The road to Beaverton’s incorporation as a city began with the 1840s westward migration. Pioneers settled where the indigenous Atfalati people had occupied the Tualatin Valley for thousands of years in a traditional homeland they called Chakeipi (meaning “Place of the Beaver”). The first land claims in what is now Beaverton date to 1845-1850. when homesteaders found that fertile beaver dam soil would produce wheat, fruit, onions, asparagus, turnips, and horseradish. Nearby densely-forested hills provided abundant logging and lumbering resources, as well.
When speculators and businessmen saw the site’s potential as an important trade and transportation terminal, railroad owner, Ben Holladay, agreed to build a depot if residents would construct one commercial structure. Joshua Welch, with his wife Olive, filed a town plat with the county for the proposed township in December, 1868. Three years later, George Betts built a combination general store and post office on Front Road (now Farmington Road) and Angel Streets.
Among the first endeavors in the 1870s and 1880s in the growing community were William Plummer’s fruit dryer, E. Stone’s blacksmith shop, Thomas Denney’s sawmill, a Grange, Ames Chapel, a school , and a firm owned by a Welch and Deshields that produced hoop poles. Mrs. Theophilus Humphreys opened a singing school, Jack Powers’ owned a wood, stave and lumber company, and Oscar Thayer published the Beaverton Chronicle newspaper. The unincorporated hamlet had churches, saloons, general stores, fraternal organizations, a doctor, and a brass band…