Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Encyclopedia
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) is a special parks district located in the eastern part of Washington County
in the U.S. state of Oregon
. Created in 1955, the district covers all of the city of Beaverton
and many of those communities surrounding Beaverton in the Portland metropolitan area
. The district covers an area of 50 square miles (129.5 km²) and serves a population of about 220,000, making it the largest parks district in Oregon. Tualatin Hills operates over 200 facilities totaling 2100 acres (849.8 ha), including eight swimming centers. The district has an annual budget of $40 million and is overseen by a five-person board of directors
.
s (PTA) in Beaverton-area schools started campaigning to create a recreation district, as Beaverton had few parks at the time. This group organized a meeting of PTAs and other civic groups and then decided to create a formal group, the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Council. They drew up a constitution for the group, elected Elsie Stuhr as the president, and started holding board meetings in July 1953. At the first meeting they adopted the name for the proposed district.
This group then started collecting signatures on a petition
in September 1953 in order to create a special parks district
, and collected the planned 4,000 signatures by December 1953. They gathered additional signatures in order to compensate for any errors. A total of 4,400 signatures were collected and turned over in February 1954 to the county, which the county had required 27% of property owners to sign the petition.
Then beginning in June 1954 the then county court, now board of commissioners, held meetings to work out what the boundaries would be for the proposed district. School districts in the area that withdrew fully or in part from the proposal included Aloha
, McKinley, Groner, Sunset Valley, McKay, Bethany
, and Cooper Mountain. The district would be entirely within the boundaries of the then Beaverton Union High School District, which later through consolidation became the Beaverton School District
.
Opposition came mainly from farmers within the district who objected to increased taxes. The main arguments in support of the district were that increased recreation activities would decrease juvenile delinquency
and that facilities within the area would reduce travel costs. The district planned to construct a centrally located swimming pool
as the first priority if the district was created. In March 1955, the proposal was submitted to voters in the planned district, and the formation of the district was approved by a vote of 1,054 to 852, on March 4. At that time the district included all of Garden Home
, Beaverton, Bonny Slope
, Raleigh Hills
, and the Washington County portion of Sylvan
. Parts of Cooper Mountain, Hazeldale, Sunset Valley, Cedar Mill
, and McKay also were in the new district.
The district became the third parks district in Oregon, with two in Lane County already in existence. Stuhr was elected as one of the three original directors, and was then elected as president at the board's first meeting. She and the other two original directors of the district had been members of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Council. When formed, the assessed value of the land in the district totaled $12 million, the population was about 22,000, and the budget for the first year was $65,000. William B. Pond was hired as the district's first superintendent in July 1955, and he started work in the position on September 1 at a salary of $7,500 per year.
Voters in the district approved the issuing of a $10 million bond in November 1974, but voted down an increase in the tax base in May 1978. By 1976 the district had grown to cover nearly 40 mi2 and have a total assessed value of property in the district of $1.4 billion, and a budget of almost $990,000. At that time the district had grown to over 30 parks and operated swimming pools at Beaverton High School
, at Sunset High School, in Raleigh Hills, and at Somerset West-Rock Creek
. The district opened a senior center in 1975 in Beaverton and named it after Elsie Stuhr.
In May 1985, two teenagers set booby traps at the district's Fir Grove Park, imitating traps they had seen in the movie First Blood
, the first film in the Rambo series.
The district agreed to transfer nine parks, for a total of 56 acres (22.7 ha), to neighboring Hillsboro in 2002. These parks were in areas anticipated to be annexed by Hillsboro
, as Hillsboro and Beaverton had agreed to a shared boundary to match school district lines, except in areas already annexed into one of those cities. Tualatin Hills received $1.1 million for the transfer of the parks. In 2004, Sports Illustrated
named the district as its Sportstown for Oregon during the magazine's 50th anniversary year.
Tualatin Hills had grown to an area of 55 mi2 in 2005, with in excess of 200 parks, along with eight swimming pools. At that time the district's budget had grown to $41 million, the district served over 200,000 residents, and employed 203 people. Voters in the district approved a $100 million bond in November 2008 to both improve then existing parks and facilities, as well as purchase new park lands. It was the first bond measure passed in the district since 1996. In June 2009, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
opened, with Tualatin Hills operating the Metro-owned park.
governs the district, which is headed by a president. The district's board of directors originally had three members, but now consists of five board members. Board members are elected to four-year terms. Board meetings are held monthly. Day-to-day operations of the district are overseen by the general manager
(GM), which is Doug Menke who became GM in 2006. The GM oversees a total of 212 employees and an annual budget of $40 million.
