You probably noticed: the signs welcoming you back to Hillsboro now have a six digit population. 100,000 people call this city home—in 1990 it was only 40,000. Growth has been consistent since then, give or take the great recession.
I moved here in 2015, so I’m not a longtime resident. And yet even I’ve seen several empty lots near my home turn into high-density housing seemingly overnight. The rate of change is staggering, and with 20,000 people likely to live in South Hillsboro that’s only going to accelerate.
I’ve been thinking of this more often since a zoning dispute in the old Orenco townsite came up during a city council meeting a few weeks ago. Residents near a now-vacant lot say plans to develop the triangle violates an agreement made with them, and council is reviewing the question.
The fact that such a small triangle is worth even considering for development is, in context, somewhat staggering. Among the information used to make an argument against construction is the Orenco Community Plan, a document put together by Portland State University grad students back in 1991. The plan talks about Orenco as a rural area, not the second downtown we think of today. A potential light rail station is discussed, and a map shows that Orenco wasn’t even part of Hillsboro at the time.
I bike through this area every two weeks as I head to city council meetings. It’s hard for me to even picture what the city looked like in 1990, when the population was only 40,000 and some of the most densely populated portions were undeveloped fields not even yet annexed by the city.
The massive rate of growth is disorienting for longtime residents, who sometimes speak of Hillsboro as though it’s a small agricultural town, a backwater. It isn’t. Hillsboro is an economic powerhouse, and one of the 300 biggest cities in the nation. People from all over the world move here looking for opportunities. That’s why I’m here now, and while I’m looking forward to learning more about the history you can expect what you read here to be focused primarily on the future.
Read more
- Learn to live with population growth Hillsboro Tribune Editorial
- Bigger and Better Michael Brown, Hillsboro City Manager
- How Hillsboro broke 100,000 John William Howard/Hillsboro Tribune.
Here's a fade from 400 NE Jackson St. in downtown Hillsboro. First photo was likely taken in the 1920s. Second photo was taken yesterday, and several of the houses look almost identical. pic.twitter.com/T5BZjP22Rh
— John William Howard (@JowardHoward) December 6, 2017
John covered the city for the Tribune throughout 2016 but has left town for Seattle. I’m sad I can’t read his local reporting anymore.