I stopped the bike to get a closer look at the corner of Washington Street and 11th Avenue on Tuesday.
A bit of Albany history has been preserved in the city’s paving project along Washington Street. It’s the name of the contractor, the son of Oregon pioneers, who built part of the street more than a century ago.
In 1911, contractor E.L. Umphrey pressed his name in some wet concrete in the sidewalk of Washington Street. On Tuesday I noticed the concrete slab with his name was still there, carefully cut out and embedded in river rock at the newly constructed ADA-compliant curb ramps on the northeast corner of Washington and 11th Avenue.
Pacific Excavation of Eugene has the $3.5 million city contract to repave 13 blocks of Washington from First to Pacific and repair sidewalks along the way. Putting in curb ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is part of the job.
Water lines on Washington and nearby streets were completed earlier. Washington will be resurfaced, presumably, when the ramps are finished.
But now, who was E.L. Umphrey?
The Albany Democrat-Herald reported his death on the front page on June 9, 1927. (The banner headline on that page was about the arrest in Ohio of the DeAutremont twins, Roy and Ray, while their younger brother Hugh was on trial in Jacksonville for the Tunnel 13 train robbery that left four men dead.)
E.L. Umphrey, at age 60, had died that morning at Albany General Hospital, where he had been a patient since April 14.
“He was born,” the story said, “March 4, 1867, at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Umphrey, who were pioneer residents of the Peterson Butte vicinity. Mr. Umphrey came to Albany 27 years ago and for 20 years he was engaged in contracting work in Albany.”
He was survived by his widow, a son and a sister. His father, Albert Umphrey, was born in Iowa and came west by ox team, with his parents, in 1852.
The Washington Street sidewalk was just one of E.L.’s contracts in 1911. In June that year, the Albany Democrat mentioned that “E.L. Umphrey is at Peoria this week doing a cement job at the cemetery.”
Four years later, the Democrat printed this item on June 29, 1915:
I admire the brevity of local news reports in 1915. But I wish the reporter had answered one question: Which bridge?
I don’t know if it’s still true that “Albany concrete men are equal to all occasions” as they apparently were a century ago. But I’m glad that E.L. Umphrey’s name is still there on Washington Street, for passersby to see. (hh)
The “E.L.” has been partially worn down, but the rest of the Umphrey inscription is well preserved.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28880460/edward-leo-umphrey
Those DeAutremont brothers you speak of were the uncles to my high school basketball coach, Charles DeAutremont, from ’75 to ’77 at Central Linn in Halsey. He was a great coach and yes, told us some family history stories like the one you mentioned. Good article, Hasso!
At the time that the cement was laid the contractor Edward L. Umphrey and his wife Linnie lived at their Albany home located at 839 5th Ave SE (5th & Madison St.)
His wife lived there until she passed in 1956.
What is the connection of E.L. Umphrey to the DeAutremont brothers? How did E.L. Umphrey actually die?
There’s no connection. As I said in the story, it so happened that his death at the Albany hospital (of an illness that was not specified in the paper) was reported on the same day as the sensational national news of the capture of the DeAutremont twins in Ohio.
Maybe if you read the article and clicked the link in the very first post? He died a miserable, lingering death from stomach cancer.
Thank you for writing this article! I’m the homeowner living on the corner of 11th Washington where the sidewalk was stamped. When I saw they were going to cut the sidewalk I asked the city and the contractor to save that section of sidewalk to preserve a little bit of history! They were happy to save it and came up with the idea of putting it where it is now. My wife and I really appreciated them working with us and they’ve been great.