Hendricks Park
In 1906, Eugene’s first City park was established when Thomas and Martha Hendricks donated 47 acres, and the City purchased additional acreage, to form 78 acres of Hendricks Park. The Hendricks’ noted that “…such a park should be procured at the present time when the same is available in its natural state, to be reserved for future generations of the city of Eugene as a public park, open to all of the inhabitants thereof and of the surrounding country.”
Thomas Hendricks was a prominent banker who helped establish the first public library and the University of Oregon. He and the mayor at that time, Francis M. Wilkins, shared a mutual civic commitment. They were friends and neighbors, and went on family picnics together. It has been said that it was on one of those family picnics to the ridgeline where Hendricks Park now stands, that the idea to create such a park was first discussed.
The landscape has changed over time. Prior to European settlement, the southern Willamette Valley, including Hendricks Park, had a more open oak woodland and savannah habit. This was due in large part to the native Kalapuya tribe’s practice of regularly burning the prairies and savannahs. With the cessation of burning, the park land developed into a Douglas-fir forest with a few small stands of Oregon white oak remaining from earlier times. The fir forest continues to transition into an old growth forest and the remaining oaks are being protected and enhanced.
Today the park is an island of open space surrounded by neighborhoods, and bisected by city streets. As Hendricks Park evolves, the needs for restoration and the management of an urban forest become more acute. With the continued commitment of volunteers, visionaries, and dedicated staff, Hendricks Park will be preserved for generations to come.
Hendricks Park Map
Ribbon Trail Map
The “Pink” House
The house was built in 1916. It is called Prairie Mission style, a combination of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style with strong horizontal lines and a connection to the outdoors and California Spanish Mission style in pink stucco.
It was built by Dr. Day and his wife. They had two daughters. Dr Day used the back room off the living room as a doctor’s office during the Depression. The room had two doors to an outside patio in back and a bell to call for assistance from the front of the house.
Mrs Day sold the house in about 1947 to Charmian Gelhorn and her husband. Charmian was from New Jersey and had graduated from Smith College. Her ancestor had been a tutor to Alexander Hamilton. She had been married a Mr Gilman and had two daughters and a son. She divorced him and moved to Oregon to be married to Mr Gelhorn who was a music professor at the University of Oregon. He died tragically.
While they were married, they visited Pompei. The tiles around the living room fireplace were copies of tiles they saw in Pompei and many have a musical instrument depicted. She eventually married Howard ByersJones. They had a nursery on the property and propagated many rhododendrons many of which have survived. They also planted rows of Japanese cedars behindthe carriage house which were meant to be potted and sold but they remain in place.
Charmian had a strong personality. When her son Nick decided to become a pilot in the 1950’s, she did not want to be outdone and got a pilot’s license. Charmian continued to fly across the country from her lake home in New Hampshire to Eugene twice a year either solo, with her French poodle, or with a boyfriend. Charmian did this into her 80’s and only stopped when her engine died in the midwest and
she feathered her plane into a tree and disembarked unharmed. She sold the house to us in 2003 but continued to live in New Hampshire until age 100.
Charmian and her granddaughter both attest to the presence of the ghost of Dr Day in the house. Her granddaughter assured him that we were both doctors and would be good stewards of his home. We have not had any trouble with him.