Hillsboro is wonderfully located in the beautiful Tualatin River Valley, a beautiful forested area with fertile farmland. Its proximity to the City of Portland (20 miles) provides world-class cultural and entertainment offerings, and fine dining and shopping. The area is steeped in natural beauty, with the Cascade mountain range, and Mt. Hood to the east, the Columbia River Gorge to the north, and the spectacular Oregon Pacific Coast to the west. The estimated population of Hillsboro in July 2004 was 81,854. It is a city with numerous high-tech industries, balanced by surrounding fruit and vegetable farms, winery vineyards and lush gardens.
Location
Hillsboro is the government seat of Washington County, Oregon, 20 miles from Portland.
Portland is the closest major city to Hillsboro, 20 miles away. Salem, the state capital of Oregon, is 40 miles to the south. There are many communities within 10 miles of Hillsboro, including Rockcreek, Aloha, North Plains, Oak Hills, Cornelius, Cedar Hills, Cedar Mill, and Beaverton.
Geography
The total land area of Hillsboro is 21.6 square miles, and the city is at an elevation of 150 feet. Hillsboro is located in the Tualatin Valley in Washington County, Oregon, between the Cascade mountain range and the Pacific Ocean.
The Tualatin River forms part of the southern city limits.
Jobs
The primary industries providing employment in Hillsboro include manufacturing (27.6%), educational, health and social services (14.7%), retail trade (10.9%), and professional, scientific, management, and administrative services (10.1%).
Hillsboro is one of the centers of technology in Oregon, and is the main business address for Lattice Semiconductor Corp., Triquint Semiconductor Inc., Radisys Corp., Corillian Corp., and Fei Co. Other companies with locations in the Hillsboro area include Intel’s largest site, Fujitsu, Epson, Planar, and NEC, who have many thousands of employees. Sun Microsystems High End Operations is located in Hillsboro. Agriculture and timber production are also important in this area of Oregon. The average commute for Hillsboro residents who are employed elsewhere is 24 minutes.
Housing
There are many housing options in the Hillsboro area, from Historic Hillsboro, near the old downtown, to an abundance of new construction in the newer foothill communities. Thousands of apartments and condominiums have been built in the past decade, in central and east Hillsboro, within convenient proximity to shopping, dining, entertainment, and rail transport to Portland. The average price of a new home in Hillsboro is approximately $170,000.
Recreation
The City of Hillsboro maintains 16 parks, many of which have open space, picnic facilities, playgrounds and basketball courts. Others have walking paths and access to wooded areas or the Tualatin River for canoeing and kayaking. There is also a Sports Park, and the Hillsboro Aquatic Center, with indoor and outdoor pools, a hydrotherapy pool, saunas, and exercise facilities.
The area around Hillsboro provides opportunities for hiking, boating, hunting and fishing. Haggs Lake is a popular recreation area 15 miles southwest of Hillsboro.
It is an 1100 acre lake filled with bass, trout and perch.
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve is over 700 acres of open-space wetlands and a wildlife preserve. There are many species or resident birds and migratory wildfowl that draw thousands of birdwatchers, biologists, wildlife experts, and students to the preserve. Jackson Bottom Wetlands also has an education
center and an interactive learning center, as well as miles of hiking trails through different gardens. It is located on the southern edge of Hillsboro.
There are a number of public golf courses in Hillsboro, all within 10 miles of each other, including Killarney West Golf Course, and Orenco Woods Golf Club. Meriwether National Golf Club has a variety of course combinations to choose from, such as the Executive Course, and the North/South Course, the South/West Course, and the West/North Course. The Hillsboro courses offer a variety of terrains and obstacles, to challenge and inspire golfers with all levels of experience.
Special Attractions/Events
Hillsboro residents are community oriented, and the city hosts many annual festivals and fairs. In March, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a very popular and enjoyable event. For the past 100 years, the Happy Days community festival has been associated with the 4th of July celebration, with a parade that is one of Oregon’s finest, and musical offerings, a carnival, and fireworks. Later in the summer, everyone looks forward to the Washington County Fair.
The agricultural bounty in Washington County is vast, with a wonderful variety of
fruits, vegetables and nuts produced locally, including apples, berries, sweet corn, wine grapes, and hazelnuts. Every Saturday from May to November, farmers and artisans sell their products at the largest and most popular outdoor market in the vicinity, the Hillsboro Farmers Market. Additionally, during the summer months, the Hillsboro Tuesday Marketplace offers produce, hot foods, and live musical entertainment.
This area of Oregon is well-known for its wine production. Many enjoyable winery tours and tastings are available and are popular with locals and visitors alike. Several of the 12 local wineries produce world-class Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling. The renowned Oak Knoll winery additionally offers a raspberry dessert wine called Frambrosia.
The natural beauty of northwestern Oregon provides wonderful opportunities for sight-seeing and outdoor recreation in spectacular settings. Hillsboro is less than an hour from the Oregon coast of the Pacific Ocean. Many enjoy visiting the charming coastal towns of Seaside and Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach has one of the world’s largest monoliths (single rock formations), called Haystack Rock, just offshore. Also only a short drive from Hillsboro is Mt. Hood, a popular winter skiing destination, and the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most scenic drives anywhere, resplendent with stunning views and waterfalls.
Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places
The city of Hillsboro was founded in the 1840’s by early pioneer David Hill. The community was called both East Tualatin Plains, and Columbia, before it was named Hillsborough (with the spelling later simplified to Hillsboro), in honor of Hill, after his death. He traveled the Oregon Trail by wagon train, to find a new life in the west. Many other pioneers followed.
Previously populated by Atfalati Indians, and some trappers and adventurers, the temperate climate and fertile land attracted early settlers who began creating farms and building a timber industry. With the arrival of the railroad in the 1870’s,
The Tualatin Valley supplied the river port city of Portland with dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and timber.
Hillsboro was incorporated in 1876, and has grown from a farming community to the largest city in Washington County. The population expanded greatly during World War II, when it became a bedroom community for workers and their families who came to find employment in the shipyards of Portland.
More recently, Hillsboro was the filming location for the 1980 film, The Empire Strikes Back. Its sister city is Fukuroi, Japan.
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