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Hillsdale Has It!

Come visit and see for yourself that Hillsdale Has It!
Casa Colima cow sculpture at front entrance
The Hillsdale business district is in SW Portland, just north of Ida B. Wells High School.
Hillsdale is served by bus lines
#39, #44, #45, #46, #54, #55, #56, #61, #64


Click to plan your TriMet trip.
Find Us
Hillsdale
Blueberry Pancake Breakfast
Going strong for 46 years in 2025, this annual event has been bringing merchants and residents together every summer since 1976.

The 2024 version of this fun and family-friendly community event was held on Sunday, July 21, from 8:30am-noon in the parking lot in front of Casa Colima. A full breakfast of freshly prepared blueberry pancakes, eggs, and sausages, accompanied by fresh orange juice and hot coffee, prepared and served by Hillsdale business owners cost just $5 for kids and $8 for adults.

To get involved with this the event, send us an email. Watch this page for the 2025 date!
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Thanks to Venture Portland for their support of HBPA programs and events!
 
Hillsdale Lights Up
Bright lights throughout the business district create a festive spirit for the holiday season.
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Golden Ticket
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Our annual holiday shopping customer reward program offered in partnership with the Multnomah Village Business Association.

2024 dates: Friday, February 29-Tuesday, December 31.

Hillsdale participants:
 
  • Other Worlds Games & Comics

  • Paloma Clothing

  • State Farm Hillsdale

  • Verde Cocina

  • City Thai

  • Gifford Family Dentistry

  • Hoot-N-Annie New and Resale Children's Boutique

  • Please Louise

  • Salvador Molly’s

Today’s Hillsdale business district, long-ago home to cattle and pasture land, now provides the necessities, as well some of the luxuries, to residents and visitors to a vibrant neighborhood.
Once a densely forested area of mostly fir, cedar and maple trees covering the hills and ravines around the Fanno Creek watershed, the Hillsdale area was home to Native American peoples before the arrival of European Americans in the mid-18th century.

The first homesteaders began arriving in 1851, clearing land for homes, farms and livestock. The late 19th century brought dairy farming to Hillsdale. The Raz Dairy, founded by the Swiss German Raz brothers after their arrival around 1887, and later renamed Fulton Park Dairy, populated the hills with cows and served thousands of customers in the around SW Portland.

Soon came the railroads, chief among them the Red Electric commuter service, whose rails have given way to pedestrian and bicycle paths today. The first World War ushered in the age of the automobile and the dusty country road that was Capitol Highway was paved and widened.

The farming life waned and dairy land began to be sold off for residential and commercial development. In 1949 Portland Public Schools bought a section of the Fulton Park Dairy that became Wells High School (opened in 1955 as Wilson High School) and Rieke Elementary School (opened in 1961 as Wilson Park Elementary School). The Hillsdale branch of Multnomah County Library opened in 1957, to be rebuilt in its current form in 2001-2004.

In 1985, with the establishment of the McMenamins’ Hillsdale Pub, Hillsdale became the home of Oregon’s first brewpub.

In 1997, the Portland City Council adopted the Hillsdale Town Center Plan, which aimed to “encourage development that results in Hillsdale being a convenient and attractive place for individuals to walk, bike, socialize, commute from, and do business.”   

Planners look at school plans for Wilson (now Wells) High School

Planners look over school plans at Fulton Park Dairy, April 1952. Dairy barns appear in the central background, SW Vermont Street is left of center in top half of photo. Courtesy of Multnomah Historical Association.

Fulton Park Dairy Delivery Trucks

A row of delivery trucks parked at the Fulton Park Dairy in the Hillsdale area of Portland in 1932 or 1933. Courtesy of Multnomah Historical Association.

Fulton Park Dairy

Barns and buildings at the Fulton Park Dairy. 
SW Vermont Street can be seen on the right. Rieke Elementary Soccer Field is now located where the barn previously sat. Courtesy of Multnomah Historical Association.

Fulton Park House

Fulton Park "dairy house," north of the barn. Elizabeth Raz Wardin, “Little Grandma,” had her quarters on the main floor, along with the office, dinning hall and main kitchen. The employees and the cook lived upstairs. Courtesy of Multnomah Historical Association.

Hillsdale scene circa 1920

Circa 1920, approaching Hillsdale from the west. In the upper right sits Fulton Park Dairy, current location of Wells High School and Rieke Elementary.

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