Arthur Quackenbushes Recall Early Eugene
By BOB NEWCOMB
ur uu BrfUUr-Guard
At the respectable age of
80, Arthur R. Quackenbush
is not about to retire as own
er and manager of what is
probably the oldest retail firm
in Eugene in terms of single
ownership.
Quackenbush's years do not
deter him from working
daily every day of the
week at the store in down
town Eugene that bears his
name.
"You can just about set your
watch by the time he passes
by here in his pickup truck
on his way to work," one long
time Eugene businessman says
of him.
This spring, Quackenbush
Hardware Store at 160 E.
Broadway will mark its 60th
year of continuous operation
at its original location. The
other day Quackenbush and
his wife, Mien, who'serves as
a partner in the firm, cast an
eye on an earlier era in Eu
gene. They saw more than a
few contrasts.
Quackenbush, wearing a tan
coat with a cluster of pencils
sticking out of the pocket,
pointed to the ceiling of the
lm i i - ' -
I Stamps
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Commemoratives Planned
THE UNITED NATIONS
Postal Administration will is
sue a set of commemoratives
in October to honor the role
of the U.N. in West New
Guinea. During the month of
June the U.N. will issue three
airmail stamps (6 cents, 8 c
and 13 c). The 13-center will
show the slender figure of a
bird in the shape of a palm
leaf.
Further details and dates
of issuance will be reported
in this column as soon as
they become available.
THE REPUBLIC OF PAN
AMA reports that it has over
printed its 5 cents, 10 c and
31 e stamps which honored
. the orbital flight of Col. John
Glenn with a Red Cross em
blem in red. Also overprinted
on these stamps are the dates
1863-1963 to mark the cen
tenary of the International
Red Cross. The first day of
issue was March 4.
HEADQUARTERS
HEAVENLY 5l
CARPETS
by
LEES
Shop or home, where you con match
your furnishings to perfeetioa We'll
bring samples!
two-story store building in
which he has worked since he
was 20 years old. He helped
ouua u.
"I was young and husky
back in those days," he re
calls. "I remember I helped
raise the 2-by-12 ceiling
beams. We had to raise them
by hand it was the only way
then." He speaks quietly in re
flection, smiling a little. His
brown eyes are clear as is
his memory.
He recalls, without having
to look up the date, that it
was in the spring of 1902 that
he and his father, J. V.
Quackenbush, arrived in Eu
gene from Nebraska with in
tentions of opening a hard
ware and farm machinery
business.
And he recalls, also vividly,
the time he and his family
attended the 1898 Trans-Mississippi
Exposition in Omaha.
He was then 16.
"My father spent quite a
bit of time at the Oregon ex
hibition," he says, adding that
the Oregon booth was fronted
by a 36 square-inch timber.
He remembers the size.
How much influence that
exhibit had on his father's
i r
Helen Quackenbush Checks China Shelves
THE SYRIAN ARAB . RE
PUBLIC has announced from
Damascus the issuance of sev
eral sets of new stamps. In
cluded are: a set of airmails
featuring a portrait of Zeno
bia, Queen of Palmyra; an
airmail showing a portrait of
Sa'adallah Jabiri; and air
mails depicting native cos
tumes. ... FOR
2681 Willamette
Ph. Dl 5-4633
deqision to move to Oregon,
he doesn t know. But the elder
Quackenbush made study of
various parts of the country
before deciding, be says.
The father and son pre
ceded the other family mem
bers to Oregon. They came
by train, "which crossed the
Columbia River on a ferry.
And we stopped in Portland
and Albany before, coming to
Eugene," lie reflects.
"I remember father said,
'This Eugene ought to be all
right. It'll make a good town
... not a big city.' That's
just the way he sized it up."
. The younger Quackenbush
was 19 when he and his father
settled on Eugene as the fam
ily's future home. He had
finished a year and a half of
undergraduate study at the
University of Nebraska. After
arriving in Eugene, he en
rolled at the University of
Oregon, but left after one
semester to help his father
build the new store. He's still
there.
The firm opened in 1903 as
a hardware and farm machin
ery store.- It featured horse
drawn farm equipment in
those days. It was founded
i'TV-V ill
(Register-Guard photos by PhU Grenon)
IT'S HERE! The Fredelle guard
welcomes the intrigue of ;
exciting, new, natural hand
woven leathers from Italy . . ,
made with the soft natural
tanning found only in fine
Italian footwear. Combinations
of subtle tones . . , textured
glamour in these Stacked
Heels.
