I recently discovered two interesting websites about Hillsboro’s architecture and history:
Cultural Resource Inventory List
Interactive Cultural Resource Inventory Map
These list dozens of properties noteworthy for their distinctive architecture, careful preservation, and/or early occupants. I’m highlighting some of these properties in two walking tours.
Here is a link to the first: GC8M02Z - Hillsboro History Tour #1
You will walk about one third of a mile to gather the information. The final is about a half mile from the last waypoint. All waypoints are wheelchair accessible, but the final may be just out of wheelchair reach.
The finals for the two Hillsboro History Multis are close together so, if you want to get them both, it might be easier to gather the information from both multis and then get the finals together.
Please note: The houses are all private property. Please be respectful and stay on the sidewalk.
If you are a fan of architectural detail, check out the interactive map. It has much more architectural and historic information than I’ve included here.
Parking is available along Main St. near the posted coordinates.
Waypoint 1 - Walters Cultural Arts Center, 527 E Main St.
The Glenn & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center began as the Trinity Lutheran Church. Members donated their goods and talents for its construction, which began in 1947. The beautiful red rock on the outside of the building was hand-quarried in Camas, Washington and sold to church members for $1,000 with the condition: “you dig, you haul”. Volunteers made more than 150 trips to haul the stone from Camas to Hillsboro.
After extensive renovations beginning in 2000, the Arts Center now houses a 200 seat performance/event space, six classrooms, gallery, kitchen, and beautiful outdoor grounds that include two terraces. The Center is a showplace for the arts and offers a variety of classes on visual and preformance arts.
Go up the sidewalk along the east side of the Center to the grassy terrace. There is a rock with a “HILLSBORO ROTARY CLUB” plaque. There is a number at the bottom of the plaque.
A = First digit minus 1
Continue walking east. The two houses next door are combined into Waypoint 2.
2-A: Sewell house #2, 557 Main St.
The Sewell house #2 is a one-story bungalow with a hipped roof and a large, gabled, triangular dormer on the facade.
The Sewell family is one of the oldest families in Hillsboro.
Henry Sewell was a minister, a farmer, and a carpenter, born in England in 1816. He emigrated to the United States when he was sixteen. In 1843 he drove a wagon across the plains as payment for his meals. He had a donation land claim of 526 acres northeast of Hillsboro. Henry went to the California gold mines in 1848, and came back with $500 (worth about $16,000 today.) He later served Washington County as Justice of the Peace, and as County Superintendent of Schools.
His son John Sewell (more on him at Waypoint 5) had this house built in 1905, probably for his son Fred, who was born in 1854. In 1909 Fred married Jessie Donelson, the daughter of prominent Hillsboro citizen William Donelson. Fred and Jessie Sewell were also prominent citizens, involved in local clubs and in civic improvement.
2-B: C. M. Perry House, 573 E Main St.
The Perry house was built around 1921 by C.M. Perry. It is an example of the Prairie School style of architecture, typified by the low pitched roof with wide projecting eaves, a large central chimney, and a rectangular composition. The stucco finish and the tile roof are common to this style. It displays careful detail work and elaborate windows. The house is in excellent condition.
No biographical information is available on C.M. Perry.
On the edge of the sidewalk, at a spot midway between the two houses, is a round metal plate about one foot across. There is a word on it.
B = number of times the letter M is in the word times 2
C = number of times the letter M is in the word minus 2
Continue east to the southeast corner of Main St. and 6th Ave.
Waypoint 3 - Edward Schulmerich House, 614 E Main St.
The Edward Schulmerich House, built around 1915, is an example of “airplane” bungalow architecture, with its low mass, cockpit-like gables, and projecting wings. The house also features clinker-brick porch foundation and piers, milled rafter ends, and leaded glass windows. It is the best example of Bungalow-style architecture in Hillsboro.
This house is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Conrad Schulmerich was an influential Hillsboro banker and legislator. He made his fortune mining gold, moved to Oregon in 1875, and built a general store that still stands at the southwest corner of Second and Main.
There is a fire hydrant on the corner with writing on the back side (side away from the street). Under “USA”, there is the name of a city in IOWA. If the city is:
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Altoona, D = 1
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Waterloo, D = 4
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Oskaloosa, D = 8
Continue south on 6th Ave. and pause in front of the green house next door. Look across the street to:
Waypoint 4 - Sewell House #1, 135 SE 6th Ave.
