Wilsonville, Oregon | |
|---|---|
 City Hall | |
 Seal | |
| Motto: Serving the Community with Pride | |
 Location inOregon | |
| Coordinates:45°18′24″N122°45′59″W / 45.30667°N 122.76639°W /45.30667; -122.76639 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| Counties | Clackamas,Washington |
| Incorporated | October 10, 1968 |
| Named after | Charles Wilson |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-manager |
| • Mayor | Julie Fitzgerald[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 7.76 sq mi (20.09 km2) |
| • Land | 7.55 sq mi (19.56 km2) |
| • Water | 0.21 sq mi (0.53 km2) |
| Elevation | 177 ft (54 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 26,664 |
| • Density | 3,531.19/sq mi (1,363.33/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific) |
| ZIP code | 97070 |
| Area code(s) | 503 and971 |
| FIPS code | 41-82800 |
| GNIS ID | 2412277[3] |
| Website | www |
Wilsonville is a city inClackamas andWashington counties in the U.S. state ofOregon. Founded with the name Boones Landing for theBoones Ferry that crossed theWillamette River, the community became Wilsonville in 1880. The city was incorporated in 1969 with a population of approximately 1,000. The population was 19,509 at the2010 census and grew to 26,664 as of the 2020 census.
Located within thePortland metropolitan area, the city also includes the planned communities ofCharbonneau on the south side of the river andVillebois on the western edge. Wilsonville is bisected byInterstate 5 and includes I-5'sBoone Bridge over the Willamette River. Public transportation is provided by the city-ownedSouth Metro Area Regional Transit, which connects to thePortland-basedTriMet through TriMet'sWES Commuter Rail and by bus at theTualatin Park & Ride. The public school districts are theWest Linn-Wilsonville andCanby school districts, and the only traditional high school isWilsonville High School.Clackamas Community College andOregon Tech have satellite campuses in the city.
Wilsonville has acouncil-manager form of government and operates its ownlibrary, public works, and parks and recreation department. Fire and police protection are contracted out to other regional government agencies. The city is home to several technology companies includingSiemens Digital Industries Software, along withStream Global Services, the largest employer in the city. Wilsonville contains many distribution and manufacturing buildings adjacent to Interstate 5, such as regional distribution facilities for Coca-Cola andRite Aid. Retail centers include Argyle Square on the north and the Town Center Shopping Center to the south. Media in Wilsonville consists of the Portland area broadcast stations, regional newspapers, and the localWilsonville Spokesman newspaper.
Alphonso Boone, the grandson ofDaniel Boone, settled in what would later become Wilsonville in 1846 and established theBoones Ferry across theWillamette River in 1847.[5] The ferry gave rise to the community ofBoones Landing, which eventually grew into Wilsonville.[5] Originally, the area was part of what becameYamhill County, but was transferred to the current Clackamas County in 1855.[6] The first post office was established in 1876 with the nameBoones Ferry.[6]
Wilsonville became the name of the community on June 3, 1880,[7] named after the first postmaster, Charles Wilson.[8] That same year the first school, Wilsonville Grade School, was opened as a single-room building.[9] By 1890, the railroad had reached town and the community contained depot, several hotels, a saloon, a tavern, a bank, and several other commercial establishments.[6] In 1897, the twelve school districts in the vicinity of Wilsonville up toLake Oswego merged to create a single district.[10] A railroad bridge was built across the river for theOregon Electric Railway beginning in 1906.[6] The bridge was completed the next year and service from Wilsonville south to Salem began in 1908.[6]
A new Methodist church was built in the community in 1910, which was used until 1988 and is still standing.[11] Two years later, a new two-room school replaced the oldone-room school, which in turn was replaced by a modern school in the mid 1900s, all on the same property.[9] In 1939, the wooden trestle part of the railroad bridge across the Willamette caught fire and burned.[6] Boones Ferry was decommissioned after theBoone Bridge opened in 1954 carrying what was then the Baldock Freeway, and is today Interstate 5.[5]