TENTH AND WILLAMETTE EUSENE. 0KEC0H
as J. W. Quackenbush & Sons,
a partnership of the senior
Quackenbush, Arthur, and an
other son, Ivan C, who died
in 1917. The senior Quacken
bush died in 1925. The firm
still carries the assumed name
J. W. Quackenbush & Sons.
In those days when the 20th
Century was in its infancy, so
was the city of Eugene. Today
Quackenbush recalls that
Broadway (then Ninth Street)
and Willamette Street were
gravel roads, edged with trees
and boardwalks.
The Quackenbushes both
laughed as they told of the
board crosswalks at intersec
tions. A badly placed foot
could prove embarassing.
"There were no automobiles
then," he said. "The South
ern Pacific depot at the foot
of Willamette was just a lit
tle wooden building. There
were hitching posts all around
the city park." i
It was because of a petition
circulated by Arthur Quack
enbush in that horse-and-buggy
era that the present
Broadway Street is so named.
Another man by the name of
Johnston "I can't recall his
first name now" helped cir
culate the petition. "And not
a one refused to sign."
There were then about 3,000
people living in Eugene, he'
recalls. , '
Quackenbush has not seen
any wartime service. "I was
a little bit too young for the
Spanish-American War," he
says, "and about 30 at the
,time of World War I."
Has Eugene changed much?
Are the people different to
day than they were then?
Quackenbush answers the
question with a gentle laugh. ;
"There were doctors, store
keepers, preachers and real
estate men."
But business has changed
considerable, as has the pace
of life. The store then sold
chipping and splitting tools to
farmers, who provided the '
Southern Pacific with wood
for their old steam engines.
"The Oregon Electric was not
here then." . ,
Quackenbush did a big
business in buggies, buggy
whips and coal-oil lanterns,
he remembers. '
And the weather has
changed it's become more
blustery. Quackenbush . says
he can't recall a windstorm
to match the Columbus Day
storms of last year.
Quackenbush's Hard ware
has become almost legendary
in Eugene as a place where
almost anything can be pur
chased. One story has it that
long after horse and buggies
had given way to the auto
mobile, a man from Goshen
walked into the store wonder
ing if he could buy a buggy
Jhrough the store's ordering
service.
The clerk, according to the
story, said, "just a minute."
Then a minute later wheeled
a buggy out of the storeroom.
'aaer's
Arthur Quackenbush Sends Sales Slip to Office
The store itself has under
gone big changes over the
years. After the senior Quack
enbush died, in 192S, it began
taking on a different charac
ter, under a woman's touch.
Mrs. Arthur Quackenbush,
who formerly was a teacher,
recalls that she started work
ing at the store about that
time, part time, and gradually
became a full working part
ner. Today she manages a por
tion of the store devoted to
chinaware, costume jewelry,
toys and a variety of other
things "principally of inter
est to women," she says. The
1 9
L3 & ' J
f
Vi
store has been enlarged sev
eral times.
Mr. and Mrs. Quackenbush,
who were married July 12,
1922, each often put in a seven-day
week at the store.
Quackenbush also operates
a 220-acro ore hard near
Springfield, and is one of the
largest filbert growers in the
state. He and his wife live in
Eugene, however, at 199S Pot
ter St.
And he has no thought of
retiring from business.
Says Mrs. Quackenbush of
her husband's work:
"It's so much a part of him
BLACK OR BEIGE 20.00
FLAT HEEL BEIGE 13.00
BEIGE AND BROWN 20.04
EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday, April 21, 1963 Page SB -
now he has to come down
here even on Sundays. I don't
know what he d do without It,'
THE UNSLIPPABLE
by WARNER'S!
A light, lacy strapless that uxm't illpf
That delicate "lace" isn't lace. It' something
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cause it's airy spondex, It never feels clammy.
The contour cups are topped with real lace,
hook up prettily In front. PIO-98: White,
A, B, C, $6.95
(Cups nd panels: ill nylon; elastic: nylon-acetate-Lycra
spandex.) '
In our ilimweer department
Packaged to get
bon marelio. russells
Polished
month.
1 ago witn
V any
other '
silver ,
polish
Polished
six months
ago with
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Preventive
For the first time,
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Visit Our
Lenox Room
Largest tnsl display on th
Paclfte coast.
yeweu4
V 873 WlUcnnU
mcTl
1 f
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