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TIMES FACT BOOK
November 22, 2012
TUALATIN COMMUNITY PROFILE
T
ualatin — originally known as Bridgeport — was
founded at a shallow point on the Tualatin River.
Like many cities across Washington County, Tual-
atin grew when the railroad came through during
the 1880s.
Many millenia before the railroad, Tualatin’s first unofficial
citizen was a prehistoric mastodon. The bones of the
11,000-year-old, 5-ton female mastodon, similar in appearance
to an elephant, were discovered in 1947 in a marsh where the
Fred Meyer store is today. The skeleton is now on display at
Tualatin Public Library.
Around the turn of the century, a sawmill stood where Tu-
alatin Community Park is now, and a brickyard was also in
production during young Tualatin’s heyday. After they closed
in the 1920s, Tualatin was a farming community whose popu-
lation 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 popu-
lation is now more than 26,000, and the dog food factory has
been replaced by the downtown Tualatin Commons. With a
combination of public funds and private investment, the com-
mons 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
lakefront.
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 commitment to trees, including
its yearly Arbor Week.
TIMES FILE PHOTO
In the last couple of years, the long-running and ever-popular
Tualatin Crawfish Festival has featured a new event: the crawfish
boil, and it’s caught on like crazy. Tualatin this year celebrates its
100th year as an incorporated city, giving folks something even
newer to boast about.
TIMES FILE PHOTO
There is nothing to match the sight of many hot-air balloons taking
flight at the same time — but that is exactly what can be seen every
summer in Tigard’s Cook Park, during the Tigard Festival of Balloons.
Visit Tigardballoon.org for more details.
A stunning sight