In 1961, theDammasch State Hospital mental hospital opened on the west side of the community.[6]Gordon House, the only house inOregon to be designed by architectFrank Lloyd Wright, was built in 1963 near what became Charbonneau and moved to theOregon Garden in 2001.[12] Wilsonville was flooded in 1964 and the first fire station was built in 1966.[6] Wilsonville was incorporated as a city on October 10, 1968, with a population of about 1,000.[13][14] In 1971, the planned community ofCharbonneau on the south side of the river was annexed into the city the year after development began.[10][14]
Tektronix built a campus in the city beginning in 1973, which was later sold toXerox.[14] The following year Wilsonville's city hall relocated from Tauchman House at what is now Boones Ferry Park to a trailer and the next year the first city manager was hired.[6] A standalone post office was built in 1976 at Boones Ferry and Wilsonville roads, with city police protection added in 1979.[6] In 1980, the city reached a population of 2,920, and in 1982 the library was opened. The next year, a new city hall was opened, replacing a trailer that had served as city hall since 1975.[14]
In 1988, the city opened their first library building, which replaced the one-room library located in space leased from the school district.[15] The population grew to 7,106 at the 1990 census, and in 1991 the Town Center Shopping Center along Wilsonville Road opened.[14][16] Due to growth in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, the school board approved building a new high school to be located in Wilsonville in 1992.[10]
AuthorWalt Morey owned an estate in Wilsonville and after his death in 1992, his widow sold the property to a developer. The housing development built on that property, Morey's Landing, bears his name as does the children's section of the Wilsonville Public Library.[17] Walt Morey Park, a bear-themed park located in Morey's Landing, contains a life-size 8-foot-tall wooden statue of Morey's most famous literary creation,Gentle Ben.[18]
Living Enrichment Center, a New Thought Church with as many as 3,000 members, was headquartered in Wilsonville from 1992 until 2004.[19] The church closed that year after problems that including money laundering by the church leaders led to the bankrupting of the church.[20]
In 1995, Dammasch State Hospital was closed by the state of Oregon, and the site was then proposed as a location for what became theCoffee Creek Correctional Facility, which opened in 2001 at a different site to the north of the old hospital grounds.[21] In protest of the construction of the prison, specifically the effect on property values, Larry Eaton began erectingschool buses on his property.[22] The former grounds of the state hospital have been redeveloped asVillebois, a primarily residential planned community. Also in 1995,Wilsonville High School opened as part of theWest Linn-Wilsonville School District, the first high school in the city's history.[14] In 1998, lack of an adequate long-term water supply forced the city to suspend adding any new developments to the city.[14] A new water treatment plant on the Willamette River opened in 2002 to address this need.[14]
The Wilsonville Public Library was expanded to nearly four times the size of the 7,500-square-foot (700 m2) 1988 building with an expansion finished in 2002.[23] Wilsonville Primary School was closed in June 2001, and later sold with the property and turned into a shopping center, anchored by anAlbertsons supermarket.[24][25] In September 2006, Wilsonville opened a new $9.9 million, two-story brick and steelcity hall after a controversy concerning its location led to unsuccessful attempts to recall several elected officials in the city, including the mayor.[26] In 2007, the old city hall building was turned into a new public works and police department.[27]
During theGreat Recession,Nike closed its distribution center in Wilsonville,[28][29] projector makerInFocus moved its headquarters from the city,[30] and retailerG.I. Joe's that was headquartered there went out of business.[31] In 2010, theOregon Institute of Technology took over the InFocus building to house the school's Portland area campus.[32] A new shopping center named Old Town Square anchored by a Fred Meyer store opened in 2011 along Interstate 5 at Wilsonville Road, which also included a McMenamins location.[33]
