About the Beaverton, Oregon Area 

Strategically located between the vibrant city of Portland and the rich farming country of Western Washington County, Beaverton offers the best of both urban and rural worlds. Its population of 83,000 has grown over the last several years as people are attracted by its strong business environment, wide range of residential opportunities, and tremendous recreational possibilities. Portland’s cultural, entertainment, and sporting attractions are only minutes away, as are the glories of the Cascades, the Columbia River, and a huge range of outdoor leisure activities.  

Location 

Beaverton is located in Washington County, Oregon, in the Tualatin River Valley seven miles west of Portland. Beaverton is around seven miles from Portland, 39 from Salem, and 99 from Eugene, Oregon.  

Geography 

Washington County, surrounding Beaverton, is an area of rolling hills, lush woodland and pasture, with abundant wetlands and extensive mixed cropping farms and orchards. 

Jobs 

Oregon’s fifth largest city, and the second largest suburb in the Portland metro area, Beaverton is situated in the heart of the so-called “Silicon Forest,” with some 300 high-tech companies either in the city or nearby. The city’s business core is growing and it is headquarters for global companies like Nike and Tektronix, the Linux Technology Center of IBM, and a great many small and medium-sized businesses. Its urban population is increasingly diverse, and an ambitious expansion plan for the next decade will result in major growth in both population and area, making the city the second largest in the state.  

Housing 

Beaverton has become well known for its many well-planned and attractive neighborhoods. It offers a mix of high quality, diverse homes and affordable family housing ranging from single-family houses on quiet cul-de-sacs to urban-core condominiums near shops and the area’s excellent public transportation system. The average selling price of home in Beaverton is approximately $264,900. 

Recreation 

With 100 parks encompassing 1,000 acres, and more designated green space than most cities of its size, Beaverton boasts a park within a half mile of every home. There are 30 miles of hiking trails and a 25 mile network of bike paths within the city limits, as well as swimming pools, tennis courts, softball fields, and several golf courses.  

The city is part of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District, which serves approximately 200,000 residents. It provides 200 parks spread over 1,600 acres and as well as an extensive network of walking and cycling trails. The district also offers three recreation centers, a sports complex, a 219 acre regional nature park, eight swim centers, two historic sites, a senior center, and two lakes. The district sponsors recreational and competitive league sports and special-interest classes. 

Beaverton offers a variety of family activities and amenities including the region’s largest farmers’ market, a new library, and many parks, bike paths and hiking trails. It is conveniently located within an hour’s drive of popular natural resources, including the Oregon coast, Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge.  

Pumpkin Ridge and The Reserve are top-rated golf courses among the almost two dozen courses in the Beaverton area. Inside the city limits, the recently re-designed RedTail Golf Course is a nice mix of tree-lined fairways and links-style bunkers. With mounds in the rough and challenging greens it offers a challenge for a variety of handicaps. 

Special Attractions/Events 

A high-point of the district’s art calendar for almost 25 years, the annual Beaverton Visual Art Showcase & Sale features exceptional works of art, including sculpture, mixed media, watercolors, oils, acrylics, photography, prints, drawings, pastels, and fine craft. A Gala public opening with music from invited elite musicians offers an opportunity for the community to meet the participating artists. Other showcase activities include lectures and panel discussions on art-related subjects and participation by young local artists and performers. 

Beaverton is justly proud of its City Library, which maintains a collection of over 300,000 items and is one of the busiest library facilities in the state, serving a population of approximately 106,000. A phenomenal 70,000 or more people visit the library each month, checking out over 1.7 million items per year. The library also offers a wide variety of educational and community programs, making it Beaverton's cultural center. 

In Portland’s West Hills, not far from Beaverton, the beautiful Japanese Garden is a haven of tranquil beauty that has been recognized as one of the most authentic gardens of its type outside Japan. Comprising five formal garden styles set on five and one-half acres in historic Washington Park, the Japanese Garden encapsulates the centuries-old traditional influences of Shinto, Buddhism and Taoism, blending stone, sand, water and trees with the natural vistas across Portland city to Mt Hood and the Cascade Mountains to create an atmosphere that is subtly calming and meditative.  

Interesting Facts 

The Tualatin Valley and Beaverton area was originally the home of hunter-gatherer people who referred to themselves as "Atfalati" and relied more on plants than animals for their food and clothing. This originally prosperous people occupied a village whose name meant "Place of the Beaver", near the site of the current city of Beaverton, but their population declined significantly following the arrival of the first westerners to the region in the late 1700s. 

The City of Beaverton grew steadily after a plank road was built to connect the Tualatin Valley with Portland in 1860 and the railroad was completed in 1868, and in 1893 the City was formally incorporated with a population of 400.
In the early 1900s riding bicycles became so popular in the town that a law was passed to control speeding cyclists. Speedsters exceeding 8mph were fined between $10 and $50, with up to 30 days’ jail for defaulters.  

Beaverton’s name has become known worldwide through a novel early cottage industry that has survived and prospered. Rose Biggi began manufacturing her horseradish sauce and selling it locally over 70 years ago, and now Beaverton Foods, the company run by her children and grandchildren, ships its range of products all over the world from the factory she founded. 

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