Eugene Register-Guard
Lane County, Oregon
Monday, February 19, 1968

COLORFUL LANE COUNTY NATIVE, FRANK ARMITAGE, DEAD AT 96

Frank L. Armitage---early Lane County resident, politician, former Eugene postmaster, and donor of Armitage State Park---is dead at the age of 96.

Armitage died Sunday at McKenzie Manor Nursing Home in Springfield, where he and his wife Ada had lived for some time. Prior to entering the nursing home, they had lived for years at 1390 High St. in Eugene.

His death brought an end to a colorful career that started with his birth on Sept. 14, 1871, on his father's farm, called Armitage Station, along the McKenzie River about four miles northwest of the present Ferry Street Bridge.

Armitage's father, George*, and his grandparents** were a prominent settlers in Lane County in 1848, and Frank often scoffed at the Johnny-come-lately "professional" pioneers who sought notice for themselves in later years.

For 18 years Frank Armitage ran the Eugene office of the State Employment Service, leaving that job in 1935 to become Eugene postmaster.

Armitage regarded as one of the more notable achievements in his 12 years as postmaster the cutting of government red tape to get the Eugene post office furnace converted from coal to oil. Standard government plans called for a coal furnace, and it took years of effort by Armitage and others to convince the government that shipping in coal from Utah was an unnecessary expense.

Before becoming postmaster, Armitage was a power in Democratic politics in Oregon and a friend of Governors Oswald West and George Chamberlain.

Armitage attended the University of Oregon in 1890 and 1891, then took over running his father's farm after the elder Armitage died in 1892.

He once told the Register-Guard abut making 56-mile horseback rides to Mapleton in those days to buy stock:

"I used to ride along the old stage coach route to Mapleton and I'd keep my horse at a steady pace all the way. Every once in awhile, the stagecoach would come dashing by and pass me, then a little later I'd catch up with it where it was stopped and job on by."

The dashing stagecoach driver, Armitage said, was Earl McNutt, later to head a big construction firm and become mayor of Eugene. McNutt himself is now ailing and a patient at Sacred Heart Hospital. [Note: Earl L. McNutt died in Lane County on July 28, 1969 at the age of 81 about 18 months after this article was written.]

Armitage sold his main farm in 1910 and went to work as a court bailiff and a deputy sheriff. After World War II he took an interest in aviation and flew regularly with Army forest patrol planes based in Eugene.

He was a friend of local air pioneer Mahlon Sweet and was instrumental in having Eugene's present municipal airport named for Sweet.

Several years ago the Armitage family donated 42 acres of land on the McKenzie near where his father had settled to the state for the state park that bears his name.

In addition to his wife, Ada***, whom he married in 1899, Armitage is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Clarence Grant of San Francisco and Mrs. Roy Brown of Springfield, and two grandchildren. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at England Funeral Home, with burial in Gillespie cemetery in Eugene. ~~~

Notes:Grandson of William M. and Hester "Hixey" V. (Jones) Stevens, who were the first white settlers south of the McKenzie River in the Willamette Forks area - 1847, house on Game Farm Rd. William M. Stevens & Hester "Hixey" V. (Jones) Stevens were contemporaries of fellow Lane County pioneer Rev. Jacob Gillespie.

His wife, Ada (Calef) Armitage, died less than a year later, on January 29, 1969 at the age of 77.

Eugene Register-Guard
Lane County, Oregon
Monday, February 19, 1968

COLORFUL LANE COUNTY NATIVE, FRANK ARMITAGE, DEAD AT 96

Frank L. Armitage---early Lane County resident, politician, former Eugene postmaster, and donor of Armitage State Park---is dead at the age of 96.

Armitage died Sunday at McKenzie Manor Nursing Home in Springfield, where he and his wife Ada had lived for some time. Prior to entering the nursing home, they had lived for years at 1390 High St. in Eugene.

His death brought an end to a colorful career that started with his birth on Sept. 14, 1871, on his father's farm, called Armitage Station, along the McKenzie River about four miles northwest of the present Ferry Street Bridge.

Armitage's father, George*, and his grandparents** were a prominent settlers in Lane County in 1848, and Frank often scoffed at the Johnny-come-lately "professional" pioneers who sought notice for themselves in later years.

For 18 years Frank Armitage ran the Eugene office of the State Employment Service, leaving that job in 1935 to become Eugene postmaster.

Armitage regarded as one of the more notable achievements in his 12 years as postmaster the cutting of government red tape to get the Eugene post office furnace converted from coal to oil. Standard government plans called for a coal furnace, and it took years of effort by Armitage and others to convince the government that shipping in coal from Utah was an unnecessary expense.

Before becoming postmaster, Armitage was a power in Democratic politics in Oregon and a friend of Governors Oswald West and George Chamberlain.

Armitage attended the University of Oregon in 1890 and 1891, then took over running his father's farm after the elder Armitage died in 1892.

He once told the Register-Guard abut making 56-mile horseback rides to Mapleton in those days to buy stock:

"I used to ride along the old stage coach route to Mapleton and I'd keep my horse at a steady pace all the way. Every once in awhile, the stagecoach would come dashing by and pass me, then a little later I'd catch up with it where it was stopped and job on by."

The dashing stagecoach driver, Armitage said, was Earl McNutt, later to head a big construction firm and become mayor of Eugene. McNutt himself is now ailing and a patient at Sacred Heart Hospital. [Note: Earl L. McNutt died in Lane County on July 28, 1969 at the age of 81 about 18 months after this article was written.]

Armitage sold his main farm in 1910 and went to work as a court bailiff and a deputy sheriff. After World War II he took an interest in aviation and flew regularly with Army forest patrol planes based in Eugene.

He was a friend of local air pioneer Mahlon Sweet and was instrumental in having Eugene's present municipal airport named for Sweet.

Several years ago the Armitage family donated 42 acres of land on the McKenzie near where his father had settled to the state for the state park that bears his name.

In addition to his wife, Ada***, whom he married in 1899, Armitage is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Clarence Grant of San Francisco and Mrs. Roy Brown of Springfield, and two grandchildren. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at England Funeral Home, with burial in Gillespie cemetery in Eugene. ~~~

Notes:Grandson of William M. and Hester "Hixey" V. (Jones) Stevens, who were the first white settlers south of the McKenzie River in the Willamette Forks area - 1847, house on Game Farm Rd. William M. Stevens & Hester "Hixey" V. (Jones) Stevens were contemporaries of fellow Lane County pioneer Rev. Jacob Gillespie.

His wife, Ada (Calef) Armitage, died less than a year later, on January 29, 1969 at the age of 77.