Local History
The Library and Its Association - Celebrating 50 years of Community Service 1974-2024
“While formats and technology have changed immensely since 1974, the community and volunteer-driven vision of the library founders persists today as our libraries provide outstanding service to everyone.” Executive Director, Peter Leonard.
In 1974, a small group of neighbors decided to establish a library in Cedar Mill. With no city to develop a library, they organized a nonprofit and mobilized volunteers to make the dream a reality. After locating space in the Milltowner Shopping Center at NW Cornell and Saltzman Roads, volunteers raised funds, collected books and opened the library in January 1976. From this original dream, the library has grown into one of the most heavily used libraries in Oregon and now runs libraries in Cedar Mill & Bethany. The original founding vision of these community-oriented volunteers is alive and well!
Library History Projects
The Libraries sponsor projects to help record and preserve the history of our community by gathering documents and memories of patrons, volunteers and supporters during the decades of service in Washington County.
Featured resources
- 2024 Libraries Anniversary Photo Gallery (PDF)
- Historic photographs at Washington County Heritage Online
- Library scrapbooks and newsletters on Flickr
- Oral histories recorded by the library’s founders
- The Libraries’ websites over the years archived as part of the Community Webs project of the Internet Archive
- “Creating Collections, Making Connections: Preserving History and Culture of a Community One Website at a Time“, blog post regarding the history of the cedarmill.org web domain, Archive-It, November 2024
Local History
There are a handful of Cedar Mill and Bethany community history materials available in library collections and online. Find those and more Washington County and Oregon local history and community information with the links below.
- Local History Materials in our library catalog.
- Cedar Mill history articles hosted by Cedar Mill News, and excerpts from the book Cedar Mill History by Linda Dodds and Nancy A. Olsen
- A History of Cedar Mill by Gertrude E. Walters Pearson. Pamphlet, 1974. In print | Online PDF*
- Library Community Oral History Project – Interviews focused on the immigration experiences of local families, hosted by Pacific University Archives.
- Community Webs project 2021-present – Web archiving to collect and provide access to local cultural heritage on the web for Cedar Mill and Bethany.
- Local History Museums – Five Oaks Museum (Washington County) | Beaverton Historical Society | Hillsboro Historical Society
- Historic Oregon Newspapers of Washington County from the Oregon Digital Newspaper Project including Beaverton, Forest Grove, and Hillsboro and surrounding areas.
- Washington County Heritage – Digital history resources hosted by Pacific University.
- Obituary Index of the Hillsboro Argus – Search obituaries found in the Hillsboro Independent, The Argus, the Hillsboro Argus, and the Hillsboro Tribune newspapers from 1894 to present. More Hillsboro City history.
- Washington County History Resources from the Oregon Secretary of State
* Many thanks to the Walters/Pearson families for their permission to post “A History of Cedar Mill” online. — CMBCL staff
