Sylvan-Highlands is a neighborhood of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States located on the west side of the West Hills.

History

In 1850, Nathan B. Jones, a pioneer of 1847, settled at the head of

Tanner Creek Tanner Creek is a small tributary of the Willamette River in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Named after a tannery owned by one of the city's founders, it begins in what is now the Sylvan–Highlands neighborhood in the Tualatin Mountains ...

and

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted lots for a community he called "Zion Town". It is unknown if he named the place for Mount Zion, a summit located about a mile to the southeast. Because the name "Zion" for a local post office would have caused confusion, as there had already been two post offices so-named in Oregon, a resident suggested the name "Sylvan", from the Roman deity of the woods '' Silvanus''. The office was established in 1890 and it closed in 1906. Nathan B. Jones, who was considered an eccentric hermit, had wanted Zion Town to become the new capital of Oregon. He was murdered during a robbery in 1894. Sylvan post office was located at what today is the interchange of Sunset Highway,

Scholls Ferry Road Oregon Route 210 (also known as Scholls Ferry Road, or, more formally, the Scholls Highway No. 143 (see Oregon highways and routes)) is a state highway which runs between the community of Scholls, Oregon and the Raleigh Hills neighborhood we ...

and Skyline Boulevard within the Portland city limits in

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

Schools

Schools that serve the neighborhood include Ainsworth Elementary School, Bridlemile Elementary School, West Sylvan Middle School, and Lincoln High School.

Parks and visitor attractions

The

Portland Children's Museum Portland Children's Museum was a children's museum located in Portland's Washington Park, adjacent to the Oregon Zoo. Founded in 1946, Portland Children's Museum was the sixth oldest children's museum in the world and the oldest west of the Miss ...

, the

Oregon Zoo The Oregon Zoo, originally the Portland Zoo and later the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is located in Washington Park, approximately southwest of downtown Portland. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest zoo ...

, and Washington Park are all located in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood organizations

The Sylvan-Highlands Neighborhood Association meets on the second Tuesday of every other month. The association is a part of the District 4 coalition.

References

External links

Sylvan-Highlands Neighborhood Association
Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon {{MultnomahCountyOR-geo-stub