The Red Barn Story

The Historic Red Barn

Mechanic — Stitch Name Used for the Cloth in Eugene, OR
Repair Shop — Side View of the Red Barn Shop in Eugene, OR
Oil Change — Car Repair Area in Eugene, OR

Our History with the Red Barn

We bought the place from Mabel Kingsley, the widow of Addison Kingsley in 2001. Addison (Add) had apparently bought the barn in 1938 and installed the apartment. He operated the Auto repair business as “Seven Oaks Garage” from that time until he retired about 1980. He then leased it to others who operated under various names, including River Road Automotive.

When Eric Bowser approached me about opening a repair shop, I then contacted Mrs. Kingsley and bought the barn property including the lot across Merry Lane. The property had been leased for many years to Allan Derschon, who also sold Christmas trees from the property. He had used the building at least partly for storage. It was full of misc. machinery and car parts. Derelicts were constantly breaking in to steal things and Mr. Derschon was no longer able to take care of it.

We decided to restore the barn but first had to jack it back into a straight roof line. Even so, the corners are not plumb. The charm of the place was more important than a slight leaning….in my opinion. We tried to retain as much of the original as possible. The air compressor is housed in what was a privy. The pit had to be shoveled out annually, I suppose. The workbench and the apartment are original, and all the doors and windows, except the roll-up doors.

Eric decided to call it ‘River Road Automotive” to take advantage of the internally lit sign that was already on the building. (By the way, I assume we still have it?) While I was working on the restoration several people stopped by to reminisce about the old barn and thank me for not tearing it down.

At one time I thought about using it for a produce market, but if I use it for anything but automotive, it reverts back to residential only. Automotive is good…..!

A Family Member Remembers

I "stumbled across" your website when doing some Googling, and after reading your history of the barn I thought that I'd drop you a note.

My Grandpa Chapman, James Richard Chapman, built the barn. It was built while my dad, James Brenton Chapman, and his oldest brother, John Richard Chapman, were serving in France during World War I. They "found" the new barn on the farm when they came home from France at the end of the war.

Grandpa bought a 40-acre farm between River Road and the Willamette River in September 1907. I am the current owner of the canceled check that paid for it. My Uncle John R. Chapman settled Grandpa's estate in 1929, and ended up with Grandpa's mementos, including the canceled check. Uncle John had no children and I then "fell heir" to Grandpa's mementos, including the canceled check, when he died.

James Richard and Eliza Jane (Switzer) Chapman had twelve children. The youngest was Bertha Jane, who married Addison Kingsley. They divorced. Addison then married the Mabel mentioned on your website. Addison and Bertha built the small house on the north side of the barn. Grandpa had named his farm "Seven Oaks." One of the oak trees, over by Marion Lane, blew down. Addison cut down one oak tree for fear that it would fall on the house. Only five of the original seven oak trees remain. 

When River Road was widened, the Lane County Commissioners spent an extra $16,000 on the project to save the five oak trees by routing the sidewalk behind them.

After Aunt Bertha and Addison divorced, he ran the Seven Oaks Garage there for years. And, yes, it was Addison who put in the apartment to rent. He was an excellent mechanic, and although he was an EX-in-law, the Chapmans, including my dad, remained on very good terms with him, and he did all of "our" repair work.

The old farmhouse on the place was an old house when the farm was bought in 1907. My Uncle’s John and Victor Chapman built a porch around it. It became Ditty's Trading Post (used furniture, etc.) years ago, with an addition wrapped around it. It is now, of course, a pizza business location.

Of historical note, in 1913 my Grandpa felt sorry for his neighbors on Goodpasture Island and gave them a right-of-way through the farm, known as Goodpasture Island Ferry Association Road. I have a copy of the "deed" off microfilm at the courthouse. Although it was called a deed, it was a de facto easement, as Grandpa had to pay half of the upkeep, etc.

When the west side of River Road was subdivided with a street named Maynard, "Goodpasture Island Ferry Association Road" eventually got renamed "East Maynard." It no longer goes all the way to the river.

A small ferry ran between the end of "Goodpasture Island Ferry Association Road" and Goodpasture Island. It was just big enough for one to get their team of horses and wagon onto, is my guess, from looking at photos I have of it. One of my frustrations is that I do not know when the use of the ferry ceased.

In addition to the ferry, there was a footbridge (like the Golden Gate Bridge) there across the river, which I have several photos of. I DO know what happened to the swinging footbridge-- high water the very last night of 1929 undermined one end of it, and it jerked loose and washed down the river.

In regard to the "Seven Oaks" farm. The southern boundary was Marion Lane there beside the barn. The northern boundary is the "backyard fence" on the south side of the day-care on the River Road corner, and the houses on the south side of East Howard Avenue.

Grandpa ate too much at the family's Thanksgiving dinner, 1929, and had a fatal heart attack. Grandma died in 1940, at which time the farm was divided up into twelve (12) parcels, with each of the twelve children receiving one of the parcels. My dad bought Uncle Earl's parcel next to dads and ended up with about 5.5 acres of it. Years later, my Uncle Vic built the DariMart on the River Road frontage of his retirement home property and leased it to them. By the time Grandma died in 1940, the Willamette River had washed away about 12 acres of the original 40 acres.

Anyway, I would like to say "THANK YOU" for saving Grandpa's old barn. Very few of River Road-Santa Clara's historical buildings have been saved.
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