain Landfill for disposal. Laurel Grove Cemetery, a historic

pioneer cemetery In the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, a pioneer cemetery is a cemetery that is the burial place for pioneers. American pioneers founded such cemeteries during territorial expansion of the United States, with founding dates span ...

with its first burial in 1855, is located on Laurel Hill in the southwestern part of Glenwood. The Laurel Hill neighborhood of Eugene is on the other side of I-5 from Laurel Hill. Among the notable people buried at Laurel Grove are Isaac Briggs, the founder of Springfield, baseball player

Howie Fox Howard Francis Fox (March 1, 1921 – October 9, 1955) was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles, in 9 seasons, between and . D ...

, Charnel Mulligan, one of the co-founders of Eugene, and members of

Opal Whiteley Opal Irene Whiteley (December 11, 1897 – February 16, 1992) was an American Nature writing, nature writer and diary, diarist who gained international fame for the publication of her childhood diary, which featured meditations and Naturalistic ...

's family.

Transportation

Rail

The

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

(UP) Cascade Line (originally the

Oregon & California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad ...

and later the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

) runs through Glenwood. The Springfield Junction wye at MP 621.9 in Glenwood is the point where the UP's Cascade Line and the

Siskiyou Line Siskiyou may refer to: *Siskiyou Mountains, a mountain range in northern California and southern Oregon *Siskiyou National Forest, in Oregon and California *Siskiyou County, California *Siskiyou Trail, an old Native American and pioneer trail connec ...

through

Siskiyou Pass Siskiyou Pass (sometimes called Siskiyou Summit) is a historic mountain pass in the Siskiyou Mountains of Jackson County, Oregon, Jackson County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the most used pass in Oregon. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) ma ...

diverge. The lines do not rejoin again until

Black Butte, California Black Butte (formerly Wintoon Butte, Cone Mountain, Sugar Loaf and Muir's Peak) is a cluster of overlapping dacite lava domes in a butte, a satellite cone of Mount Shasta. It is located directly adjacent to the northbound lanes of Inters ...

at MP 345.

Bus

Glenwood is served by the Emerald Express (EmX) bus rapid transit service of the

Lane Transit District The Lane Transit District (LTD) is a public agency that provides public transportation in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The transit district serves the Eugene and Springfield metropolitan areas, including the neighboring cities of Coburg ...

(LTD). LTD's bus barns and offices are located in Glenwood.

References

External links

Historic images of Glenwood
from Lane County History Museum
Historic images of Glenwood
from the

digital archives
Maps of Glenwood
from the Oregon Department of State Lands (''Glenwood Area of Springfield Local Wetlands Inventory'') {{Authority control 1888 establishments in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Lane County, Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon