Second Eugene Skinner Home

After the Eugene Skinner family out grew their log cabin on the West slope of the Butte they built this snug little home closer in the town site on the southeast corner of 6th and Charnelton. It is believed that this is the house where Skinner died in 1864. Later his widow remarried to Captain Packer and moved into a much larger house two doors down which still stands.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

This is the old St. Mary's which stood on the northeast corner of 11th and Willamette across from the old First Christian Church. Built circa 1870 it served until the 1920's with the construction of the current St. Mary's on 11th and Charnelton. In the far right of the photo can be seen a part of the Issac Gray house which stood across 11th Ave, from St. Mary's After this sanctuary was removed a gas station was erected on the site which stood until 1959 when the current one story office building was built on the site.

Sammuel J. Bonnett Residence

This faded old photo is of the Samuel J. Bonnett residence, which stood on the north side of 7th Avenue just east of Charnelton Street, about where the Bankruptcy Court Building now stands. The house was a two story, square frame dwelling with a "hipped" style roof, ornamented eaves and porch trim. Family members pose on the porch in foreground. Bonnett was a farmer; he was born in 1814 and died in 1904.

The Second T.W. Harris Home

The following photos are of the Northwest corner of 5th and Charnelton taken over a 75 year span. It is unclear if the former residence of the Harris family mentioned in yesterdays post was moved from this site or originally next door to the west. In the last photo, taken after this house was torn down, and construction of it`s replacement had started, a section of a Victorian house can be seen at the far left which might be the original home. I also speculated in yesterdays post that this earlier house might actually be the old house still standing on the Northeast corner of 5th and Lawrence street. The first photo shows the house soon after is construction with little landscaping and a patchy lawn which was common at the time. The later photo taken a few years after the first, shows the addition of many plantings and a beautifully manicured lawn which many houses at this time did not maintain. Notice in the earliest photo, to the left of the house was a water tower. This would have facilitated easy irrigation of the property. Also of note are two wonderful pergola's or garden follies on each side of the house. Similar trellis's can be seen in early photos of other Eugene homes. This house seems to have stood until the mid 1950's when it was razed for the Tillman-Booth building which still stand on the site.