Tualatin Hills has over 200 parks or facilities totaling 2100 acres (849.8 ha), spread across 50 square miles (129.5 km²) in eastern Washington County. Included in this are eight aquatic centers or outdoor swimming pools, one senior center, two nature parks, and 60 miles of trails. Major parks and facilities include the Howard M. Terpenning Recreation Complex, Conestoga Recreation and Aquatic Center, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
, Tualatin Hills Nature Park, PCC Rock Creek Recreation Facility, and the Jenkins Estate
. Tualatin Hills also operates a variety of athletic fields and facilities, many in-conjunction with the Beaverton School District. These include 189 soccer fields, 111 tennis courts, and 75 basketball courts, among others.
Washington County, Oregon
- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...
in the U.S. state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Created in 1955, the district covers all of the city of Beaverton
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley.As of the 2010 census, the population is 90,267. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city...
and many of those communities surrounding Beaverton in the Portland metropolitan area
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
. The district covers an area of 50 square miles (129.5 km²) and serves a population of about 220,000, making it the largest parks district in Oregon. Tualatin Hills operates over 200 facilities totaling 2100 acres (849.8 ha), including eight swimming centers. The district has an annual budget of $40 million and is overseen by a five-person board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
History
Around 1953 some members of Parent-Teacher AssociationParent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
s (PTA) in Beaverton-area schools started campaigning to create a recreation district, as Beaverton had few parks at the time. This group organized a meeting of PTAs and other civic groups and then decided to create a formal group, the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Council. They drew up a constitution for the group, elected Elsie Stuhr as the president, and started holding board meetings in July 1953. At the first meeting they adopted the name for the proposed district.
This group then started collecting signatures on a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
in September 1953 in order to create a special parks district
Special-purpose district
Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...
, and collected the planned 4,000 signatures by December 1953. They gathered additional signatures in order to compensate for any errors. A total of 4,400 signatures were collected and turned over in February 1954 to the county, which the county had required 27% of property owners to sign the petition.
Then beginning in June 1954 the then county court, now board of commissioners, held meetings to work out what the boundaries would be for the proposed district. School districts in the area that withdrew fully or in part from the proposal included Aloha
Aloha, Oregon
Aloha is a census-designated place and an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 49,425.-History:...
, McKinley, Groner, Sunset Valley, McKay, Bethany
Bethany, Oregon
Bethany is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is situated north of U.S. Route 26 near Beaverton, about four miles northwest of Cedar Mill, and is within the Portland metropolitan area...
, and Cooper Mountain. The district would be entirely within the boundaries of the then Beaverton Union High School District, which later through consolidation became the Beaverton School District
Beaverton School District
The Beaverton School District is a school district in suburban Beaverton and Portland, Oregon, United States. The Beaverton Elementary School District 48 was established in 1876, with other elementary districts later merged into the district. The elementary district was later merged with the high...
.
Opposition came mainly from farmers within the district who objected to increased taxes. The main arguments in support of the district were that increased recreation activities would decrease juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
and that facilities within the area would reduce travel costs. The district planned to construct a centrally located swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
as the first priority if the district was created. In March 1955, the proposal was submitted to voters in the planned district, and the formation of the district was approved by a vote of 1,054 to 852, on March 4. At that time the district included all of Garden Home
Garden Home-Whitford, Oregon
Garden Home-Whitford is a census-designated place consisting of the neighborhoods of Garden Home and the smaller Whitford area in Washington County, Oregon, United States. They are located in the southwest hills of Portland, near Beaverton. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 6,931.-...
, Beaverton, Bonny Slope
Bonny Slope, Oregon
Bonny Slope is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. Bonny Slope lies on Thompson Road north of Beaverton and northwest of Portland....
, Raleigh Hills
Raleigh Hills, Oregon
Raleigh Hills is a census-designated place and neighborhood within the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It is located in the southwest hills in Washington County, with Beaverton to the west, West Slope to the north, and Progress and Garden Home to the south...
