Beaverton Trivia

For those of us who are relatively new to the area, Beaverton is a modest city growing up in the shadow of Portland. But if you scratch the surface just a little, you’ll find that a deep and rich history that goes back to the very first settlers who crossed the Oregon Trail. In partnership with the Beaverton Historical Society, we present you with a few things about the city that you may not have known (city statistics are courtesy of the City of Beaverton www.beavertonoregon.gov).

If you find this trivia interesting and would like to know more, the historical society meetings are open to the general public every 2^nd Tuesday of the month at the Beaverton History Center, 7pm. For more information and to see more amazing historic photographs, visit www.historicbeaverton.org.

Beaverton became a county registered township on December 28^th, 1868.
Almost 90% of the native Atfalati’s who inhabited the area for thousands of years were gone by the time the first settlers arrived in the late 1840’s.
Hall Blvd was the original Hwy 217 before the freeway was built in the 1970s.
The Atfalati natives referred to the area we call Beaverton as Chikeipi, meaning ‘place of the beaver.’
The land for the city park was donated by William Hocken, former mayor of Beaverton (1914-1917).
Sunset Hwy (Hwy 26) got its name from Sunset Division of the US Army’s 41^st Infantry in 1946.
Allen Blvd is named after Orrin Sweet Allen who came to Beaverton in the 1870’s.
Denney Rd is named after Thomas Denney who travelled the Oregon Trail in 1849 before settling in Beaverton in 1850.
In 1896, Frank Livermore operated a sawmill on 280 acres around Wier Rd.
Beaverdam was the original name of city that was eventually platted as Beaverton.
Before homes in Murrayhill there were walnut groves.
Peter Scholls came to Oregon in 1847 and built a Ferry to cross the Tualatin River.
Murray Blvd, named after Owen Murray of Cedar Mill, used to be 145^th Ave.
Roy Rogers Rd was named after a former mayor of Tualatin.
The Murrayhill Town Center was built in 1986 and has 240,000 square feet of business space.
Murrayhill Adults 25+ with a college degree: 39.1%
At an average of 36 inches of rain per year, Beaverton ranks lower than both Baltimore and Miami.
Beaverton’s longest daylight stretch during the summer is almost 16 Hours! (5:21am to 9:02pm)
The last major snowfall was in 1990 when Beaverton received over 9 inches over a two day period.
Beaverton has over 200 parks with 30 miles of hiking trails and a 25 mile bike path network.
How many people live here in 2009? 86,860
Beaverton’s general cost of living index is 110.9 which is over twice as low as New York (212.1) and lower than San Francisco (177.0), San Diego (141.0) and Seattle (118.6).
The Murrayhill area’s three elementary schools (Nancy Riles, Sexton Mt, Scholls Heights) have an ‘Outstanding’ school rating while both the area’s middle school (Conestoga) and high school (Southridge) rate only ‘satisfactory’.
Beaverton is rated the safest city in the pacific northwest and in the top 50 nationwide.
The Murrayhill area is the 5^th safest neighborhood out of 11 in Beaverton with 345 crimes reported in 2009.
Housing prices in the Murrayhill area (low/median/max): $140k/$233k/$705k (as of Feb. 2010)
The Beaverton School District is the 3^rd largest in Oregon.
The first settler in Beaverton was Captain Lawrence Hall in 1847.
The first commercial building was a log cabin general store built by George Betts in 1868.
Beaverton was a established as a city on February 10^th, 1893 (Population 400).
Cedar Hills Crossing used to be the Charles Bernard Airport.
As recent as 1971, Farmington Rd used to dead end at Hall Blvd.
How big is Beaverton? 18.6 square Miles
There is a Beaverton time capsule buried in the sidewalk near Beaverton Bakery on the corner of Hall Blvd and Broadway.
The native Americans who lived in the Beaverton area were known as the Atfalati, a division of the area’s Kalapuya tribe.
Beaverton’s average elevation is 186 feet above sea level.
The Beaverton main post office is located on Betts Ave, a street named after our first post master, George Betts.
Built in 1857, the Fanno Farmhouse is the oldest structure in Beaverton.
Built in 1914, the Cady Building is the oldest brick structure in Beaverton.
The railroad came to Beaverton in 1871.
Premium Pictures Studio, located on Erickson Ave, was a very successful silent movie studio in the 1920’s producing over 30 films.
Washington Square Mall was originally supposed to be located on the corner of Hall Blvd and Cedar Hills Blvd.
Belle and Ralph Jenkins began work on their estate in 1912.
Otto Erickson opened the first Ford dealership in the area and hired his step son, Guy Carr, to help build and teach the new owners how to drive.
Many of the streets in Beaverton are named after the early settlers who arrived here in the mid 1800’s.
The Sexton Mountain neighborhood was named after the Edward and India Sexton who settled their land claim there in 1853 at the age of 31.
A large part of the Red Tail Golf Course and most of the Progress area was settled by Henry Tucker in the 1850’s.
Samual Stott’s land claim in 1851 encompassed most of present day old town Beaverton.
Beaverton’s first school teacher, Mary Ann Spencer, taught out of the log cabin of Samual Stott.
Peter and Mary Ann Spencer travelled to Beaverton via ship around the Cape Horn of South America fighting numerous storms that pushed them off course into arctic waters, escaping pirates and enduring endless days adrift with no wind.
Many of Beaverton’s founding families are buried in Crescent Grove Cemetery on Greenburg Rd.
Barnes Rd is named after Englishman William Barnes who worked as a gardener before opening a restaurant in 1880.
The Beaverton Bakery operates out of the former historic home of Dr Francis Robinson, Beaverton’s first doctor in 1885.