Orchard Park is a

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorpora ...

in Hillsboro in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. Opened in 2003, the park covers along Rock Creek in the Tanasbourne neighborhood. The park includes nature trails, a playground, and a nine-hole disc golf course. Employees of the

R.E.I. Recreational Equipment, Inc., doing business as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. It was formerly governed, and continues to brand itself, as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells camping gear, hiking, clim ...

store at the nearby

The Streets of Tanasbourne The Streets of Tanasbourne is an outdoor shopping mall located in the Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in October 2004, the center provides shopping to the Hillsboro/ Beaverton area west of Portland, near the ...

adopted the park in the city’s 'Adopt a Park' program.

History

Metro, the regional government in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

, purchased of greenspace in 1997 using funds from a 1995 bond measure passed to buy greenspace in the region. The Nofziger family sold the property to Metro for $1 million. The site was along a section of Amberwood Drive that for many years had been part of

Cornell Road Cornell Road is an east–west street and traffic corridor in the Portland metropolitan area, in Multnomah County, Multnomah and Washington County, Oregon, Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It crosses the Tualatin Mountains (West ...

, until the mid-1990s, when Cornell was re-aligned to the north in the area and the old Cornell renamed Amberwood Drive. Hillsboro was given the property by Metro to develop a park, with the city expected to spend $1 million on development according to initial estimates. The funds to develop the park came from fees that developers were charged when building in the city. The park was originally named Nofziger Park, and was to be mainly a wetlands preserve as the property is situated in a

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. It would also have trails along Rock Creek to connect to U.S. 26 north of the park. During the summer of 2001, students from Hillsboro’s Miller Education Center worked at the park site to improve the riparian area of Rock Creek and to gather data about the stream’s ecology. In 2002, the park was renamed as Orchard Park in honor of Hillsboro’s agricultural heritage, and the first phase of park development began in July. The first phase built boardwalks, trails, wildlife viewing spots, bridges, and a parking lot, and was expected to be completed in December 2002. The old farmhouse remained standing through the first phase, with later development calling for its demolition along with construction of restrooms. On June 24, 2003, the park was officially dedicated. The design of the park won the 2003 Oregon Recreation & Parks Association Design Award. The city had hoped to build a new library on a property just north of Orchard Park, but bond measures in 2002 and 2004 were defeated, and the city later acquired an existing building for the main branch of the

Hillsboro Public Library The Hillsboro Public Library is a two-location public library system in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. First opened in 1914 in a Carnegie library building, the system provides services to a population area of 137,000 people. As of 2015, the sy ...

. The city considered adding a disc golf course at the park when it opened, but did not build a course until 2005. The course cost $12,000 to build and was the first disc golf course in a Hillsboro park. Hillsboro’s parks department has offered free classes at the park to teach people how to play the game. In 2005, Hillsboro was given a $675,000 grant from Metro to extend the Rock Creek Trail from the park south to Northwest Wilkens Street. As of October 2009, the city was still planning the trail extension. Future plans call for continuing the Rock Creek Trail all the way to

Rood Bridge Park Rood Bridge Park is a municipal park in southeast Hillsboro, Oregon, Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1999, the park encompasses on the north bank of the Tualatin River at its confluence with Rock Creek. Rood Bridge is near Hillsboro H ...

on the south side of the city. In 2006, R.E.I. donated $10,000 to the city to build a pair of boulders at the park that can be climbed, and the next year the Hillsboro store’s employees adopted the park. The boulders and some other play equipment opened in 2008. As part of National Public Lands Day in 2008, R.E.I. sponsored a project to improve the park. The city plans on building a picnic shelter at the park as well.

Amenities

Orchard Park is in the Tanasbourne area and is largely a nature park, though it has some developed features. Developed items include the disc golf course, a play area, off-street parking, and restrooms. The free disc golf course covers , has nine-holes, and is the only course in Hillsboro. The play area next to the parking lot includes climbing boulders, swings, and

spring rider A spring rider or spring rocker is a bouncy, outdoors playing device, invented in the 1960s in Italy by the company Pozza. It mainly consists of a metal spring beneath a plastic or wooden central beam or flange, with 1 to 4 plastic or fibergl ...

s. The park has of paved trails leading to of

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway typically built with wooden planks, which functions as a type of low water bridge or small viaduct that enables pedestrians to ...

, several bridges, and three wildlife overlooks. The trails pass through wetlands, meadows, and wooded areas in several loops. Fauna and flora at the park include deer, beavers, herons, Douglas fir, hemlock trees, alders, cherry tree, dogwoods, elderberry,

Ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

s, and maples.

References

External links

Park restoration project in 1998
{{Hillsboro Oregon 2003 establishments in Oregon Parks in Hillsboro, Oregon Protected areas established in 2003