Cedar Hills is a census-designated place and neighborhood in Washington County, Oregon, United States south of U.S. Route 26 and west of Oregon Route 217 and within the Portland metropolitan area. Construction began in 1946. As of the 2020 census, Cedar Hills had a population of 8,379.
The formal Cedar Hills neighborhood currently includes 2,114 homes, whose owners are subject to the rules and covenants enforced by the area's homeowners' association, the Homes Association of Cedar Hills.
History
250px|thumb|left|Cedar Hills in its early years
Plans to build the large new neighborhood were announced by the project's developers in April 1946, and construction of the first 50 homes had begun by then. Along with roads and utilities, the plans included a shopping center, schools, parks and churches, A writer for The Oregonian newspaper at the time called it "the most ambitious suburban housing development ever attempted in the Northwest".
Construction of the planned shopping center began in 1954. Located immediately south of the Sunset Highway, at the northern end of the neighborhood, Cedar Hills Shopping Center opened in April 1955. It originally included a Safeway supermarket (opened in August 1954, months earlier than the remainder of the center), a Rodgers five-and-dime, a Sears catalog store, and several other shops, along with a bank and a gas station. The center's tall neon sign became a local landmark. In 1979, TriMet opened a bus transit center on Wilshire Street, behind the shopping center. Cedar Hills Transit Center remained in operation for almost 20 years, until replaced by the Sunset Transit Center – located immediately across the Sunset Highway (US 26) freeway from Cedar Hills Shopping Center – in 1998, with the opening of the Westside MAX line. The Sunset TC's construction included a long pedestrian bridge over the freeway, to provide access between the TriMet bus and MAX station and the Cedar Hills neighborhood. In 2009, the Oregon Department of Transportation opened a new Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division (DMV) office in the Cedar Hills Shopping Center, serving as the DMV's Beaverton office, replacing one located on Allen Blvd. in Beaverton proper.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the neighborhood has a total area of , of which is land and 0.43% is water.
Demographics
thumb|left|upright|The [[neon sign tower at the Cedar Hills Shopping Center is a local landmark.]]
As of the census Meadow Park Middle School, Ridgewood Elementary and William Walker Elementary. An October 2016 boundary change redirected Cedar Hills to fall under Beaverton High School's coverage area, in place of Sunset High School. That school closed in 1983, due to declining student enrollment districtwide at the time, and the building was leased to, and subsequently sold to, the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, which repurposed it as the Cedar Hills Recreation Center.
Other services
thumb|Commonwealth Lake
Fire protection and emergency medical services are provided through Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.
Cedar Hills is served by the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD), which maintains several parks in the area–including the man-made Commonwealth Lake Park. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife regularly stocks the lake with trout, bass, and other assorted fish. THPRD also operates the Cedar Hills Recreation Center, a community center (not limited to Cedar Hills residents) located in a former elementary school.
See also
- Bernard's Airport
- Cedar Hills Crossing – shopping center located on Cedar Hills Blvd., just south of Cedar Hills
- Cedar Mill – nearby area, with a similar name