Wiley Griffon (1867-1913) was one of Eugene's first black citizens. He arrived in Eugene in 1890 with a Mr. Holden who established a mule driven streetcar system, Eugene's first form of public transportation. Griffon was the driver and, eventually, in the owner's absence, he ran the operation. When the streetcars ceased operating around 1900, he worked as a janitor for the University of Oregon, a construction worker, a train porter and a cook. He owned a home on the bank of the Millrace.

 

Lane Community College instructor, Mark Harris, his wife Cheri Turpin and the LCC Black Student Union spent 15 years doing research and raising money to place a beautiful basalt monument that has Wiley Griffon's history engraved on it on the grave at the Eugene Masonic Cemetery where Griffon is buried. This effort was part of a larger project "I Too Am Eugene" a multicultural history endeavor that seeks to build awareness of Eugene's cultural diversity. Mark Harris and Black Student Union officers ,Cemetery board members, and members of the Eugene community participated in a ceremony in June of 2013 (?) in Hope Abbey and at the grave site commemorating Wiley Griffen and his place in Eugene's history.

 

If you would like to visit this monument, you will find it down the path from the Memorial Overlook (scatter garden)