Gillespie Butte is a distinct hill on Eugene’s north side, rising 610 feet above sea level and offering broad views over the city from its wooded slopes. Set among residential neighborhoods, it remains a local landmark with a city park and a cemetery on the hill. Its name recalls Reverend Jacob Gillespie, who came to Oregon from Missouri in 1851, settled nearby, and was closely tied to Eugene’s early Cumberland Presbyterian church. The butte’s history also reflects a deeper contradiction in early Oregon settlement, because Gillespie held a slave there despite the territory’s formal ban on slavery.