Verboort 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 ...

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 located approximately two miles northeast of Forest Grove, one mile east of

Oregon Route 47 Oregon Route 47 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the Willamette Valley, near McMinnville, Oregon, McMinnville, and the city of Clatskanie, Oregon, Clatskanie, along the Columbia River in the northwest part of the state. OR 47 ...

in the

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

. The community is part of the

Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District Forest Grove Fire and Rescue is the municipal fire department for the city of Forest Grove, Oregon. Started in 1894, the department has two stations used to provide fire fighting and emergency medical services to both the city and the ''Forest G ...

History

Verboort was named for early settler Father William Verboort in 1876. Verboort post office was established in 1893 and ran intermittently until 1919. The community was founded by six

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

families. The group was led by John Verboort, who had traveled from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

with his family and first settled in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. In 1875, the group, unhappy with the soil and weather in Wisconsin, bought 550 acres of land in the Verboort area and shared a large house. Father William Verboort, son of John, joined family later that year. Father Verboort and the community built St. Francis Xavier Church, and an informal school was founded at the same time. In 1883, a new church was built and named Our Lady of the Visitation, while the old church was converted into a schoolhouse. The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon established a convent in Verboort in 1891, and by longstanding tradition, local families provide the sisters with produce. In 1922, the school at Verboort and the Sisters of St. Mary who taught there were affected by the

Oregon Compulsory Education Act The Compulsory Education Act or Oregon School Law was a 1922 law in the U.S. state of Oregon that required school age children to attend only public schools. The United States Supreme Court later struck down the law as unconstitutional. Backgroun ...

, which was later overturned by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. The current Visitation Church building, with 150-foot sequoias on either side, was constructed in 1959. The sequoias were planted in 1888 by John Porter, who brought the seeds back to Oregon from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

after returning from the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

of 1849. The church at Verboort established successful missions in Hillsboro, Cornelius, Forest Grove, and

Roy Roy or Roi is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origins. France In France, this family name originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who migrated to Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy.. The deriva ...

(another Dutch Catholic community), which all became self-supporting parishes.

Arts and culture

Annual cultural events

The annual Verboort Sausage and Sauerkraut Festival, founded in 1934, is held on the first Saturday in November; proceeds go to the upkeep of the church school. The festival, with its

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

and

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , ) is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferment the sugar ...

dinner, attracts between 7,800 and 10,000 people each year, while the line for purchasing bulk sausage and sauerkraut starts forming four or five hours before sunrise. In 2008, 15 tons of sausage and 2,000 pounds of sauerkraut were produced for the event. The sausage is smoked using green

vine maple ''Acer circinatum'', or vine maple, is a species of maple native to northwestern North America. Vine maple typically grows as a low-elevation coastal tree in temperate areas of high precipitation such as the west coast of Oregon and northern Cal ...

wood.

Museums and other points of interest

Along with the Catholic church and its

pioneer cemetery In the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, a pioneer cemetery is a cemetery that is the burial place for pioneers. American pioneers founded such cemeteries during territorial expansion of the United States, with founding dates span ...

, notable sites in the community include the 1864 house of Henry Black, on whose

Donation Land Claim 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-Pree ...

the Verboort family originally settled, the 1921 William Hermans Granary, the 1921 Verboort Garage and General Repairing building, and the 1876 Martin Hermens House and Farm.

Notable person

Major league baseball All-Star pitcher Larry Jansen, member of the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

, was from Verboort.

References

External links

Historic images of Verboort
from Salem Public Library

from Visitation Parish {{authority control Dutch-American history Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Oregon 1893 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1893 Unincorporated communities in Oregon