Chronological Tour: Stop 316

A Gem That Survived

Third-base (main) entrance to Eugene Civic Stadium, Aug-2006.

The seating, as seen from the outfield concourse.

The view from behind home plate.

• Location: 20th and Oak streets, Eugene, Ore.
• Opened: 1940
• Destroyed (by fire): 2015
• Home team: Eugene Larks, Far West League (1950-51); Eugene Emeralds, Northwest League (1955-68, 1974-2009), Pacific Coast League (1969-73)
• Capacity: 6,800

Rating: 4 baseballs

At one time, it was used for football as well, but a new, more typical football stadium with an aluminum grandstand has taken over that utility. Meanwhile, this was one of the last old wooden parks still in use. Another similar structure still stands in Hoquiam, Wash.

The ballpark featured a covered grandstand with room for over six thousand fans. In addition, box seats had been added below the main grandstand; however, on days when the rain threatens, the grandstand seats were ultimately preferable. The Emeralds also added beer gardens down each base line. Concessions were outside the original stand; a separate fence was erected to control admission. It was notable that the public address announcement could not be heard in the outer concourse, the sound being contained by the original roofed facility.

Civic Stadium was owned for about 75 years by the school board, which had indicated its plans to sell the property in 2002 after building the new football stadium. Several proposals, including a strip mall anchored by a supermarket, were floated over the ensuing years, but in 2015 the stadium and most of the land around it was acquired by the nonprofit Eugene Civic Alliance. The new group planned to replace the iconic roof over the grandstand and use the facility for youth soccer. Tragically, though, the structure burned to the ground late that June, ending the life of this venerable park.

The Northwest League’s Emeralds moved to PK Park, a newly built facility on the University of Oregon campus, in 2010. The Emeralds use that stadium in the summer, after the Ducks’ season is complete.