Residents and visitors alike enjoy Hillsboro’s
farmers’ markets, dog parks, arts venues,
community gardens, locally-owned restaurants, and shopping options. Hillsboro’s
libraries and award-winning community
parks are beloved by residents. TriMet’s
MAX Blue Line makes stops at nine locations in Hillsboro, and drivers can take
Highway 26 to the Pacific Ocean in about an
hour from Hillsboro.
Known as the tallest tree in the Silicon
Forest, Hillsboro is the high tech corridor
for the State of Oregon, and home to a
broad range of businesses, large and small,
including Oregon’s largest employer, Intel.
Other private employers include Qorvo,
Solar Word, FEI, Tuality Healthcare, Kaiser
Permanente, and many more. More than
170 years after its founding, Hillsboro has
the second busiest airport in the state and
the fifth largest school district.
Hillsboro hosts the second largest Fourth
of July parade in Oregon and annual
events including a Latino Cultural
Festival, Celebrate Hillsboro, and the
Oregon International Air Show. Hillsboro
is home to the metro area’s only professional baseball team, the Hillsboro Hops
– the 2014 and 2015 Northwest League
Champions. The Hops play in front of
capacity crowds during the summer at
Hillsboro’s Ron Tonkin Field, and are a
single-A baseball affiliate of the Arizona
Diamondbacks.
The City of King City is a small community 10 miles south of downtown Portland,
and lies between the Tualatin River and
the south slope of Bull Mountain in Washington County. King City is on the edge of
the region’s Urban Growth Boundary, where
Washington County transitions to an agricultural area of nurseries, wineries and farms.
With beautiful countryside in its backyard,
King City is one hour from the Oregon Coast
and just over one hour from the mountains.
In 1963, a local developer originated the city
as an adult retirement and recreation community. King City was incorporated in 1966, and
has a population today of about 3,600.
King City was originally chartered as a
retirement community for those aged 55 and
up. Much of its housing is centered around
a golf course and civic center with nearby
neighborhood shopping. Residents benefit
from the modest taxes and quality services
the city provides. The charm of King City
has been discovered by others over the years.
Today, King City includes vibrant new
neighborhoods with residents of all ages and
an attractive new city park. In 2005, local
homebuilder Legend Homes assisted with
the development of King City Community
Park, which includes a soccer field, basket-
ball court, extensive play structure, over
50,000 plants, and a wetlands area.
King City has been identified as one of
seven town centers in the southwest Portland region, and is part of the Metro 2040
Growth Concept to have investments made
by area jurisdictions to create a vibrant and
successful town center, and a more walkable
commercial district. King City is small, but
plays an important role in the area because
of its location along the 99W corridor.
Magnolia Park in Hillsboro
Photo courtesy City of Hillsboro
David Hill Winery
Photo by Ken Kochey courtesy
of Washington County Visitors Association