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Hillsboro History Enriches Familiar Sights By Susan Gordanier - 10/27/2009 The Hillsboro Argus More Info on This Book: Hillsboro
I'm not the first to point out this difference between the two coasts. The East overflows with historic sites; the West, not so much and can't seem to move fast enough to replace the remnants of what few are left. In fact, without the Oregon Trail, I'm not sure how elementary school teachers would spend their history class sessions. When my own children were young, the Trail seemed to pop up every year. "Forget the piano, Annie. Better those oxen haul another sack of flour." Perhaps coincidence, but there is a certain appropriateness to Arcadia Publishing's Nov. 2 release of "Hillsboro," the latest in its Images of America series. On page 92 is a photograph of the "grand new" Hillsboro Union High School, not long after its May 6, 1929, dedication. If you hurry over to Sixth and Lincoln, you may be still able to catch a glimpse of a few recognizable bits of that building's facade before the last of the rubble from its demolition is trucked away. The final walls fell Friday, not long after the mail carrier delivered my review copy of "Hillsboro." I'd seen some page markups of this book while Debbie Raber, project manager of the Planning Department, and Kimberli Fitzgerald, locally based preservation consultant, worked their way through the long process of assembling it - not on the city's clock, by the way. They donated their time in service to the Hillsboro Landmarks Advisory Committee, with an added dash of labor of love thrown in. What their work translated into was hundreds of hours poring through the collections at the Washington County Historical Museum - if you've ever gone there to research a topic you know what that entails. Someday, with enough volunteer help, the collection may receive the cataloguing it warrants. They also made use of the morgue of bound past papers here at the Argus and interviewed some long-time Hillsboro residents such as Mary Stafford, granddaughter of theater entrepreneur and former mayor Orange Phelps. Stafford kindly contributed some photos from her family's archive, one of which became a personal favorite of mine as I returned to "Hillsboro," after an initial straight-through reading. It shows the Cardinals, one of the city's semi-professional baseball teams. Orange Phelps, decked in catcher's gear, stands with his teammates, all of whom appear to be a good head taller than he. I'd never seen a photo of Phelps before, just run into his name time and time again while covering the city. Likewise, I arrived in Hillsboro too late to have seen the Shute Park Pavilion built by Phelps in 1921 before it was torn down in 1974 to make way for the library. The caption accompanying a photo of this hall says fragments of its entry were preserved on either side of the Maple Street driveway into the library's parking lot. I've driven up that drive probably hundreds of times and never noticed. Or maybe I have, but their possible significance didn't register. They were just part of the scenery, taken for granted and always there. Hillsboro, the book, is organized by chapters to illustrate the progression from the original residents, the Atfalati tribes, through the 1970s and roots of the high-tech invasion. It can certainly be read that way. But I prefer dwelling on the tiny discoveries, like seeing the names Sewell or Shute, Bagley or Tongue and, if only briefly, realizing why earlier generations named the roads, parks and other familiar places in their honor, keeping the names alive for us to rediscover. "Hillsboro," will be available for $21.99 at local retailers, online bookstores or directly through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or 1-888-313-2665. Keep in mind, Raber and Fitzgerald are donating all royalties to the city for historic preservation. Readers can reach Susan Gordanier at 503-214-1109, or susangordanier@hillsboroargus.com. Buy It Now: Hillsboro $21.99 |
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