Lowrie Primary School in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District opened in 2012 in the Villebois part of the city.[34] The Villebois Community Center in that area was completed in 2013.[35] A fire in March 2019 destroyed 20 homes that were being built in the Villebois area.[36] In 2021,Fry's Electronics closed its store that had opened asIncredible Universe in 1992, while museum World of Speed and the local bowling alley also closed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[37] In June 2021, the city hit 116 °F (47 °C) on June 28, 2021, during a heatwave, Wilsonville's highest recorded temperature.[38] The only theater in town, a nine-screenRegal Cinemas, closed in July 2023.[39]
Wilsonville is located on the southern edge of thePortland metropolitan area, sitting at an elevation of 154 feet (47 m) above sea level.[3] Primarily in the southwestern part of Clackamas County, the northern section is in Washington County.[40] It is located on the north side of theWillamette River around where Alphonse Boone established the Boones Ferry.[5] Neighboring cities areTualatin on the north,Sherwood to the northwest, andCanby andAurora to the southeast.Newberg inYamhill County is approximately 14 miles west along Wilsonville Road. The Willamette separates the majority of the city from Charbonneau, a planned community and neighborhood within the city limits, on the south.[41]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.42 square miles (19.22 km2), of which 7.21 square miles (18.67 km2) is land and 0.21 square miles (0.54 km2) is water.[42] Waterways in addition to the Willamette River include Arrowhead Creek, Meridian Creek, Basalt Creek, Seely Ditch,Boeckman Creek, and Coffee Lake Creek.[43] The Boeckman and Coffee Lake creeks account for 85% of the runoff in Wilsonville.[44] Coffee Lake Creek is on the west side of the city and includes the Coffee Lake Wetlands.[45] The foothills of theChehalem Mountains lie to the west of Wilsonville, with most land within the city on level ground.[46]
Wilsonville divides the city into 16 neighborhood groups, designated A through P.[47] Within each of these planning areas are individual neighborhoods, and occasionally a neighborhood spans several of these groups.[47] For instance the Villebois development covers areas D through G.[47] Individual neighborhoods include Charbonneau, Wilsonville Meadows, Canyon Creek North, Town Center, RiverGreen, Frog Pond, and Old Town to name a few.[47] Wilsonville's Old Town neighborhood, the oldest of the neighborhoods, is located south of Wilsonville Road along Boones Ferry Road adjacent to the landing of the oldBoones Ferry and contains the original portions of the town.[48][49]
Wilsonville, as part of theWillamette Valley is within theMarine west coast climate zone. Summers in Wilsonville are generally warm, but temperatures year-round are moderated by a marine influence from the Pacific Ocean.[50] Wilsonville receives most of itsprecipitation during the mild to cool winter months, with the wettest period from November through March.[50] July and August are the warmest months with an average high temperature of 87 °F (31 °C), while December is the coolest month with an average low of 34 °F (1 °C).[51] December is also on average the wettest month with 6.67 inches (169 mm).[51] The highest recorded temperature, 116 °F (47 °C), occurred June 28, 2021, during a record breaking heatwave throughout the Pacific Northwest.[38][52][53] Wilsonville's lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on December 23, 1998.[54]
| Climate data for Wilsonville, Oregon | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 65 (18) | 72 (22) | 78 (26) | 87 (31) | 101 (38) | 116 (47) | 104 (40) | 105 (41) | 105 (41) | 95 (35) | 72 (22) | 67 (19) | 116 (47) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 48 (9) | 52 (11) | 57 (14) | 61 (16) | 68 (20) | 74 (23) | 81 (27) | 82 (28) | 76 (24) | 64 (18) | 53 (12) | 46 (8) | 64 (18) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 36 (2) | 36 (2) | 39 (4) | 42 (6) | 47 (8) | 52 (11) | 55 (13) | 55 (13) | 51 (11) | 44 (7) | 40 (4) | 34 (1) | 44 (7) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 8 (−13) | 8 (−13) | 20 (−7) | 19 (−7) | 29 (−2) | 34 (1) | 41 (5) | 37 (3) | 30 (−1) | 25 (−4) | 14 (−10) | −15 (−26) | −15 (−26) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 6.17 (157) | 4.74 (120) | 4.55 (116) | 3.24 (82) | 2.52 (64) | 1.86 (47) | 0.60 (15) | 0.64 (16) | 1.54 (39) | 3.58 (91) | 6.56 (167) | 6.62 (168) | 42.62 (1,083) |
| Source: The Weather Channel[51] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 1,001 | — | |
| 1980 | 2,920 | 191.7% | |
| 1990 | 7,106 | 143.4% | |
| 2000 | 13,991 | 96.9% | |
