Very few people in Hillsboro, Oregon are not thinking about growth these days. It has been astronomical and mindboggling these past few years. Even in the middle of this pandemic, the roads are choked with gravel trucks, pipe and lumber haulers, and all sorts of people coming to build the city. Industrial is swallowing up North Hillsboro even as residential developments in South Hillsboro rise to the sky!
Hard to imagine that NE Grant Street in what we think of as downtown was the North edge of town. Well in 1931 it was and thanks to longtime resident Tammy Burgard and her family we can see it in black and white. These precious frames of cellulose hold a magical truth- Hillsboro really was a little town. Having said that look at these cars and houses. Her family and those in these photos all look pretty happy and it was the very midpoint of the Great Depression. Good for them that they were holding up so well. Maybe this film was meant to show their strength and pride in our town at a time when all had completely fallen apart. In fact, many Hillsboro families were wiped out completely and left by 1931. The City of Hillsboro had a population of 3,039 in 1931. That is only 3% of our current population.
There are some parallels to what is happening now. COVID-19 is taking many businesses to the brink and over the edge too. Families are stretched thin and frazzled and Winter has just started. This election has been a soul crusher for both sides of the aisle and it seems at times the sky has fallen. Take heart, my friends- look at these citizens of our fine town who faced down a much worse scenario and made it. We will make it too.
Maybe this film is coming back around some 90 years later to remind us of how far we have come and how far we can go. In 2110, 90 years from now, someone like me will be writing a story about the people of Hillsboro, Oregon, and watching someone’s YouTube film and making some similar observations perhaps. Let’s just hope there is someone like Tammy Brugard posting some film like this!
Thank you Tammy for the great look back!
What river is that they’re crossing? I know the Tualatin is in the area but this looks like a larger river than I know.
Great video!
Dirk, thank you so much for sharing this treasured film with us. I suspect that those families thought that they would be out in the country for some time. When I first began traveling up Logie Trail Road, it was a simple gravel road off of Helvetia Road. When we built our home, there was only us and one other home on our driveway. Before long there were three additional home on the property just North of us. Then, over several years, our driveway collected five additional addresses! The surrounding area collected so many additional homes the post office changed our address two times. Finally, they decided that we had to choose a name for what was our driveway. We lost our address on Logie Trail, but now had a house number address on our newly named Drive. So, now in the 48 years we have lived here, our address has moved three times while our home has not moved an inch! I do have an inkling of what those folks on Grant St. must have felt!
Thanks, Ron! Boy, I know what you mean by that. Not only do the County and City disregard and denigrate our history, but even the post office is in on it! I hope you two are well up there on the hill – I do miss Helvetia where we spent the best 10 years of our lives as young parents up on NW 195th Avenue off of Phillips Road where the Urbanski’s’ live. We were Rout 1 Box 975 I think before they changed us to the numbering system and made us 195th-
Ah, the Future. Why am I convinced it will never be as good as the past?
Happy Holidays to you and Ginny and the Mapes / Granat families!
Dirk