Area History

ONE THEORY OF HOW RALEIGH HILLS GOT ITS NAME

Raleigh S. Robinson, who is a native of Washington county, now owns and operates a portion of the farm where he was born on the 2nd of May, 1857. His parents were William J. and Emeline (Barnum) Robinson, the father's birth having occurred in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of October, 1827, and that of the mother in Jefferson county, Indiana, on September 16, 1829.
They were married in the latter county on the 9th of January, 1848, but began their domestic life in Jennings county, Indiana, where they resided until April, 1851. The children of pioneers, naturally they felt that better opportunities were afforded all young people in a new country, so despite their very limited means and the many hardships and dangers they knew lay before them, they courageously started across the plains to Oregon.
The journey was long and tiresome, occupying nearly six months, but in September they arrived in Clackamas county, where they spent six weeks. In the following March Mr. Robinson filed on a donation claim in Washington, county, to which they removed and there spent the remainder of their lives.

Raleigh Hills seems to be named after Raleigh Robinson. A post office named Raleigh was established in the area April 1892, and was closed twelve years later. Southern Pacific's Red Electric line had a stop in Raleigh from 1914 until the line ceased operation in 1929. A Raleigh Hills branch of the Portland post office was opened in 1968.

Raleigh Hills is a neighborhood within the metropolitan area of Portland. It is located in the southwest hills in Washington County, bordered by Beaverton to the west, West Slope to the north, with Progress and Garden Home to the south. the population is about 6,000.

The central area is located at the intersection of Oregon Routes 10 and 210. That is  the Beaverton Hillsdale Highway and Scholls Ferry Road intersection: