Eugene, Oregon: A City of the Arts and Outdoors

I can’t see why anyone would not want to buy a home in Eugene Oregon. By buying your next house in Eugene Oregon, you will become a part of the Worlds Greatest City of the Arts & Outdoors.

To call Eugene, Oregon a city of the Arts and Outdoors is inaccurate. That’s because Eugene considers itself the “World’s Greatest City of the Arts & Outdoors.” Indeed, the once-mucky patch of real estate formerly known as “Skinner’s Mudhole” is today a vibrant place where the counterculture lives on, the cultural options are rich and an enticing outdoor landscape can convert even the most dedicated couch potato into pursuing recreation.

Eugene, Oregon New Home of Well-Balanced Life

Arts and outdoor leisure rank high among the reasons Americans often give for choosing a place to live, right up there with career and family. Eugene, Oregon has developed a dedication to arts and leisure and the city takes pride in that initiative, subconsciously luring those so inclined to live in Eugene.

Known for its natural beauty at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers about 60 miles east of Oregon’s Pacific coast, Eugene, Oregon harbors an eclectic crowd with strong political leanings and often alternative lifestyles. Eugene is a haven for aging hippies, a place that publicly and proudly embraces a laid-back, alternative approach to life.

The wide diversity and open-mindedness of Eugene’s people extend to the city’s educational offerings. Eugene has an abundance of private and alternative schools, including several elementary schools that immerse students in foreign languages and one that offers an anthroposophical curriculum.

Early Development of Eugene Real Estate

Eugene, Oregon is named for Eugene F. Skinner, who founded the city in 1862, two years before his death. Skinner built the first cabin in the area in 1846 and it became a post office and trading post known as Skinner’s Mudhole. Skinner later ran a ferry service across the Willamette River where Eugene’s Ferry Street Bridge now stands.

After local Columbia College suffered from two major fires in a four-year span and decided not to rebuild again, the town lobbied for a public university. The University of Oregon opened in Eugene in 1876 and the city began to grow and prosper. Today the University of Oregon has more than 20,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students.

Eugene Metro Area Second Only to Portland in State

Eugene, Oregon is a mid-sized city about 110 miles south of Oregon’s largest city, Portland. Eugene has about 150,000 residents within the city limits and about 270,000 in a metropolitan area that includes Springfield, Oregon, a few miles to the east, across Interstate 5. Although Eugene was recently passed by Salem to drop to third among the state’s largest cities, the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area remains the second-largest metro area in Oregon.

Recreation Opportunities Abound in Eugene

Eugene, Oregon offers outstanding recreational opportunities, especially running, hiking, bicycling, rafting and kayaking.

The University of Oregon, located at Eugene, has produced many legendary long-distance runners that have gone on the Olympics and other notable achievements, earning Eugene a reputation as “Track Town USA” or “The Track Capital of the World.” The Nike shoe corporation was founded by a former UO track coach and a UO graduate.

Skinner Butte, north of downtown, is popular public park with scenic vistas. Hendricks Park, situated on a knoll east of downtown, is known for its rhododendron garden. Pre’s Park, where there is a memorial for legendary UO runner Steve Prefontaine, is nearby, and Alton Baker Park, along the Willamette River, includes Pre’s Trail and Owen Rose Garden. South of Eugene, a climb up Spencer Butte offers a panoramic view of Eugene and the headwaters of the Willamette River. Mount Pisgah Arboretum, east of Eugene, is another large park that hosts and annual mushroom festival.

Biking and hiking trails wind through much of the heavily-wooded landscape of Eugene real estate — part of Eugene is an urban forest — and the University of Oregon is a recognized arboretum. The City of Eugene maintains scenic hiking trails that pass through and across the ridges of a cluster of hills on the south side of town. Some trails are designated for hikers and runners only while others also welcome bikers.

Water sports are popular and accommodated by the two major rivers that run through the city of Eugene.

Emphasis on the Arts in Eugene

Eugene is the hometown of Merry Prankster Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, who undoubtedly left his unique stamp on the city’s cultural scene. But Eugene has an active and diverse arts community, intensely robust for a city its size.

Performing Arts Proliferate

In the performing arts, the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts (”the Shedd”), Beall Concert Hall, McDonald Theatre, W.O.W. Hall and the Erb Memorial Union ballroom on the UO campus are among the many venues that often host the Eugene Symphony, Eugene Ballet, Eugene Opera, the Europe Concert Choir, Oregon Mozart Players, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Children’s Choir and Oregon Festival of American Music.

Live stage performances are produced by a number of theatrical troupes, including: Willamette Repertory Theatre, Lord Leebrick Theatre, the Very Little Theatre, Actors Cabaret, LCC Theatre and University Theatre.

Eugene is also home to the Bijou Art Cinemas, an independent movie house.

Museums, Libraries and Visual Arts in Eugene

The University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and its Museum of Natural and Cultural History are joined by the Oregon Air and Space Museum, the Conger Street Clock Museum in West Eugene, the Lane County Historical Museum, Maude Kerns Art Center, Shelton McMurphy House, the Cascades Raptor Center and the Science Factory Children’s Museum and Planetarium as Eugene’s top historical warehouses.

The Knight Library at the University of Oregon has more than 2 million volumes. In 2002, the Eugene Public Library moved into a new, four-story downtown building that tripled its size.

Eugene is home to more than 20 private art galleries as well as arts organizations, including Maude Kerns Art Center, Lane Arts Council, DIVA (Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts), the Hult Center’s Jacobs Gallery and the Eugene Glass School.

Other Highlights of Eugene Culture

Eugene, Oregon serves as host of the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, an annual gathering of global environmental advocates that resembles a World Social Forum in its structure and mission.

The annual Oregon Country Fair, held in nearby Veneta, is one of the largest volunteer events in the U.S. Other local events include Eugene Celebration, Lane County Fair and Asian Celebration. Eugene’s Saturday Market, first held in 1970, is the oldest Saturday market in the U.S.

As a college town, Eugene has an active music scene, with a growing reggae, bluegrass and jug band influence. The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Floater are two bands that earned national recognition after forming in Eugene.

Eugene’s jazz scene is noteworthy, as noted jazz pianist Dick Hyman hosts the annual Now Hear This! jazz festival at the Oregon Festival of American Music each year and the Hult Center routinely draws major jazz performers to Eugene. The Jazz Station, a unique non-profit cooperative of jazz musicians who mentor newcomers, is based in Eugene.

Considering a Eugene New Home

Many people are leaving crowded places such as California for less-crowded and friendlier places such as Oregon real estate. The level of dedication to the arts and outdoors that the people of Eugene, Oregon have for the Emerald City make it a great place to live and own a home. There is a variety of homes for sale in Eugene, Oregon and the city is attractive to anybody who enjoys the arts and the great outdoors.

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