About the Hillsboro, Oregon Area 

Located in the lovely Tualatin River Valley in fast-growing Washington County, just 20 minutes from Portland and less than an hour from Mt Hood and the Cascades or the beautiful Oregon coast, Hillsboro’s 89,000 residents have the best of all possible worlds. Their vibrant city, with its high-tech industries and modern business parks, still serves the thriving farms, vineyards, and gardens of its rural periphery and retains the old-fashioned charm and friendliness of its pioneering past.  

Location 

Hillsboro is located at an elevation of 150 feet above sea level in the Tualatin Valley in Washington County, equidistant between the Cascade Range and the Pacific Ocean, and about 20 miles from Portland. Beaverton is 10 miles, Portland 20 miles, and Salem, OR about 40 miles from Beaverton.  

Geography 

Washington County, of which Hillsboro is the government seat, is an area of rolling hills, lush woodland and pasture, with abundant wetlands and extensive orchards, arable and dairy farms, and nurseries.  

Jobs 

Hillsboro is one of Oregon's centers of high technology. The city has 35 carefully planned business parks, some as large as 300 acres. Large companies such as Intel, Planar Systems, FEI, Fujitsu, Epson, and NEC employ many thousands of workers, and with the many middle and smaller-sized businesses, offer excellent opportunities for career and community growth. Agriculture and timber production also continue to provide a stable foundation for much of the community's economic life and contribute to the very low unemployment in the city. 

Housing 

Hillsboro offers a wide range of houses, condominiums and apartments. Historic Hillsboro, near the old downtown, is a favorite area for many, while others prefer the newer foothills communities. More than 3,000 apartments and condominiums have been built in the last 10 years, many of them in central and east Hillsboro, and most are within walking distance or a short drive of landscaped industrial parks, shopping malls, restaurants, theaters and rail transport to Portland. Large, new residential communities such as the award-winning Orenco Station offer a mix of upscale apartments, row houses, brownstones, live/work units and cottages. While the average home price in Hillsboro is $246,400, many can still be purchased for considerably less.  

Recreation 

Hillsboro’s Parks & Recreation Department operates 16 parks including a large, modern Sports Park and the Hillsboro Aquatic Center with its indoor and outdoor pools, hydro-therapy pool, saunas, and exercise facilities. Many parks provide green space, picnic facilities, and playground and basketball court facilities for neighborhood residents while others offer access to canoeing in the Tualatin River or to woods and walking tracks.  

On the town’s southern edge, the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve offers 710 acres of open space wetlands and wildlife preserve. Its many species of resident birds and migratory wildfowl attract thousands of students, biologists, wildlife experts and birdwatchers each year. The Preserve is a leader in using wetlands to preserve water quality and features a wetlands education center with a wildlife observation deck, an interactive learning center and several miles of hiking trails through different types of gardens. 

Within minutes of Hillsboro are excellent fishing, hunting, hiking and boating areas. Hagg Lake, an 1100 acre lake full of trout, bass and perch, is a popular recreation area just 15 miles southwest of Hillsboro in the foothills of the Coast Range.  

Hillsboro golfers have nine excellent courses to choose from, all within 10 minutes’ drive of each other. They offer a range of terrains and obstacles, from flat, tree-lined fairways to undulating courses with many water hazards and concealed greens, so that there is something to challenge and stimulate golfers of every level of skill and experience.  

Special Attractions/Events 

Without a doubt Hillsboro’s greatest attraction is its location. Minutes from sophisticated and cosmopolitan Portland, it is also less than an hour’s drive from the splendid scenery of the Oregon coast, the magnificent and historic Columbia Gorge, and the glorious Cascades and Mt Hood, with camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and year-round skiing. If this were not enough, the rural charm and manifold attractions of Washington County are right on Hillsboro’s doorstep.  

The strong community spirit of Hillsboro’s residents is expressed and cultivated in annual community parades, festivals, and fairs. In late summer there is the famous Washington County Fair, and the city’s July 4 Parade is one of Oregon's largest and best. For almost a century the Happy Days community festival has been linked to the Independence Day celebration with a carnival, music and fireworks. The St. Patrick's Day Parade in March is a huge event, and the city’s many clubs and community group's stage shows, exhibits and special interest fairs throughout the year. 

Washington County’s benign temperate climate has blessed the county with a wonderful range of farm produce, including hazelnuts, apples, berries, sweet corn, wine, and a vast range of other vegetables and fruit. So it is no surprise that the Hillsboro Farmers Market is the largest and most popular around. Every Saturday from May to November farmers and craftspeople sell their produce and wares from wagons and truck beds parked alongside the sidewalks of the courthouse square. From June to August a second open-air gathering, the Hillsboro Tuesday Marketplace, attracts thousands to buy farm products and enjoy hot foods and live musical entertainment well into the evenings.  

The Hillsboro area has become well-known for its excellent wines, and wine-tasting and picnics at some of its12 wineries are very popular. Several wineries produce world-class pinot noir, Chardonnay and Riesling wines for export world-wide. The famous Oak Knoll winery makes acclaimed pinot noir and pinot gris wines and a delightful raspberry dessert wine known as Frambrosia, while the Sake One Brewery in nearby Forest Grove is justly famous for its fine sake, or Japanese rice wine.  

Interesting Facts 

Hillsboro’s name, remembering early pioneer David Hill, links the town to the hardy souls who traveled the Oregon Trail by wagon train to find a new life in the Oregon Territory. Hill arrived in Oregon in the 1840s and was active in the early politics of the Northwest. 

At first sparsely populated by Atfalati Indians, and a few trappers and adventurers, the fertility and excellent climate of the Tualatin Valley were quickly recognized by eager settlers who soon began building a timber industry, carving out farms and creating a community and government center. Soon they founded building, trade and retail businesses, and with the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s the Tualatin Valley became the breadbasket for the river port city of Portland, supplying dairy products, fruits and vegetables, as well as timber products. 

In 1873 twelve Scottish settlers organized the building in Hillsboro of what is now known as the Old Scotch Church, and is one of the oldest continuously used churches in Oregon. The eight sided steeple is architecturally unique, and the church is one of the most photographed in Oregon. Many of Oregon's pioneers, including Joe Meek, a one-time mountain man who became a federal marshal and went on to play a leading role in the organization of Oregon as a Territory, have been buried in the church cemetery. 

The City of Hillsboro was incorporated in 1876 and has since grown from a small farming community and government center into a modern city of 80,000 residents. During World War Two its population began to grow rapidly when it became a bedroom community for workers and their families who came north to find employment in the shipyards of Portland, and it is now the largest city in fast-growing Washington County. 

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