Wilsonville,_Oregon

Wilsonville, Oregon

Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County. Incorporated in 1969, the location was previously known as Boones Landing after the Boones Ferry which crossed the Willamette River at the location. Wilsonville is within the Portland metropolitan area and includes the formerly independent community of Charbonneau. The city is bisected by Interstate 5 and includes I-5's Boone Bridge over the Willamette. The population was 13,991 at the 2000 census, and as of 2007 was estimated to be 17,405.

History

Alphonse Boone, the grandson of Daniel Boone, settled in what would later become Wilsonville in 1846 and established the Boones Ferry across the Willamette River in 1847. The ferry gave rise to the community of Boones Landing which eventually grew into Wilsonville. Boones Ferry was decommissioned after the Boone Bridge opened in 1954.

Named Wilsonville on June 3, 1880 after Charles Wilson, the first postmaster.

In 1961, the Dammasch State Hospital mental hospital opened on the west side of the community.

Gordon House, the only house in Oregon to be designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was built in Wilsonville in 1963, and moved to the Oregon Garden in 2001.

Wilsonville was incorporated in 1969.

Author Walt Morey owned an estate in Wilsonville. After his death in 1992, his widow sold the property to a developer, and the housing development built on that property, Morey's Landing, bears his name. The children's section of the Wilsonville Public Library is dedicated to his memory..

Living Enrichment Center, a New Thought Church with as many as 3,000 members, was headquartered in Wilsonville from 1992 until 2004.

In 1995, Dammasch State Hospital was closed by the state of Oregon, and the site was then proposed as a location for what became the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which opened in 2001. In protest of the construction of the prison, specifically the effect on property values, Larry Eaton began erecting school buses on his property. The former grounds of the state hospital are, as of 2008, under development as Villebois, a primarily residential complex.

Geography

Wilsonville is located on the southern edge of the Portland metropolitan area. It is located on the north side of the Willamette River around where Alphonse Boone, grandson of Daniel Boone, established the Boones Ferry, which gave rise to the community of Boones Landing.

According to the 2000 census, the city has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²), a figure which the city says has grown to 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²) by July 2005. For the 2000 figure, 6.7 square miles (17.4 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (2.75%) is water.

Transportation

Interstate 5 runs north-south through the middle of the city and crosses the Willamette River on the Boone Bridge. Wilsonville Road, Boones Ferry Road (northern portion is OR 141), Boeckman Road, and Stafford Road are the main arterials in the city. Transit service was formerly provided by TriMet, but the city decided to "opt-out" and now operates South Metro Area Rapid Transit with connections to Salem and TriMet. The Westside Express Service (WES), a commuter rail line to Beaverton, is under construction with plans to begin operation in September 2008. Wilsonville Station will be the southern terminus of the nearly 15 mile line operated by TriMet.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,991 people, 5,937 households, and 3,775 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,085.3 people per square mile (805.1/km²). There were 6,407 housing units at an average density of 954.9/sq mi (368.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 90.45% White, 2.22% Asian, 0.66% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 3.15% from other races, and 2.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.94% of the population.

There were 5,937 households out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.89. Median home cost was $200,972 in 2000 and had grown to $316,400 by 2006.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $52,515, and the median income for a family was $65,172. Males had a median income of $43,480 versus $28,395 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,786. About 3.0% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Business and economy

Wilsonville is headquarters for several major local and national companies:

Joe's (formerly known as G.I. Joe's), a retailer specializing in sporting goods, outdoor activities and automotive parts and accessories;
Hollywood Entertainment, parent company of Hollywood Video;
InFocus, a producer of multimedia projectors;
Mentor Graphics, a $700 million company that makes software to design integrated circuits.
FLIR Systems, a manufacturer of imaging systems.

Xerox has a large facility in Wilsonville; the company acquired the color printing and imaging division of Tektronix corporation in 2000. Xerox and Mentor Graphics are the city's two largest employees as of 2006, the only two to employ more than 1000 people.

Other large employers in the city are Tyco Electronics (Precision Interconnect), Sysco Food Services, and Fry's Electronics.

Nike has one of its U.S. distribution centers for footwear in Wilsonville, making it one of the city's largest taxpayers. Approximately 75% of the facility's staff will be reduced or relocated toward the end of 2008 as Nike consolidates its footwear distribution in a single center in Memphis, Tennessee.

Education

Wilsonville is in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District and the Clackamas Community College District.

Elementary schools

Wilsonville Primary School (closed, 2001)
Boeckman Creek Primary School
Boones Ferry Primary School

Middle school

Inza R. Wood Middle School

Principal: Barbara Soisson
Students: 615 students in grades 6, 7, and 8
History and campus: The school opened in 1980, and was recently remodeled with a new front entrance, art room, band room, stage, and four open spaces (referred to as porches) that include class sets of computers. The school is named for long-time Wilsonville teacher and principal Inza R. (Mrs. Aubrey) Wood, born Inza R. Thompson in 1882, died 1957-07-11, buried at Pleasant View Cemetery, Clackamas County.
Curriculum: four core classes (math, science, language arts, and social studies) and two electives, one of which must be either Spanish or French, with the other choices being band, drama, choir, art, presentations, and computer graphics.