Eugene weekly., March 26, 2015, Page 13, Image 13

Register-Guard article about the family. The Giustinas and
three other lumber companies donated timbers to help
build Civic Stadium, a Depression-era Works Progress
Administration project. George Giustina, the oldest of the
company’s founders, was a big baseball fan and led his
family’s involvement in the project.
“My grandfather’s older brother George was primarily
involved in the volunteer program that donated lumber and
got other people to donate to Civic Stadium, and that led
to the sponsoring of the Giustina Reds,” says Dan
Giustina, managing partner for Giustina Resources.
Joe Blakely, author of Eugene’s Civic Stadium, says it
means “one heck of a lot” to see Civic Stadium saved and
remembered. “I’ve never been so proud of anything in my
whole life. Since I wrote [the book], it has just been so
important in this effort, and I’m so happy with the way
everything turned out.”
Historic recognition “is likely to be an assignment to a
committee to develop further,” Webber says, and she lists
Greg Ausland, an engineer for the project, and Linda
Wheatley of the Eugene Parks Foundation as potential
members of the committee.
a museum to my knowledge in the Eugene area, and I think
having something like that would be excellent.”
Anderson points out that the wood products industry
continues to influence Lane County. “It has changed
dramatically in my time, but it still plays a large role,” he
says. “It’s still a big part of Lane County’s economy, and
not just the mills but also the activities serving the mills,
from insurance to equipment.”
A LEGACY OF OUR OWN
Heather Kliever, registrar for the Lane County
Historical Society and chair of the Eugene Historic
Review Board, says the site at Civic Stadium and the
structure itself represent a unique piece of Eugene’s
history.
“You cannot build that again,” Kliever says, pointing
out that the time during which we used old growth for
buildings has passed. “Our environment can’t support it.
It’s absolutely a gem.”
REMEMBER THE TIMBERS
“I guess you could call the stadium itself part of a
museum,” says Jon Anderson, president and publisher of
Random Lengths, a publication that serves the wood
products industry. “What I’ve been told is that you can still
get underneath and see those beautiful old wooden beams,
so you start with a museum right there, I suppose.”
“It’d be nice if the whole stadium site was going to be
commemorative and honor the history,” Dan Giustina
says. And the prospect of a wood products museum?
“Personally, I would like to see that,” he says. “We’re in
the business. There’s the World Forestry Center in Portland,
but nothing close by, to my knowledge.”
Anderson of Random Lengths, a financial supporter of
Civic’s restoration, expressed similar support. “If there’s
room, that’d be a great idea,” Anderson says. “There’s not
She says the preservation of Civic Stadium is a great
opportunity for Eugeneans to embrace historic recognition.
This hasn’t always happened in Eugene — see the pile of
rubble that was once Eugene City Hall — but there are some
great historic examples of Eugeneans coming together to
save an important resource for future generations.
In 1937, Kliever says, a year before Civic Stadium was
built, Spencer Butte was on the chopping block, slated for
deforesting. Former Eugene Mayor F.M. Wilkins rallied
the people of Eugene to purchase Spencer Butte and turn
it into recreational land rather than clearcut it. Wilkins also
brokered the deal for Hendricks Park, ensuring that some
parkland existed in the residential area.
“Imagine Hendricks now if it had been completely built
up,” Kliever says. “Eugene would be different. We would
not be the same Eugene.”
In terms of recognizing the historical significance of
the Civic Stadium spot, Kliever says that, for starters,
history could be represented through heritage interpretation
signs. “Maybe there could be some collaboration with
historic groups in town,” she says. “There could even be
noontime history lectures about the history of Amazon
Creek, or talking about the history of baseball.”
And, like Anderson, Kliever points out that the stadium
itself is a monument to the history of Lane County and its
relationship with timber. “You just can’t go out and see
trees like that anymore,” Kliever says. “We’ll probably
never see that ever again in our lives. Dinosaurs among us
— that’s what Civic is.”
GOING THE DISTANCE
SIGN FOUND AT CIVIC STADIUM
PHOTO BY TRASK BEDORTHA
“It’s a grand old place,” Greg Giustina says. He adds
that he feels a bit detached from the stadium now, since his
family played a role in Civic’s creation so long ago, but he
also supports the interests of the community.
“I kind of go along with whatever the people here in
town want,” he says. “And if they want to keep it, that’s
just fine. You don’t know what the future holds. Down the
way, if we got rid of it we might be sorry.” ■
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