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TUALATIN CENTENNIAL
January 3, 2013
Congress, giving 160 acres
of land to each settler, and
160 acres of land to his wife.
1851
—The Provisional
Government removed the
Atfalati to Wapato Lake.
1851
— John Preston sur-
veyed the Willamette Vall-
ley Township 2 South Range
1 West and Range 1 East
were the Tualatin area.
1852-54
—The Oregon
Trail brought settlers from
the East who took up land in
Tualatin.
1853
— Sam Galbreath set
up a ferry across the Tuala-
tin River on his land claim.
The ferry connected the
road from Boones Ferry
north into Portland and Ore-
gon City. Soon a blacksmith
shop, store and inn were op-
erating around the ferry
crossing. The area was
called Galbreath.
1854
— John A. Taylor
built a ferry on his land
across the Tualatin River.
1855
—The Atfalati ceded
all claims to their land and
were settled at Grand
Ronde Reservation in the
Coast Range.
1855
—Many men left to
fight in the Rogue River In-
dianWars.
1855
—A log school was
built along the Territorial
Road. Isaac Ball was the
first teacher.
1855
—Citizens built the
first bridge at the Galbreath
location and the area was
called Bridgeport.
1857
— John A. Taylor
buill a toll plank road from
Dayton across his ferry and
TUALATIN
TIMELINE
Continued from page 4
Continued on page 8
By MIKEL KELLY
Pamplin Media Group
I
t all began because there were prob-
lems.
Tualatin, situated on a sharp bend
in the river bearing the same name as
the town, had a tendency to flood way more
often than every 100 years. Just in 1974 and
’96, for example, the entire city center was
under water.
Tualatin’s downtown also had troubles
with drainage, public right of way, increas-
ing traffic through the middle of town and,
perhaps most significant, there really
wasn’t much of a downtown.
There were some streets criss-crossing
between the freeway and the railroad
tracks, but the single most noticeable fea-
ture in the city center was first of all, a gi-
ant dog food factory that, when it was in
full production, smelled like burning dog
food — and then, after it was closed and
torn down, all that was left was a huge con-
crete slab where the dog food factory used
to be.
Like city leaders in most small towns —
paid, elected and otherwise — there were
plenty of ideas about what it would take to
make Tualatin blossom into something
members of the community could be proud
of.
There was talk of outlawing cars in the
city core — something planners and dream-
ers often suggest, but which business peo-
ple almost never appreciate.
Fortunately (it turns out), Tualatin lead-
ers had concluded in the early 1970s that
one effective way to take on some of the
city’s woes was to establish an urban re-
newal district. The City Council, which
would adjourn as itself and reconvene as
the Tualatin Development Commission, set
up the urban renewal district in 1975.
A line was drawn around 300 acres of the
downtown area, and the property tax rate
was frozen at its mid-’70s level. Then using
the often-misunderstood tax-increment fi-
nancing scheme which banks subsequent
taxes on the increased value of the area in
question, a fund was established to solve
some of the city’s downtown problems.
Also fortunately for Tualatin, the down-
town core area was a textbook example of
urban blight. With the exception of a couple
of public buildings and a smattering of busi-
nesses, the downtown consisted of crum-
bling streets and vacant lots — along with
the former Hervin Blue Mountain Dog Food
plant.
Although The Central Urban Renewal
Plan was approved in 1975, Simmons B.
Buntin wrote in 1999 in a piece on the Tual-
atin Commons on Terrain.org, “It was not
until 1983 that a concept for a ‘Village
Square’ was developed.”
Prior to redevelopment, Buntin reported,
the largest use of the area was the non-con-
forming dog food plant and “some older di-
lapidated buildings, and the entire site was
3 to 6 feet below the 100-year floodplain.”
Between 1985 and ’87, the city purchased
the property under the auspices of the Tu-
alatin Development Commission. Two at-
tempts by developers to breathe life into
the project failed, and observers were be-
ginning to think nothing good was ever go-
ing to happen.
And that’s when local home builder
Steve Stolze decided to run for mayor. He
campaigned, in fact, on the idea of getting
the redevelpment to move forward.
Adversity, vision and urban
renewal all contribute to
the centerpiece of Tualatin,
the commons
A community redefines itself
The mix of uses
around the Lake
of the Commons
includes
combination
home-offices,
as well as such
other
businesses as
restaurants, a
hotel,
professional
offices and an
assortment of
residential.
SUBMITTED PHOTO