Wiley (front row, center) worked as a janitor in Friendly Hall, a men’s dormitory, in 1896.
Image credit: Lane County History Museum
As a conductor of a mule-powered streetcar, Wiley was a recognizable figure around town in 1893.
Image credit: Lane County History Museum
Henderson Stone owned a barbershop and bathhouse on Willamette Street. He lived with his family in a house owned by Charles Lauer, then-president of the Eugene National Bank.
Henderson Stone’s children, unnamed, pictured here in 1895. The Stones are not listed in the 1900 census; we do not know why they left Eugene.
Image credit: Lane County History Museum
With a few exceptions, we know very little about the earliest Blacks living in and around Eugene. Census records preserve snippets of their lives: names, race, education, and occupation.