Downtown Riverfront - Name Our Streets!

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Consultation has concluded


Mayor Vinis reveals new Downtown Riverfront street names

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the Downtown Riverfront street naming project!

After an engaging process that generated more than 1,100 ideas from community members, Mayor Vinis revealed the final street names:

  • Annie Mims Lane
  • Nak-nak Avenue
  • Wiley Griffon Way

About the street names

  • Annie Mims and her husband were one of the first African American families to own a home in Eugene. At a time when African Americans were excluded from living in the city limits and redlining was rampant, the Mims’ opened their doors to others in need of a place to stay when hotels and businesses refused service to African American people. A historical marker, "the Mims Houses Memorial Monument", sits between E. 3rd Avenue and E. 4th Avenue at 330/336 High St. Prior to purchasing their home, the Mims lived outside the city limits in a settlement "Across the Bridge" (now Alton Baker Park and MLK Blvd) with other African American families who came seeking post WWII jobs. Their homes "across the bridge" were bulldozed and families displaced for the reconstruction of the Ferry Street Bridge in 1950.

  • Nak-nak (pronounced knawk-knawk) is the indigenous Kalapuya word for “duck.” Indigenous Kalapuya occupied much of our area until the 1830s, when many died of infectious diseases brought to the area by white explorers and traders. In 1855 the Kalapuya Treaty was signed handing over much of the Willamette Valley to the United States. At the time of the treaty, it’s estimated that only 400 Kalapuya remained.

  • Wiley Griffon was among Eugene’s earliest documented African American residents. He drove Eugene’s first horse drawn streetcar system and later worked as a janitor at the University of Oregon. He remarkably owned a home near the Riverfront at what is presently E. 4th and Mill during a time when African American people were excluded by law from living not only in the city limits, but in the state of Oregon.

Thank you again for participating in this process to name our new streets!


Notice (10/4/19):

This website experienced a system-wide glitch between 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct.3, and 12:3 0 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4. Unfortunately, any votes submitted during this period were not counted. Each and every vote is important to us! If you tried voting during this period, please view all ideas again to confirm your votes have been counted. If you see the hearts highlighted next to your favorites, your votes have been tallied. The tool will not let you select the same idea twice. You should see the number next to the heart change in real time. Thank you for your understanding and for helping ensure your votes have been counted.


Mayor Vinis reveals new Downtown Riverfront street names

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the Downtown Riverfront street naming project!

After an engaging process that generated more than 1,100 ideas from community members, Mayor Vinis revealed the final street names:

  • Annie Mims Lane
  • Nak-nak Avenue
  • Wiley Griffon Way

About the street names

  • Annie Mims and her husband were one of the first African American families to own a home in Eugene. At a time when African Americans were excluded from living in the city limits and redlining was rampant, the Mims’ opened their doors to others in need of a place to stay when hotels and businesses refused service to African American people. A historical marker, "the Mims Houses Memorial Monument", sits between E. 3rd Avenue and E. 4th Avenue at 330/336 High St. Prior to purchasing their home, the Mims lived outside the city limits in a settlement "Across the Bridge" (now Alton Baker Park and MLK Blvd) with other African American families who came seeking post WWII jobs. Their homes "across the bridge" were bulldozed and families displaced for the reconstruction of the Ferry Street Bridge in 1950.

  • Nak-nak (pronounced knawk-knawk) is the indigenous Kalapuya word for “duck.” Indigenous Kalapuya occupied much of our area until the 1830s, when many died of infectious diseases brought to the area by white explorers and traders. In 1855 the Kalapuya Treaty was signed handing over much of the Willamette Valley to the United States. At the time of the treaty, it’s estimated that only 400 Kalapuya remained.

  • Wiley Griffon was among Eugene’s earliest documented African American residents. He drove Eugene’s first horse drawn streetcar system and later worked as a janitor at the University of Oregon. He remarkably owned a home near the Riverfront at what is presently E. 4th and Mill during a time when African American people were excluded by law from living not only in the city limits, but in the state of Oregon.

Thank you again for participating in this process to name our new streets!


Notice (10/4/19):

This website experienced a system-wide glitch between 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct.3, and 12:3 0 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4. Unfortunately, any votes submitted during this period were not counted. Each and every vote is important to us! If you tried voting during this period, please view all ideas again to confirm your votes have been counted. If you see the hearts highlighted next to your favorites, your votes have been tallied. The tool will not let you select the same idea twice. You should see the number next to the heart change in real time. Thank you for your understanding and for helping ensure your votes have been counted.