John Cyrus Watkins House

Though not a large house, the Watkins house which stood on the Northeast corner of 5th and Charnelton, across the street from the Harris House, had excellent proportions and composition. Basically a carpenter Gothic style house it had a very vertical look with its very tall first floor ceilings, its steeply pitched roof and dormers and nicely detailed front porch. Watkins, who built the house circa 1880, was co-owner of the Fisher and Watkins Meat Market on Willamette Street near 7th Avenue. The house stood relatively intact (minus the original porch) until 1961. The site is now the location of the western most part of the Lane County Jail complex.

Birdseye View of the 1892 Jail

This photo appears to have been taken from the same vantage point as the photo of the new (In 1959) parking lot in last Wednesdays post. This would soon become the site of the two level "Butterfly" lot that replaced the old Lane County Jail at 8th and Oak. In this shot taken from the clock tower of the old Court house we can see the backside of the jail, the Tiffany building to the right and the old U.S. National Bank across 8th St. The back of the Smeede Hotel is at the far right above the brick building with the Coca Cola advertisement painted in the side.

Interium Lane County Jail

In last Tuesdays post I speculated that the tiny jail building of 1858 may have served as the only jail building until 1892. There is some evidence that the above building was used as the Lane County Jail before the 1892 structure was built. It stood on 5th Avenue at the North end of Olive St. very near where today's jail is located. When this photo was taken it was being used as a livery stable and early automobile garage.

1892 Jail and 1898 Court House

This view looking East down 8th Avenue at about Park Street shows the 1892 Lane County Jail and across Oak the grand Court House of 1898. Both structures where razed 1958-1959 for the current bland and dated mid-century structure that now stands at this site.

First Lane County Jail

This dismal building was the first Lane County Jail while the smaller building in the rear was the City of Eugene Jail. The County Jail was built in 1858 and seemed to have served until the new jail was built in 1892. This site was on the N.W. corner of 8th and Oak which has been a two level parking structure since the early 1960's.