This house was built around the turn of the century. It is an American Foursquare style of house, square in massing with a hipped roof. It was moved here in the 1920’s from a previous location near Shute Park.
John Sewell was born in 1854. He raised hops and grain on a portion of his father’s original donation land claim. He moved to Hillsboro around 1905, and bought this property for $500.
There is a telephone pole by the south edge of the green house’s driveway, across the street from the Sewell House. On the ground about 2 feet away, near the sidewalk, is a metal utility plate. Look at the words on it. If you see:
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Sewer, E = 4
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Verizon, E = 6
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Water, E = 9
Continue walking south to the corner, and cross to the right (west).
Waypoint 5 - Barrett House, 183 SE 6th Ave.
This is an American Foursquare-style house, typified by its square massing and hipped roof. It was built around 1912 for W.W. Barrett, who was born in Washington County in 1855. Barrett was a district attorney and state representative, He married Lucretia Parrish in 1882. They had three sons: Ira, John, and William.
William became one of the most infamous men ever to have been born and bred in Hillsboro. He became known as “Diamond Bill” Barrett after forging a check to buy a diamond ring for a young lady in San Francisco. Bill was charming and good looking, and had a habit of taking advantage of unsuspecting women. Bill eloped twice with daughters of wealthy men, spending their money and leaving them.
His most notorious episode involved the deception of the new wife of John Spreckles, the sugar magnate. Bill convinced Sydia Spreckles to buy a $100,000 necklace that she then “loaned” to Bill to have appraised. Bill and the necklace disappeared. Scotland Yard traced Bill to Hollywood and arrested him, but Bill tricked the police into believing that Mr. Spreckles had sold the necklace himself. Bill was so charming and sincere the police let him go.
There is a utility pole with two big black utility boxes on the corner. On the side facing SE 6th Ave, about 6’ high, there is a white vertical “Hillsboro Public Works Department” tag. There is a 6-digit number under a barcode.
F = third digit
Continue walking west along Washington St. Stay on the north side of the street. Pause after you cross SE 5th Ave. Look left across the street to:
Waypoint 6 - Henry Wehrung House, 472 SE Washington St.
The Wehrung House is one of the oldest and finest residences in Hillsboro. It was built around 1880 and is predominantly Queen Ann in style. It retains much of its architectural integrity, and exhibits elaborate attention to detail. It features a shortened, hipped roof with steeply pitched gables, and two verandas with beveled posts and lacy jigsawn brackets. The porch molding is ornately decorated.
Henry Wehrung was born in France in 1828, and sailed around Cape Horn to Oregon in 1852. He married Catherine Emerick, who had crossed the plains with her family in 1848, when she was ten years old. Henry was a well respected citizen and noted businessman in Hillsboro.
There is a round metal plate in the sidewalk, about two feet across, with the word “STORM” in the center. It is about 6 feet west of the street lamp. On the rim above “STORM” is imprinted “MH-” followed by a two digit number.
G = second digit
Continue walking west along the north side of Washington St.
Waypoint 7 - Lyons House, 421 SE Washington St.
The Lyons House was an affluent residence when it was built, around 1905, and is one of the best examples in Hillsboro of the Queen Anne (aka Victorian) architectural style. Ornate detailing on the house includes the radiating stick work and fish-scale shingles in the gable ends, the detailing in the lintel above the port columns, and the angled corners of both the ground floor and the second floor projection above the porch.
E.J. Lyons was born in Canada and emigrated to the United States in 1883. Lyons was a lifelong bachelor and owner of a saloon and a stable downtown. His “Thirst Emporium” was one of four saloons downtown in the late 1880s, a concentration that led to Hillsboro’s early nickname, “Sin City.”
There is a driveway on the east side of the house. On the sidewalk near it is a gray rectangular plate about 18” by 30”. Above “Verizon” is a rectangle with three sentences.
H = number of letters in the last word in the middle sentence.
The total of those 8 digits, A thru H (the checksum) is 38.
The final is at N 45 3A.BCD W 122 5E.FGH