Orenco (or en koh) is a former

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

in Washington County,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located between Hillsboro and

Aloha ''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian language, Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is u ...

. The former community of Orenco now forms the Orenco neighborhood in Hillsboro, which is the site of the Orenco Station housing development. The community was established in 1905 as a company town by the

Oregon Nursery Company The Oregon Nursery Company (also known as Orenco) was a nursery company founded and originally operated in Salem, Oregon, United States. The company later expanded to a site in Washington County, Oregon west of Portland. The entire operation w ...

, within a 1200-acre (4.9 km²) area owned by the company. The name Orenco is a composite of the company's initials. The

Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene. Service from Portland to Salem began in January 1908. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchased the system in ...

established Orenco Station in 1908, and Orenco post office operated from 1909 to 1963. The Oregon Nursery Company shut down during the depression. Orenco later became part of Hillsboro. The company was responsible for introducing the Orenco Apple, a dessert apple, in the early 20th century.

Geography

Orenco is located in the

Tualatin Valley The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon in the United States. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, ...

, with Rock Creek and other smaller streams running through the area. Major roads in the area include

U.S. Route 26 U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is an east–west United States highway that runs from Seaside, Oregon to Ogallala, Nebraska. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and ...

, Cornelius Pass Road, Cornell Road, NW 231st Avenue, and Baseline Road. Orenco's approximate location is northeast Hillsboro, north of Baseline Road, south of

Cornell Road Cornell Road is an east–west street and traffic corridor in the Portland metropolitan area, in Multnomah and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It crosses the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills) between the Willamette Valley and the ...

, west of

Cornelius Pass Road Cornelius Pass Road is an arterial road over Cornelius Pass in the Tualatin Mountains west of Portland, Oregon, United States, also extending several miles to the south. Running north–south, the road stretches between U.S. Route 30 (US 30 ...

, and east of Shute Road. Unlike the town of Orenco, the present-day neighborhood of the same name extends north of Cornell Road, with the Orenco Station area.

History

European American European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...

pioneers first arrived in the Orenco area in the mid-1850s, after the

Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...

of 1850 encouraged

settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...

s to travel to Oregon. The Orenco area was cleared by Chinese laborers employed by a number of local farmers. At the turn of the century Archibald McGill and Malcolm McDonald formed the

. In May 1906, the Oregon Nursery Company purchased in

Washington County, Oregon Washington County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon and part of the Portland metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded the population as 600,372, making it the second most populous county in the state and most populous "Wash ...

where they would begin building a large nursery operation. In 1908, the town of Orenco was founded with the suggestion of the name coming from Anna Lisky McNew.Slater, Francis. Orenco—Once Called 'Garden Spot'. ''Hillsboro Argus'', May 13, 1965. The townsite was largely on the Donation Land Claim of William H. Bennett.Hanberg, Lou. ''Orenco Heritage Series'': Book One. 1992. Also in 1908, the

began

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

service on its line between

Forest Grove A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. The Orenco school district was formed on December 21, split from the Shute school district. Many of the first families in the town were

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

the company recruited and relocated from the Eastern European country. In 1909, the Orenco Presbyterian Church was founded in June. By 1910 the town had grown to over 500 residents and on December 6 the community organized a volunteer fire department. H. V. Meade began printing the town's paper, the '' Orenco Herald'' in 1914. The next year Orenco built its

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

that contained both the fire department and a jail. Enrollment at the school district reached 169 students by 1913. On January 6, 1913, the residents voted to incorporate the community. At this time the city consisted of a dry goods store, a hotel, two grocery stores, a blacksmith shop, a hardware store, a lumber yard, ice cream parlor, and a printing shop. Services in the town were water, sewer, telephones, electricity, street lighting, and a third-class

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. In 1924, the city was the setting for a movie about the North-West Mounted Police by a Beaverton film studio. The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) closed its

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

depot at Orenco in August 1928. Then in 1929, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

helped lead to the dissolution of the Oregon Nursery Company. With this development, many other businesses shut down and many residents moved away. In 1932, OE discontinued its interurban (passenger) service to Orenco, when the railroad company closed its Forest Grove line, with only freight trains continuing to use the rail line thereafter (until the line's abandonment in 1977). In 1938, residents voted to dissolve the

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owne ...

. Oregon Nursery Company founder Malcolm McDonald's home, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, is still located on the north end of the property that was formerly The Orenco Woods Golf Course. The golf course opened in 1953 and was owned and operated by the Hillsboro

Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

Lodge until it was sold to developers and closed in 2006. Due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, the land was not developed, and in 2013 it became the

Orenco Woods Nature Park Orenco Woods Nature Park is a park located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. The site was formerly nine-hole Orenco Woods Golf Course in the Orenco neighborhood owned by the Hillsboro Elks. The eastern edge is bounded by Cornelius Pass Road and ...

Points of interest

* Orenco Station is a

smart growth Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sch ...

community in Hillsboro that takes its name from the former community of Orenco. *The Orenco MAX station on the

MAX Blue Line The MAX Blue Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It travels east–west for approximately —the longest in the network—between Hillsboro, Beaverton, Po ...

is named after the community. *East–west-running streets in the former community are all named after trees, and are in alphabetical order starting with Alder and ending with Fir. * Imbrie Farm from the

is located just north of Orenco. *The neighborhood contains two elementary schools of the

Hillsboro School District The Hillsboro School District 1J is a unified school district located in Hillsboro, Oregon, Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. The district operates 26 elementary schools, four middle schools, and four high schools. Founded in 1851, the school di ...

: Orenco Elementary, in the historical part of Orenco, and Quatama Elementary, in the newer Orenco Station area. *The Hillsboro

Elks Lodge The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

is located in Orenco. *In the vicinity are

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

's Ronler Acres and Hawthorn Farm facilities.

Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro Stadium is a multi-sport stadium in the northwest United States, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, a suburb west of Portland. Opened in 1999 and owned by the city of Hillsboro, the award-winning stadium is part of the Gordon Faber Recreat ...

is also near by.

References

External links

*
Orenco history
from Orenco Elementary School *
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:PFlAc0oVv_8J:www.portlandtransit.com/about/history/orencohist.htm+Orenco+history&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6 Cached version of Orenco history] from

TriMet TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1969 ...

-->
Orenco history from Orenco Station

Orenco Station article from terrain.org
{{Washington County, Oregon Company towns in Oregon Former cities in Oregon Neighborhoods in Oregon Hillsboro, Oregon 1908 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1908 1938 disestablishments in Oregon Populated places disestablished in 1938