Final Environmental Impact Statement - New Federal Courthouse

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Historic and Cultural Resources Early History of Springfield By 1860, homesteaders claimed most of the land along the Willamette River near Eugene and Springfield. The Briggs family was among the eazly immigrants to the area and selected a site in 1849 just east of the river, several miles from Eugene. The Briggs property included a small pasture containing a bubbling spring known as the "spring field," and the town that soon grew around it was called Springfield. The Briggs family established a ferry service across the Willamette River near the present-day bridges. The family also erected a gristmill and dug a 4- mile millrace to carry the water necessary to power the mill. In the following years, business boomed as settlers claimed most of the land in the Springfield vicinity between 1851 and 1853. As settlers carved their farms out of the valley floor, a network of roads spread between homesteads, many of them meandering toward the Briggs ferry landing. The main north-south thoroughfare at the Riverfront site (Alternative 1), now called Mill Street, is a remnant of this pioneer road network. By the mid-1850s, the area that would become downtown Springfield had begun to develop as a commercial center. Local amenities included not only the Briggs ferry and gristmill, but a general store located at the present-day corner of Mill and Main, a sawmill, and a handful of workshops housing small-scale carpenters, cabinetmakers, and other artisans, serving the surrounding agricultural community. Springfield grew slowly but steadily in the ensuing decades. Despite the relative stagnation resulting from the Oregon and California Railroad's 1871 decision to bypass Springfield in favor of Eugene, the town offered an increasing variety of services by 1880. The 1875 construction of a covered bridge spanning the Willamette River improved access to the community. Springfield incorporated in 1885, and shortly thereafter the railway reached the young town. The 1891 arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad invigorated the economy and acted as a catalyst for civic improvements. Springfield began paving its streets in 1911, the same year that the town's first automobile dealership opened. From 1920 to 1940, Springfield grew slowly, building on its established industrial pattern and gradually expanding its population and economic base. The gradual growth that was characteristic of the inter-war period gave way to rapid expansion after World War II. Between 1940 and 1950, Springfield's population more than doubled, and during the next ten yeazs it grew at a similar pace. By 1960, the commercial district, long clustered along Mill Street and the Willamette River, expanded east along Maine Street. Early History of Eugene Downtown Eugene has been continuously occupied by Euroamericans and other nonnative settlers since the 1840s. Past construction activities could have buried early historic artifacts and foundation features in the downtown core. Buildings, parking lots, streets, sidewalks, and railroad tracks now cover most of the natural surficial sediments. Eugene's first industrial enterprises developed along the banks of the millrace that once flowed in the approximate location of Highway 99 west of the Alternative 2 and 5 project sites. The i New Federal Courthouse 65 Final EIS