Hillsboro tourist information
Hillsboro is located in Marion County in south central Kansas where North and South Cottonwood Rivers join. The town has a four-year liberal arts college, and a nice downtown shopping area. For major events, the town goes all out to put on a folk festival in late spring, a four day fair in the summer, and a huge arts and crafts festival in the fall.
Hillsboro is nestled among three famous trails. Pioneers traveled the Gnadenau Trail to settle the area in 1874. During the 1860s-1870s, ranchers drove cattle from Texas up the Chisholm Trail just west of Hillsboro to Abilene. Throughout the 1800s merchants drove supplies west along the Santa Fe Trail north and west of Hillsboro, located on the Auto Tour Route.
The Friesen "Dutch" Mill in the city park is a full-sized replica of a wind-powered grist mill built in 1876. The park also holds the Adobe Pioneer House used by early Mennonite settlers.
Hillsboro is located in southwestern Ohio 50 miles east of Cincinnati in Highland County (of which it is the county seat). The population estimate for July 1, 1998 was 7,350, an increase of 1,115 since 1990. Rocky Fork Lake and Rocky Fork State Park are conveniently located 5 miles and 10 miles, respectively, east of town. In addition, Paint Creek Lake is about 15 miles to the northeast. Another nearby attraction is the Seven Caves area about 15 miles east-northeast of town. The park-like setting has seven lighted trails for hikers and nature lovers.
Hillsboro Oregon
A local hunter, Elijah Davidson in 1874 stumbled upon an underground cave system when his dog disappeared into the side of a mountain while chasing a bear. He didn't realize it, but he had discovered what became known as the "Oregon Caves" and the first road to the Caves was opened thirty years later in 1904.
Incorporated in 1876, Hillsboro has grown from a small farming community and government center into a modern city of 80,000 residents. It is the largest city in fast-growing Washington County. When early pioneers first reached the Tualatin Valley in the 1840s, they had only an inkling of the agricultural richness of the country. The valley was sparsely settled at the time by retiring mountain trappers and Atfalati Indians. The trackers soon began carving out a burgeoning community and government center. Most residents lived on farms or were engaged in milling and timber work. Soon they founded building, trade and retail businesses. With the arrival of the railroad in 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. During World War II, Hillsboro was the residence of many new Oregonians who had come north to work in the shipyards of Portland. Hillsboro became a bedroom community. After the war, city fathers began luring businesses to Hillsboro to create a new economic base. Business leaders formed an industrial development corporation, and the city annexed land to the north and east and laid out industrial areas. By the 1970s, the Hillsboro area had won Intel's first plant site outside California and spinoff companies from Tektronix. In the 1980s came Japanese-owned manufacturing companies. They were followed by suppliers and customers of Intel and other manufacturers, software companies, communication device manufacturers, Internet providers and branch sales and corporate offices. Originally called East Tualatin Plains, Hillsboro was named for David Hill, one of the adventurers who traveled the Oregon Trail by wagon train to find a new life in the Oregon Territory. Hill attended the famous Champoeg Meeting of 1843, which led to Oregon becoming part of the United States. He served as a provisional governor and was elected to the legislature of the state election of 1846. Like Hill, many Tualatin families arrived by wagon train in the 1850s and 1860s. Others traveled by ship around Cape Horn. Still others, after surviving the frenzied California Gold Rush of 1849 and 1850, moved north to Oregon. Another important early Oregon settler was Joseph Meek, an early trapper or "mountain man" who voted at the Champoeg Meeting, was instrumental in forming a county government for the Tuality District and became a territorial marshal. Tuality District, formed in 1843, consisted of Tuality, Clackamas, Yamhill and Champiock counties. Tuality was changed to Washington in honor of George Washington. Meek, born in Washington County, Virginia, also is believed to have influenced the choice. By 1850 there was a post office at Columbia, the name chosen by Hill on his donation land claim. This county seat in the early 1850s took the name Hillsborough when Hill donated a portion of his land claim for the courthouse. The name gradually was shortened to Hillsboro. Hillsboro was a market town for the farming community of the Tualatin Valley. Washington County farmers and transporters drove wagons over primitive roads to reach ports along the Willamette and Columbia rivers and to return home with manufactured goods. They also shipped by boat on the Tualatin River. Railroads crisscrossed western Oregon in the 1870s, changing the economy and the lifestyle of small, remote towns like Hillsboro. Besides making possible the exchange of durable goods and materials, railroads brought a second wave of immigrants-Dutch, Swiss, Germans and Scandinavians-who settled on farms in the valley. By 1900 a few Russian and Japanese immigrants also had found homes in the valley. In 1908 and 1912, two electrical rail lines were built to Hillsboro. For the first time, residents could live in Hillsboro and work in Portland. By 1910 Hillsboro's population had reached 2,000. In the 1920s automobiles became the preferred means of travel, and electric railroads died out by 1930. Canyon Road linking Portland and the Tualatin Valley, country market roads and, eventually, highways to the Oregon Coast were paved. Oregon Highway 8 was completed in 1940. U.S. 26, the so-called "Sunset Highway," was finished in 1948. Once a tiny settlement extending a mere three blocks in each direction of the courthouse at East Main Street and First Avenue, Hillsboro today encompasses 24 square miles from Tualatin Valley Highway on the south to West Union Road on the north, from Dairy Creek on the west to 185th Avenue on the east. Its population of 70,000 ranks it first among Washington County cities.
