Bethany is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Washington County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States. It is situated north of

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

and Oak Hills, near Beaverton, approximately four miles northwest of Cedar Mill, and is within the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

History

The name Bethany was first applied to a crossroads trading center about two miles northeast of the current location, where a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church stands today. The area was first settled by Ulrich Gerber, who came from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the mid-1870s. Gerber helped establish the first post office in the area in 1878, about a mile east of the current Bethany School, and suggested the name Bethany. "

Bethany Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Palestinian Arabic, Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba,

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

of Lazarus (name), L ...

" is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word, originally applied to a place in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

near

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and used as a place name all over the United States, especially in connection with a church. The post office was discontinued in 1904. The area's first public library was opened in July 2007 by a non-profit organization named the Cedar Mill Community Library Association, which has operated a library in nearby Cedar Mill since 1976. It is considered a branch of that library and is named the ''Cedar Mill Community Library @ Bethany''.

Demographics

2010 Census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 20,646 people, 7,205 households, and 5,579 families residing in Bethany. The racial makeup of Bethany was 60.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 31.7% Asian, 1.7%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.2%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.5% from other races, and 4.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.1% of the population. There were 5,579 family

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s, of which 50.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 22.6% were non-families. 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.30. The median age in Bethany was 35.7 years. The gender makeup of the area was 48.5% male and 51.5% female. 2024 Census: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/bethany-or-population

References

External links

Historic images of Bethany
from Salem Public Library
Cedar Mill Community Library – Bethany Branch

Historic images of the Bethany area
from Washington County Heritage Online {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon Portland metropolitan area 1878 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1878 Census-designated places in Washington County, Oregon