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Overview:
The complaints about the Westmoreland pickleball courts aren’t the first time neighbors have objected to noise at that location. A century ago, the problem was the loud sounds, and danger, of airplanes taking off and landing nearby.
May 1 is the anniversary of the opening of the Eugene airport, known officially as Mahlon Sweet Field. It began operations on that date in 1943. Prior to that, Eugene’s airport was located where Westmoreland Park is today.
And that’s where this story of history repeating itself begins.
Last year complaints were filed with the City of Eugene about the noise of the pickleball courts along Polk Street, just a stone’s throw from the location of the old runways.
The Eugene Airpark, as it was called, was constructed in 1919. It had two dirt runways between 22nd Avenue and 18th Avenue on one side, and Chambers Street and Polk Street on the other. Springfield also had a dirt strip airport, along Olympic Street, where Jerry’s Home Improvement Center is today.
As the two communities grew toward each airpark, with more homes and businesses nearby, so did the problems. Beyond noise, it was a high-risk time for these new planes and pilots. That included a fatal crash of a mail service plane in 1933, which landed on a house after a failed takeoff.
I first heard about the Eugene Airpark from Bob Hart, who is uniquely qualified to discuss both aviation and local history. He is a retired Executive Director of the Lane County History Museum, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and was a tanker and reconnaissance navigator during the Vietnam War.
When I asked about the most dangerous part of flying in those early days, he said, “The weather was such a challenge for planes without any of the many cockpit instruments we have today. The pilots flew by the seat of their pants. Among other things, they were guided by rotating beacons at the airparks, as well as observing the names on the water towers at nearby towns.”
In addition to all the challenges, the airparks had many moments of glory, introducing the area to the age of aviation and enabling lots of people to take their first flights. And the Eugene Airpark claims a significant role in the first around-the-world flight.
On Fillmore Street, at about 21st Avenue, a small monument mentions that pioneering flight:
“On this location was established the first municipal airport on the West Coast, circa 1919. On March 18, 1924, the first around-the-world flight of four U.S. Army Douglas bi-planes stopped here enroute to Seattle, said to be the ‘origin’ of the flight. Dedicated by the Eugene Airport Commission, March 1986.”
Ultimately, a new airport was needed farther away to solve the problem of unneighborly noise and safety. And who headed that effort? It was Mahlon Sweet (1886-1947), a leader in creation of both the original airpark and later the airport we use today.
Sweet attended the University of Oregon for three years before pursuing a career as a car mechanic and dealer. And, in another example of what’s old is new again, he initially sold and worked on electric cars.
With the opening of the new Eugene airport in 1943, United Airlines began flying DC-3 aircraft that could carry up to 30 passengers at 200 miles per hour. It made trips to the east coast with only three stops, quite a contrast (usually) to today’s travel.
We’ve come a long way from planes landing and taking off on cow pastures in Eugene and Springfield. Now the aircraft noise is miles away from either downtown, at what is now the second busiest airport in Oregon, flying about 1.8 million passengers per year.
Are there any remaining signs of the Eugene Airpark, now a century later? If you’re near Westmoreland Park, notice the mounds of dirt along the 18th Avenue disc golf course. Reports say those were pushed up from the runways. You may also see the “History Here” sign at the northeast corner of Chambers and West 18th Avenue that tells more of the story.
And about that noise from the pickleball courts? The City of Eugene is reviewing the options, with some current neighbors asking that the courts be moved elsewhere, as was done with the airpark long ago. The pickleball players don’t think that’s a great idea.