Hillsboro averages 37.57 inches of precipitation a year, mostly in the form of light rain, from October to March. The average growing season between frosts is six months. Over 30 years, the maximum temperature on the average has been 62.4 degrees and the minimum, 41.3 degrees. Such temperature climatic conditions enable the Tualatin Valley to be one of the most productive and diverse agricultural areas in the nation.
Few cities anywhere offer the diverse recreational opportunities that are available in Hillsboro. The city's Parks & Recreation Department operates 16 parks including the large, modern Hillsboro Sports Park at Ronler Acres and the Hillsboro Aquatic Center with its indoor and outdoor pools, hydro-therapy pool, saunas, exercise facilities and racquetball court. Most of the parks complement neighborhoods, providing green space, picnic facilities, playground and basketball court facilities. Tyson Recreation Center at 1880 NE Griffin Oaks St., offers children's classes. Noble Woods is a park within a small forest. Rood Bridge Park provides mooring areas for canoes into the Tualatin River. The main branch of the Hillsboro Public Library is located at Shute Park in southeast Hillsboro and near the Aquatic Center. Besides the new Sports Park with its impressive stadium and artificial turf, Hillsboro maintains several lighted softball fields, tennis courts and a soccer-football field at the Washington County Fair Complex. Also, the Hillsboro School District maintains Hare Field, a complex for football, soccer and baseball games. If you are a golfer, you'll love Hillsboro. Nine courses, all within 10 minutes' drive, beckon scratch golfers and duffers alike. Hillsboro also is situated within minutes by car of fishing, hunting, hiking and boating area. Hagg Lake is a popular recreation area just 15 miles southwest of Hillsboro in the foothills of the Coast Range. The 1,100-acre lake is stocked with trout, bass and perch. A unique destination for passage recreation is Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve located on the southern edge of Hillsboro. Bordering the Tualatin River, the 650-acre preserve attracts thousands of students, biologists, wildlife experts and birdwatchers each year. Many species of water fowl and migratory birds make their homes there.
Hillsboro residents love a parade, a festival, a fair. And the community hosts a bundle of them. Hillsboro is host for the Washington County Fair in late summer. The Hillsboro Rotary July 4 Parade is one of Oregon's largest and best. Happy Days, a community festival that dates back nearly a century, complements the Independence Day celebration with a carnival, music and fireworks. St. Patrick's Day Parade in March, the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce presents Moonlight and Roses in October for a special evening. When the county fair isn't in town, the fair complex opens its doors almost daily for shows, exhibits and fairs of special interest groups. No summer would be complete without a Hillsboro Farmers Market. This outdoor market takes place in downtown Hillsboro from May to November. Farmers and crafters sell their produce and wares from wagons and truck beds parked alongside the sidewalks of the courthouse square. Beginning in June, the Saturday Farmers Market is joined by a second open-air gathering, the Hillsboro Tuesday Marketplace, also held in downtown. Farm products, hot foods and top-drawer live musical entertainment attract thousands of people well into the evenings. The Tuesday Marketplace extends through August.
Shopping in Hillsboro is an easy as, well, walking down the street. The largest shopping centers are located in Tanasbourne and along 185th Avenue on the east edge of the city. Department stores, video stores, bookstores, apparel and gift shops, home improvement centers, sports and auto stores, bakeries and delicatessens provide most products and services needed by Hillsboro residents. Other shopping districts are found on Tualatin Valley Highway at the south edge of Hillsboro, at Baseline and Cornelius Pass roads, at Orenco Station, along Cornell Road, 10th Avenue and in downtown. Hillsboro boasts a six new-car dealers who sell more than a dozen makes of cars and trucks, farm tractors and motorcycles.
Hillsboro aerial map
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