Trip Report

The first By Ways By Bus trip of 2006 was a tour of historical houses in Eugene, the Hope Mausoleum, Oregon Electric Station and The Register Guard. The House tour started in the east Butte Historical Landmark area. There are a number of houses that tell tales of early Eugene citizens, as well as the architectural styles of the times. Mary Ellen West and Lucille McKenzie, local historian, led the tour of homes.

The Shelton, McMurphey, Johnson House at 303 Willamette St., was the site of an interior tour. Docents provided a picture of life in the house from the Victorian era to the late 20th century. The three families who lived in the "Castle on the Hill", up the hill from the Railroad Depot, watched the development of Eugene from the approximate 1700 residents in 1888, when the house was built, until Eva Johnson died in 1986.

The Hope Mausoleum, designed in the Egyptian Revival style, is the centerpiece of the 1859 Masonic Cemetery, where many of the important early Eugene citizens are buried, including Eugene Skinner. Dennis Hellsvig was our guide.

The Oregon Electric Station, refurbished to look as it did when it was built in 1914, was a great lunch stop. The trip concluded with a tour of the Register Guard. All agreed the 21st technology used to put out the paper was impressive. Our history trip touched three centuries.

Members: Ewart Baldwin, Barbara Beard, Paula Beard, Louise Behnke, Mary Lee Cheadle, Rosemary Etter, Rachele Fiszman, Betty Hack, Barbara Hagerman, Donna Halker, Dora Harris, Ray Jensen, Rosella Jones, Verna Kocken, Barbara Payne, Don Payne, Liz Reanier, Edna Robertson, Edith Rode, Nola Shurtleff, Paula Sievers, Julia Snell, Janet Speelman, Mary Ellen West and Vera Wooley. Nonmembers: Sherry Lawrence, Kate Pryka and Susan Reinoehl.