Park Amenities
10
acres
Magnolia
arboretum
Natural
area
Open
play area
Picnic
tables
Wallace M. Ruff Memorial Park
1161 North 66th Street
Magnolias The First Flowers
About 100 million years ago, when herds of dinosaurs stomped through green forests of conifers and ferns, a thick, furry bud blossomed into a magnolia. The ancestors of Ruff Park's trees were the oldest flowering plants. They emerged millions of years before bees or butterflies and are pollinated instead by beetles.
Magnolias
once covered the world but today
grow naturally in the southeastern
United States,
Central America, and southeast Asia.
Ruff Park's magnolias
have yet to reach maturity, but hundreds of trees are rooted in the
rich, river-bottom soil along Cedar Creek. Neighborhood residents,
visitors from afar, and even a pair of resident fox enjoy the collection.
Native ash, cottonwood, and maple trees line the creek banks, while
grasses and flowers lend year-round color, texture, and perfume to
Ruff Park. Enjoy.
The Story of Ruff Park
Wallace M. Ruff Jr. Magnolia Arboretum and Neighborhood Park is owned and operated by the Willamalane Park and Recreation District. The story of Ruff Park is the story of a son and his father.
Wallace M. Ruff Jr. bought the property that is now Ruff Park in the early 1970s, while he was a student at South Eugene High School. He paid for the land with money he earned selling the flowers he cultivated here. Ruff Jr. died in 1989. In 1992 his father, Wallace M. "Mack" Ruff Sr., donated the property to Willamalane.
Ruff Jr. gained his passion for plants from his father. Mack Ruff was a landscape architect, an artist, and an anthropologist. He was a professor of landscape architecture and horticulture at the University of Oregon for 25 years. Throughout his teaching career, he maintained a landscape architecture practice and propagated tropical plants at his home. He is also known for his studies of the native art and architecture of Papua New Guinea, where he taught for nine years before his death in 1999.
Mack Ruff saw in his son's property the seeds of what could become the largest magnolia arboretum west of the Mississippi River. Ruff Park was designed as a memorial to Ruff Jr. by Mack's friend and teaching associate, George Jette.
Growing With Your Help
When Wallace M. "Mack" Ruff Sr. and a group of friends planted the first magnolias at Ruff Park, they started something special. The group has grown into Friends of Ruff Park, dedicated to Mack's vision of a magnolia arboretum of world renown.
Friends of Ruff Park, Willamalane staff, and community volunteers meet monthly to weed beds and plant and prune magnolias. Members of the Thurston High School Key Club contribute regularly, and the park owes much to Gossler Farms Nursery for donations of materials and expertise.
Ruff Park Volunteer Work Parties
Call 747-6705 to join Friends of Ruff Park
in a Saturday morning work party. Or, donate toward the expansion and
continuing development of Ruff Park through Friends of Willamalane
736-4044. Meet your neighbors, enjoy the outdoors, and earn a free
lunch! Work parties run from 9 a.m. to Noon in the park, off 66th Street
in Springfield. We provide the lunch!
Driving Directions
Nearest Intersection is 66th Street & Thurston Road.
1. Head EAST on South A Street. Continue for .1 miles
2. Turn LEFT onto Pioneer Parkway East. Continue for 1 mile
3. Turn RIGHT on McKenzie Hwy/Bend on-ramp onto Hwy 126 E. Continue
for 5.2 miles
4. Turn LEFT onto Main Street. Continue for .8 miles
5. Turn LEFT onto 66th Street. Continue for .8 miles to the park on
the right