| 2010 | 19,509 | 39.4% | |
| 2020 | 26,664 | 36.7% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[55][4] | |||
The city has a significant population of families that use Wilsonville as a halfway point between jobs in different cities, mainly Salem and Portland.[56] Wilsonville incorporated with an estimated 1,000 residents in 1969 and grew to 2,920 people at the 1980 Census.[57] As of the 2020census, the population totaled 25,492.[58] Part of the population count includes inmates at theCoffee Creek Correctional Facility that opened in the city in 2001.[59]
As of thecensus[58] of 2020, there were 25,492 people, 9,750 households, and 5,374 families residing in the city. This was an increase from 19,509 people, 7,859 households, and 4,658 families at the 2010 census.[60] The population density of the city was 3,319.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,281.6/km2), versus 2,705.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,044.7/km2) in 2010. There were 10,213 housing units at an average density of 1,321.8 (531.3/km2) in 2020, compared to 8,487 housing units at an average density of 1,177.1 per square mile (454.5/km2) in the prior national census. The racial makeup of the city was 85.3%White, 1.5%African American, 1.0%Native American, 3.8%Asian, 0.4%Pacific Islander, 4.8% fromother races, and 3.2% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 12.1% of the population. In 2010, the racial makeup was 83.8%White, 1.9%African American, 1.0%Native American, 4.7%Asian, 1.0%Pacific Islander, 2.0% from otherraces, and 5.6% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 11.7% of the population.[60]
Wilsonville has often had more jobs in the city than residents due to its location along Interstate 5.[56] This location has led to the city becoming headquarters for several major local and national companies, as well as home to facilities of several national companies.[56] Companies with their headquarters in the city includedesign software makerMentor Graphics[28] and imaging systems manufacturerFLIR Systems.[61]
Copier and printer manufacturerXerox operates a large facility in Wilsonville, and is the city's largest employer.[62][63] The company acquired the color printing and imaging division ofTektronix corporation in 2000.[64] Xerox, Mentor Graphics, and FLIR are all adjacent to each other north of Boeckman Road along Parkway Avenue. InFocus and Mentor were both founded by former employees of Tektronix.[65]
Wilsonville is home to many other business located in industrial parks straddling Interstate 5 that are filled with manufacturing and distribution facilities.[66] Xerox and Mentor Graphics are the city's two largest employers as of 2006, the only two to employ more than 1000 people.[62] Other large employers in the city areTyco Electronics (Precision Interconnect),Sysco,Rockwell Collins, and Rite Aid.[28][62] Additionally,Coca-Cola operates a bottling plant in the city.[67]
Retail in Wilsonville is concentrated mainly along Wilsonville Road near the Interstate 5 interchange.[66] This includes the Town Center Shopping Center and related developments along Town Center Loop, which includedFry's Electronics, one of the former largest employers in the city, which closed in 2021.[62]Microsoft had a plant, producing theSurface Hub, from 2015 to mid-2017, with the loss of 124 jobs.[68]
Media in Wilsonville consists of the 28 radio stations and 7 television stations broadcast in the Portland media market, regional newspapers such asThe Oregonian, and the local paper, theWilsonville Spokesman.[28] TheSpokesman is published once a week on Wednesdays and has a circulation of 3,176.[69] There was a single movie theater operated byRegal Cinemas, operated from 1996 to 2023, which featured the first stadium style seating in the Northwest.[70][39]
Wilsonville Public Library, founded in 1982, is a member ofLibrary Information Network of Clackamas County and had an annual circulation of 493,000 in 2006 to 2007.[71] The library is located adjacent toWilsonville Memorial Park, the largest and oldest of the city's 12 parks.[72] Memorial Park includes a water feature, athletic fields, and the Stein-Boozier Barn used as meeting space, among other amenities.[72]Town Center Park also has a water feature along with a visitor's center operated by the Clackamas County and theOregon Korean War Memorial. Other parks in the city are River Fox Park, Park at Merryfield, Montebello Park, Hathaway Park, Courtside Park, Tranquil Park, Willamette River Water Treatment Plant Park, Willow Creek/Landover Park, Canyon Creek Park, and Boones Ferry Park located on the Willamette River at the landing for the defunctBoones Ferry.[73]
