In our continuing series on Hillsboro History, we feature another great story from our good friend and guest author, Jeff LeRiche. Jeff grew up in Hillsboro and is a well-known local baseball coach and tournament director. These days, Jeff lives with his family in Cornelius, where he is having a profound impact on preserving the history of our neighbor city to the West. You can join in the fun on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/235734834384635
By Jeff LeRiche – Guest Author to the Herald-
Long before any dreams of Tanasbourne, which is a word made-up by the original mall developers in the 1970’s, multiple generations of the Meier family had lived and worked on the land they had named Arbor Rose Farm. Local newspapers referred to this area as Bethany at the time.
Johannes “John” Meier Sr. immigrated to the United States from Switzerland in 1883. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1886 and arrived in Oregon in 1889. Once here, he married Magdalena “Mattie” Grossen, also from Switzerland, in 1890. They purchased and settled on the then heavily timbered land on Cornell Road, near what is now southeast of 185th Ave and Hwy 26.
They started a family there and raised oats, wheat, and hay. In 1915, they purchased their first Brown Swiss heifer. From then, the herd grew, and soon, they had a dairy specializing in the production of cheese. Another “herd” was growing, too, as John and Mattie would have eight children together.
Mattie passed away in 1932 after years of illness, and John, now seventy years old, was starting to slow down and perhaps not up to the demands of twice-a-day milking of the cows. He was still involved in cheese making but had dispersed the herd to his son Albert, who, along with his son Donald, was supplying milk to the Portland Market. John passed away in 1937.
The multi-generational Brown Swiss herd, won many awards, including several national show grand champions. Albert lived until 1956, and after his death, Donald continued with the Arbor Rose herd.
In the late 1960s, the Standard Insurance Company began buying land near NW 185th and U.S. Highway 26 with plans to construct a community development complete with stores, office complexes, residences, and light industry. Part of the 450-acre parcel that Standard Insurance had put together was the Meier dairy farm.
The parcel was crossed by four different creeks: Rock Creek, Willow Creek, Bronson Creek, and Waterhouse Creek. Due to these creeks, Standard Insurance made up a creative name for the project, a hybrid of tenas from the Chinook jargon and the Middle English term bourn. Tenas translates as small and bourne means a stream. The two words combined, Tanasbourne, is supposed to mean small stream.
Arbor Rose Dairy did not end, however. Donald Meier relocated the herd to near Scappoose, on what is now Meier Road. The Brown Swiss herd would reach what was believed to be the largest in the world at the time, with six hundred head, including 275 milking cows.
Donald passed away in 2015, and in 2022, the Brown Swiss Historical Society posthumously nominated him for a historical breeder award.
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Ok Bruce –