By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews
A unanimous vote by Lincoln County commissioners to change the racist name of a road four miles east of Waldport brought applause from a handful of people in the audience at their meeting Wednesday, their second on the topic.
Commissioners last week held a hearing on whether to change the name of the short U.S. Forest Service road branching south off Oregon Highway 34. Staff initiated the name change process months ago at the commission’s direction, and most of last week’s testimony favored a change.
Peeling letters on the sign post at the road’s intersection with the highway read “DARKEY CR,” for East Darkey Creek Road, although the top of the post bears a Forest Service sign with its numbered designation — FR 3489.
The Forest Service changed the sign two decades ago after the Oregon Geographic Names Board voted to rename the creek just south of it to Southworth Creek, in honor of a former slave with a prominent role in Waldport’s early development. It petitioned commissioners to change the road’s legal name, as well, which is under the county’s control. But they declined after residents of the road complained that a change would be inconvenient.
“Darkey” was a supposedly affectionate nickname given by neighbors to Louis Southworth, the slave who bought his freedom with earnings from playing the violin and in 1880 settled with his family on the Alsea River near what is now Southworth Creek. Southworth ran a passenger ferry, hunted, fished and cleared the homestead for farming. He donated land for the area’s first school, was active in public affairs, and his son later served on Waldport City Council.
The council last year voted to name a planned 12-acre park for Southworth, and last month they unveiled a life-sized sculpture of him that will be placed there after construction.
Most current residents of the road who spoke last week said they were embarrassed by the name and urged a change, although there were objections to naming it Southworth, as that was the man’s slave name. His birth name is believed to have been Hunter. But no one at the hearing raised outright objections to a change.
On Wednesday, commissioners all said they favored renaming it East Southworth Road, acknowledging the concerns raised but preferring to be consistent with the creek name and planned city park.
Commissioner Doug Hunt, in his last meeting as a commissioner before his retirement, said he thought people were unlikely to know to whom Hunter referred. Another proposed version, East Louis Southworth Road, was rejected due to length in consideration of property owners having to update legal documents.
“This man was really an exceptional individual,” Hunt said. “Even as a white person, his accomplishments would have been significant, and as an individual of color, or African American, the fact that he was able to accomplish so much speaks even more highly to what he did and the significance he plays in the history of our county.”
Commissioners’ unanimous vote for the change brought applause from the small audience in their courthouse meeting room, about half county employees.
County Counsel Kristin Yuille said street numbers will remain the same, and residents can begin using their new addresses immediately. She said the formal address change would take place over the next few months, with notification to agencies that use them in their operations, such as 911 call centers in Salem and Toledo, county planning and the roads department.
