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20 FACT BOOK 2013-14 October 24, 2013
Connecting Our Communities
Tualatin celebrates 100th birthday
By MIKEL KELLY
Pamplin Media Group
T ualatin — originally
known as Bridgeport
— was founded at a
shallow point on the
ualatin River.
Like many cities across
Washington County, Tualatin
grew when the railroad came
through during the 1880s.
Many millenia before the rail-
road, Tualatin’s first unofficial
citizen was a prehistoric mast-
odon. The bones of the
11,000-year-old, 5-ton female
mastodon, similar in appear-
ance to an elephant, were dis-
covered in 1947 in a marsh
where the Fred Meyer store is
today. The skeleton is now on
display at Tualatin Public Li-
brary.
Around the turn of the centu-
ry, a sawmill stood where Tual-
atin Community Park is now,
and a brickyard was also in pro-
duction during young Tuala-
tin’s heyday. After they closed
in the 1920s, Tualatin was a
farming community whose pop-
ulation slowly climbed to about
750 in 1970. A dog food factory
was a mainstay of its post-war
economy.
During the 1970s, Tualatin
began to grow rapidly. The pop-
ulation is now more than 26,700,
and the dog food factory has
been replaced by the downtown
Tualatin Commons. With a
combination of public funds
and private investment, the
commons has become a user-
friendly area where a manmade
lake is surrounded by offices,
restaurants and a hotel. Every
summer, the city hosts a series
of weekly concerts at the lake-
front.
Tualatin is also a stronghold
for fans of trees. Since 1987, the
National Arbor Day Foundation
has designated Tualatin as a
“Tree City USA” for its commit-
ment to trees, including its year-
ly Arbor Week. This year the
city celebrated its centennial an-
niversary.
Tualatin websites people
should know:
■ City of Tualatin
(tualatinoregon.gov)
■ Tigard-Tualatin School District
(ttsdschools.org)
■ Tualatin Chamber of Commerce
(tualatinchamber.com)
■ Tualatin Citizen Involvement
Organizations (tualatincio.org)
Community marks centennial in style
TIMES FILE PHOTO
The Annual West Coast Giant
Pumpkin Regatta is one of many
quirky events held in Tualatin.
Water for Our Future
Our most basic need - and a wise investment g Lake Oswe o Tigard
West Linn We can all enjoy clean, pleasant tasting water year-round.
A newwater system for Lake Oswego and Tigard will consistently provide high
quality drinking water throughout the year. The new treatment process will
use less chlorine and still produce the highest quality tap water. Designed to
withstandmajor seismic events, the water supply will also be more reliable and
will provide West Linn’s most important supply of emergency water.
Partnering saves money.
The Lake Oswego TigardWater Partnership was formed when both communities
determined they could not afford a newwater systemon their own. Low interest
rates, competitive construction costs and the opportunity for partnership offer
millions of dollars of cost savings for Tigard and Lake Oswego ratepayers.
Construction jobs support the economy.
The $249 million investment in water projects generates more than 2,200 jobs
locally in Gladstone, West Linn, Lake Oswego, Tigard, and across the region. The
U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates every $1 million invested in water
infrastructure directly creates 8 jobs, and each of these jobs leads to 3 more jobs
elsewhere in the economy.
Lake Oswego · Tigard
Water Partnership
sharing water · connecting communities
Learn more about the
Partnership and
projects:
lotigardwater.org
(503) 697-6502
449772.102413 FB