The Wilsonville Community Center holds classes and community programs as well as community meeting space. Wilsonville holds an annual arts fair each May called the Wilsonville Festival of Arts.[74] Another annual event, Wilsonville Celebration Days, started in 2000 and replaced Boones Ferry Days.[75] Afarmers' market started in 2009 at the Villebois development, held on Thursdays from May into October.[76] Charbonneau Golf Club is the onlygolf course in the city, with Langdon Farms and Sandelie just to the south and east respectively. Wilsonville also is along the Willamette Greenway series of open spaces and trails.[77] Wilsonville is the setting for the 2008 filmWendy and Lucy.[78]
Wilsonville has a home rule charter and is acouncil-manager governed municipality where the unelectedcity manager runs day-to-day operations.[79][80] The current city manager is Bryan Cosgrove. The mayor and four-person city council are elected to four-year terms. As of 2023[update], Wilsonville's elected officials are Julie Fitzgerald (Mayor), Kristin Akervall (Council President), Joann Linville, Caroline Berry and Katie Dunwell.[81]
Fire protection and police protection are contracted to other area governmental agencies. Fire services are provided byTualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, and that agency operates twofire stations in the city.[82] Police service is contracted out to theClackamas County Sheriff's Office, with a captain serving as the chief of police and officers using vehicles marked as Wilsonville Police.[83] The city's Parks and Recreation Department runs 12 parks, with Memorial Park the largest at 126 acres (51 ha).[72][84]
Wilsonville also provides its own water supply andwastewater treatment.[28] The wastewater system was built in 1972, while the water system was upgraded with a new treatment plant in 2002.[28] Water is drawn from the Willamette River from theWilsonville Water Treatment Plant built at a cost of $46 million in conjunction with theTualatin Valley Water District.[85][86] The city used to use wells to provide drinking water, but those began to run dry in the late 1990s.[87] The plant's initial capacity was 15 million gallons per day, but can be expanded to 120 million gallons per day.[86] NeighboringSherwood began receiving water from the plant in 2012.[85]
The city has a single library branch, a 28,677-square-foot (2,664.2 m2) building on Wilsonville Road.[71] The majority of the city is within theWest Linn-Wilsonville School District, but the Charbonneau area is part of theCanby School District.[41] Public transit is provided by the city through South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART), which has ten routes that serve Wilsonville and connect to other cities. It has connections to the regionalTriMet system, which includes theWestside Express Service commuter rail that terminates in the city.[88]
At the federal level, Wilsonville lies withinOregon's 6th congressional district, represented byAndrea Salinas.[89] In theState Senate, the city is in District 13, represented byAaron Woods. In theHouse, the city is represented byCourtney Neron Misslin in House District 26.[90] In addition, Wilsonville lies within District 3 (represented by Gerritt Rosenthal) of theMetro regional government.[91]
Most of Wilsonville is in theWest Linn-Wilsonville School District, however portions south of the Willamette River are within theCanby School District and areas just to the west lie within theSherwood School District.[92]
Elementary school (or Primary school as the district refers to it) education in the city includes Boeckman Creek, Boones Ferry, Lowrie, and Stafford Primary Schools. These schools serve grades K–5. A new primary school, named Frog Pond, is under construction and will open in the fall of 2025 on Boeckman Road.[93][94]
Students living in the boundaries of Boeckman Creek and Lowrie Primary schools attend Inza Wood Middle School and the students living in the boundaries of Boeckman Creek, Frog Pond, and Stafford attend Meridian Creek Middle School. Students at Stafford are given a choice between Meridian Creek and Athey Creek Middle School inWest Linn.[95]
All students living in Wilsonville attendWilsonville High School. They can also choose to enroll atRiverside High School, a smaller open-enrollment school withInternational Baccalaureate classes.
