Santa Clara Neighborhood (Eugene, Oregon)

Santa Clara is a community of on the northern edge of the City of Eugene, Oregon. It began its existence as a sleepy outpost farming community and officially became Santa Clara in 1890 when Colonel A.J. Straight bought a large chunk of land here and named it after his home in California.

Santa Clara is located on the banks of the Willamette River. Its northern boundary is considered to be Beacon Drive in Eugene, the southern boundary is Oregon Route 569 (Randy Pape Belt Line Road), its western boundary is the Northwest Expressway, and its eastern boundary is the river.

The area’s identity became attached to Eugene as large suburban development between 1960 and 1975. Today there are about 20,231 residents and about 53% of the area is incorporated with the City of Eugene.

The Santa Clara Community Organization is very active and meets once a month. There is approximately 13,000 people living in Santa Clara. Santa Clara is home to several city and county parks. There are nine bike routes in the Santa Clara area. Six 2-mile routes, two 5-mile routes and one 10-mile route. There is a new path being built that will link the popular Riverbank Path to the new Santa Clara Community Park, located just north of Wilkes Drive, which is starting construction soon. The park will include a combination of passive recreation facilities as well as ball fields.  The park also connects to Madison Middle School.