In 1893, Beaverton Needed a City Hall: The building from 1937 still stands

It’s unclear where Beaverton’s municipal government met for the first few years after the city’s 1893 incorporation. A Beaverton Enterprise newspaper article suggested officials met in an 1890s two-story commercial building on Front Street (now Farmington Road) and Watson Avenue until 1906 when a small one-room wood frame building was constructed at the corner of West and Cross Streets. The latter was a now-vacated connector between West and East Streets.

Because City Hall was in the right-of-way when the State Highway Commission constructed Canyon Road through town in 1930, city officials were tasked with finding a new location near the business district. Several proposed sites were ruled out before they opted to buy two lots from A.M. Hanson on First Street between Angel and Main Streets. Purchase price was $350 ($6,687 in 2025.) Moving costs totaled $60.50 for labor, transportation, truck, tractor and gasoline, and chair repairs. The State Highway Commission allotted $135 to help cover expenses; the $74.50 balance was added to the city’s budget.

Discussions about building a new city hall had begun three years earlier, though, as a component of the town’s beautification and clean up, but action was deferred for a decade by other infrastructure considerations and financial concerns. The 1930s, however, saw old fire-prone wood edifices giving way to modern fire-resistant concrete buildings as a significant factor to municipal improvements benefitting the 1,138 residents, including a paid fire department, city library, and concrete sidewalks. By 1937, town fathers decided it was time for the “City of Homes” to pursue the project of a combined city hall, community meeting place, and space for fire apparatus.

Early that year, Mayor L.L. Myers and councilors directed Recorder Homer Wilson to expedite construction of a new facility by sending a letter to Works Progress Administration, a federal program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to provide gainful work on public projects for the unemployed during the Great Depression. By month’s end, they had requested sealed bids for a structure that would house the recorder-treasurer’s office, council chambers, as well as water and volunteer fire departments. It would be sited on the corner of Main and First Streets, adjacent to the old hall. Portland architect J.D. Annand’s plan was a 45′ x 50′ one story white concrete building.

Ten men began work on July 6, supervised by Beaverton’s General Superintendent and a WPA foreman. Local businesses were awarded the contracts: McCready Lumber Company to supply lumber and shingles, Beaverton Lumber Company to furnish cement, gravel, doors, and windows, and George Wood to finish the exterior.

On October 1, all work had been completed and dedication set for October 25. Former mayor Myers spoke on the city’s history and his appointed successor, A.E. Wilson, added comments. (Myers had resigned earlier in the year when he and his family moved to the Sorrento district, then outside city limits.). New streetlights and shrubbery in front completed the government undertaking. Total labor and materials cost was $4,900 ($108,577) in 2025. A $2,000 WPA credit lowered the city’s portion to $2,900.

The old, combined city and firemen’s hall was eventually renovated, repainted, and repurposed. Space was added for fire department members to meet and the city library moved there in 1941.

The municipal building would move three more times: Hall Boulevard and 5th Street, Griffith Park, and lastly, to the Beaverton Building at The Round in 2014. Although the 1906 hall was demolished, the 1937 landmark still stands. Look for two plaques embedded in the sidewalk in front of the current occupant, Self-Determination Resources (12770 SW 1st St). The building has been altered significantly!

By Ann Koppy, local historian. www.historyofbeaverton.org info@historyofbeaverton.org.