Students in the boundaries for theCanby School District attend Howard Eccles Elementary for grades K–6, Baker Prarie Middle for grades 7–8, andCanby High School for grades 9–12. Students in the boundaries for theSherwood School District attend Hawks View Elementary for grades K–5, Sherwood Middle School for grades 6–8, andSherwood High School for grades 9–12.[96]
The city is also in theClackamas Community College district and has a satellite campus on Town Center Loop.[97] Opened in 1992, the campus was originally known as the Oregon Advanced Technology Center.[98] The Oregon Institute of Technology operates its Portland area campus in the city along Interstate 5. The private, for-profitPioneer Pacific College operated their main campus in the city until 2020.[99][100]
Interstate 5 runs north-south through the middle of the city and crosses the Willamette River on theBoone Bridge.[101] Wilsonville has two interchanges with the freeway north of the river, at Wilsonville Road on the south and where Boones Ferry Road meets Elligsen Road on the north end of town.[101] To the south of the river, the Charbonneau interchange crosses I-5 at the southern limit of the city. Boeckman Road is the only other street that crosses I-5 and links the western and eastern parts of Wilsonville.[101] Wilsonville Road, 95th Avenue, Boones Ferry Road (northern portion isOregon Route 141), Boeckman Road, Town Center Loop, French Prairie Drive, Elligsen Road, Parkway Avenue, and Stafford Road are the main roads in the city.[102]
Transit service used to be provided byTriMet, but the city decided to opt out and now operatesSouth Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART).[29] SMART has connections with Salem's transit service,[56] Canby's transit service, and TriMet. TheWestside Express Service (WES), a commuter rail line toBeaverton, began operations in February 2009.[103]Wilsonville Station is the southern terminus of the nearly 15-mile (24 km) line operated by TriMet, and the station is the hub for SMART services.[104]
Freight rail service is provided by thePortland and Western Railroad over the same tracks as WES, with connections toBNSF Railway.[28] These tracks run north-south and cross the Willamette over thePortland and Western Railroad Bridge. The city does not have an airport, withAurora State Airport to the south as the closest public field andPortland International Airport 17 miles north as the closest commercial airport.[28] Although located along the river, there are not any port facilities, though there is a marina located on the east bank (south side) of the Willamette.[28]
The city has been home to a variety of notable people ranging from politicians to athletes and authors. Famous politicians to call Wilsonville home include former governorGeorge Law Curry,[105] CongresswomanEdith Green,[106] federal judgeJames M. Burns,[107] and former mayor and state representativeJerry Krummel.[108] Athletes of note have included football player Derek Devine,[109] professional golferBrian Henninger,[110] and baseball player and managerDel Baker.[111] Those prominent in the legal field areGordon Sloan,[112] andR. William Riggs.[113] Others include children's authorWalt Morey,[114] businessmanTom Bruggere,[115] baseball coachMel Krause[116] and actorFrank Cady.[117] ActorHenry Thomas is a current resident of Wilsonville, having moved there in 2014.[118][119]
Wilsonville has onesister city relationship. The city established a relationship withKitakata, in theFukushima province of Japan, in 1988.[120] Kitakata, in the northern part ofHonshū, has an estimated population of 55,000. Then-Wilsonville MayorJerry Krummel visited Japan in 1994 to attend a ceremony honoring Kitakata's 40th birthday.[121] The mayor of Kitakata visited Wilsonville in 2008 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the relationship.[122]
Municipalities and communities ofClackamas County, Oregon,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Hamlets | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities |
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| Indian reservation | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Municipalities and communities ofWashington County, Oregon,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