, and the Washington County portion of Sylvan
West Haven-Sylvan, Oregon
West Haven-Sylvan is a census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, north of U.S. Route 26. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 7,147.-Geography:...
. Parts of Cooper Mountain, Hazeldale, Sunset Valley, Cedar Mill
Cedar Mill, Oregon
Cedar Mill is a census-designated place and an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, mostly north of U.S. Route 26 and west of the Willamette Stone...
, and McKay also were in the new district.
The district became the third parks district in Oregon, with two in Lane County already in existence. Stuhr was elected as one of the three original directors, and was then elected as president at the board's first meeting. She and the other two original directors of the district had been members of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Council. When formed, the assessed value of the land in the district totaled $12 million, the population was about 22,000, and the budget for the first year was $65,000. William B. Pond was hired as the district's first superintendent in July 1955, and he started work in the position on September 1 at a salary of $7,500 per year.
Voters in the district approved the issuing of a $10 million bond in November 1974, but voted down an increase in the tax base in May 1978. By 1976 the district had grown to cover nearly 40 mi2 and have a total assessed value of property in the district of $1.4 billion, and a budget of almost $990,000. At that time the district had grown to over 30 parks and operated swimming pools at Beaverton High School
Beaverton High School
Beaverton High School, is a public high school located in Beaverton, Oregon. Opened in 1902, it is the oldest high school in Beaverton.-History:...
, at Sunset High School, in Raleigh Hills, and at Somerset West-Rock Creek
Rockcreek, Oregon
Rockcreek is a census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, north of U.S. Route 26. It is named for the Rock Creek neighborhood in the area. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 9,404.-Geography:...
. The district opened a senior center in 1975 in Beaverton and named it after Elsie Stuhr.
In May 1985, two teenagers set booby traps at the district's Fir Grove Park, imitating traps they had seen in the movie First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
, the first film in the Rambo series.
The district agreed to transfer nine parks, for a total of 56 acres (22.7 ha), to neighboring Hillsboro in 2002. These parks were in areas anticipated to be annexed by Hillsboro
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
, as Hillsboro and Beaverton had agreed to a shared boundary to match school district lines, except in areas already annexed into one of those cities. Tualatin Hills received $1.1 million for the transfer of the parks. In 2004, Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
named the district as its Sportstown for Oregon during the magazine's 50th anniversary year.
Tualatin Hills had grown to an area of 55 mi2 in 2005, with in excess of 200 parks, along with eight swimming pools. At that time the district's budget had grown to $41 million, the district served over 200,000 residents, and employed 203 people. Voters in the district approved a $100 million bond in November 2008 to both improve then existing parks and facilities, as well as purchase new park lands. It was the first bond measure passed in the district since 1996. In June 2009, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Cooper Mountain Nature Park is a nature park in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 2009, the park is owned and operated by Metro, the regional government in the Oregon portion of the metro area. The park is named after Cooper Mountain, the primary geological...
opened, with Tualatin Hills operating the Metro-owned park.
Details
Tualatin Hills is the largest parks district in Oregon, serving over 220,000 residents. An elected board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
governs the district, which is headed by a president. The district's board of directors originally had three members, but now consists of five board members. Board members are elected to four-year terms. Board meetings are held monthly. Day-to-day operations of the district are overseen by the general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
(GM), which is Doug Menke who became GM in 2006. The GM oversees a total of 212 employees and an annual budget of $40 million.
Tualatin Hills has over 200 parks or facilities totaling 2100 acres (849.8 ha), spread across 50 square miles (129.5 km²) in eastern Washington County. Included in this are eight aquatic centers or outdoor swimming pools, one senior center, two nature parks, and 60 miles of trails. Major parks and facilities include the Howard M. Terpenning Recreation Complex, Conestoga Recreation and Aquatic Center, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Cooper Mountain Nature Park is a nature park in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 2009, the park is owned and operated by Metro, the regional government in the Oregon portion of the metro area. The park is named after Cooper Mountain, the primary geological...
, Tualatin Hills Nature Park, PCC Rock Creek Recreation Facility, and the Jenkins Estate
Belle Ainsworth Jenkins Estate
The Belle Ainsworth Jenkins Estate, located in Beaverton, Oregon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
. Tualatin Hills also operates a variety of athletic fields and facilities, many in-conjunction with the Beaverton School District. These include 189 soccer fields, 111 tennis courts, and 75 basketball courts, among others.