Welcome to our website about historic Garden Home. In the People and Places pages, you’ll find over a hundred stories and several hundred photos of vintage Garden Home and residents attending our events.
Patsy VandeVenter, Virginia Vanture, Elaine Shreve, Carole Vranizan
Finally! Historic Garden Home T-shirts. Select your shirts at the Library’s Community Store behind Baskin & Robbins in the Thriftway shopping center. Or let us know your special request to receive yours by mail: gardenhomehistory@gmail.com. Small to XL are all $14, XXL $16, and XXXL $17. There is an additional $9 charge for mailing per shirt. We’ll also sell them at the Holiday Bazaar on December 5 at the Garden Home Recreation Center. Look for us in room 7.
Garden Home School from E
Donna Arndt Oliver has given us an outstanding collection of 21 aerial photos of the Garden Home area from 1949 to 1957 taken by her father, Otto Arndt. The family lived in Garden Home. We thank Donna Oliver for this gift and Bob Cram for digitizing these photos from the negatives.
We had a great time ringing the (loud!) 1918 historic bell from the old Garden Home Community Church. See our story and cute photos of the bell ringers.
Historic Garden Home street sign
Historic Garden Home street signs: We currently have 31 (and one on order) of the Historic Garden Home street sign toppers in our community. Each sign was purchased by a friend or family member to honor their loved one. Click here to view photos of the signs and for information about sponsoring a sign.
Anniversaries! Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District has celebrated their 60th year of providing the outstanding park and recreation services that we all enjoy. We have three parks, the Harmon Pool, the Recreation Center and the Fanno Creek Trail in our immediate community. It is hard to believe local parks were not available before 1955 when Elsie Stuhr took pen in hand to address “Fellow Parkless Suburbanites”. Elsie Stuhr was a teacher at Whitford with a vision for our Beaverton area.
Beaverton High School is also celebrating its 100th Anniversary. They are just developing their communication system but the BHS Hall of Achievement tells about the way to recognize special graduates. Lisa Sandmire wants stories and photos of Beaverton High and can be reached at bhscentennial@gmail.com. Click here for a related article by the Portland Tribune.
Researching: The 1949 earthquake that damaged Garden Home School and the third floor of Beaverton High. What do you recall? Write us a note in the comment box or send us an email.
We were sorry to learn of the death of Dr. Zola Dunbar, Portland State professor. She was the wife of Don Dunbar, principal of Garden Home School from 1968 to 1974. We’ve also noted the recent death of William “Bill” Winthers who was the principal when the school closed in 1982. Mr. Winthers had a hobby with homing pigeons.
Mildred Stevens, 2009
We are saddened to report Mildred Steven’s death. This early resident of Garden Home recently celebrated her 99th birthday. She was widely loved and revered by generations of our residents and school children. Her recall of Garden Home history was vital to our research. Her service will be held Sept. 20 at 1 pm at the King City Recreation Room. Memorials may be made to our Garden Home History Project, 7240 SW 82nd, Portland 97223, or to the Washington County 4-H Association, 155 N. First Ave., 3200 Mails Stop 48, Hillsboro, OR 97124 or to the Red Cross. Her newspaper obituary will be at Oregonlive.com.
Check out the interesting historical sign post that Jan Fredrickson has posted near the Fanno Creek Trail and his home. His story lists the families who used to live on 78th.
Our Century Home program will begin soon. Virginia Vanture, Stan Houseman and Nathalie Darcy have been developing the list of over a dozen one-hundred year old homes in Garden Home. The dedication ceremony includes invited guests, a plaque for the door area, and a special booklet about historic Garden Home.
Holiday Bazaar at the Garden Home Recreation Center, Dec. 5, 2015, all day. We’ll have the same location as last year but probably selling Historic Garden Home t-shirts this year. You can get previous year’s calendars for a bargain price. Many families love them for the photos and the history.
The Nordia House café, Broder Soder, has opened in the lovely new building at 8800 SW Oleson Road. They serve breakfast and lunch from 9 am until 3 pm Tues. thru Friday. Outdoors is nice. 971-373-8749. See ScanHeritage.org for more information about Nordia House.
Hideaway Park has been renamed for Babette Horenstein, a long-time dedicated volunteer in our community and who was on the Board of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District. This decision was made by the THPRD Board despite some negative response from the community.
Elaine Shreve will be doing an abbreviated tour of early pioneers’ graves at the Crescent Grove Cemetery, near Washington Square on Halloween morning. This has been requested by the city of Tigard and the Tigard Historical who will also participate. This tour will begin a 2 hour “Walking Tour” of the Tigard area led by Joanne Bengstson, 503-718-2476.
We invite you to attend our regular meetings, the second Monday of each month, 3 to 4:30 pm at the Garden Home Recreation Center. We enjoy the 2 minute history lesson from each member and then get on to our business. Please let me know so I can assure seating: Elaine Shreve 503-246-5879.
Garden Home History Project 