A condominium neighborhood in Wilsonville.
MAY 20, 2014. Wilsonville is a suburb of Portland, about 20 miles south on Highway 5. We liked it so much when we stayed at Pheasant Ridge RV park that I decided to post some information here. After all, our Great American Adventure won’t last forever and we’re going to need to settle down somewhere, right? In many ways, there just couldn’t be a much nicer place to retire than right here. Actually, we like the entire area along Interstate 5 from Salem all the way north to Portland. Although the coastline is beautiful and dramatic, it has just too much rain for us to be interested in living there. Not a problem, because it’s only about an hour’s drive to the coast from most of these Salem-Portland neighborhoods we like so much. (A lady we met in Astoria a few years ago told us that the annual rainfall in that city often exceeds 110 inches annually. That’s just too wet…no matter how beautiful it is in the summertime!)
Wilsonville is located primarily in Clackamas County, but a little portion of the northern section is in Washington County. It was originally founded as Boones Landing, due to the Boones Ferry, which crossed the Willamette River at the location. It was re-named Wilsonville in 1880. Today’s population is about 24,000. Located within the Portland metropolitan area, the city also includes the planned community of Charbonneau on the south side of the river. The city is bisected by Interstate 5, and includes I-5’s Boone Bridge over the Willamette River.
The annual rainfall here is only about 40 inches. And as you can see from the graph, the temperature is pretty moderate all year long.
It’s green and beautiful everywhere. This is a little city park…they’re everywhere.
Wilsonville has a council-manager form of government and operates its own library, public works, and parks department. Fire and police protection are contracted out to other regional government agencies. The city is home to several technology companies including Mentor Graphics, along with Stream Global Services. Xerox as a large facility as well. Wilsonville contains many distribution and manufacturing buildings adjacent to Interstate 5 such as regional distribution facilities for Coca Cola and Rite-Aid. Retail centers include Argyle Square on the north and the Town Center Shopping Center to the south. Media in Wilsonville consists of the Portland area broadcast stations, regional newspapers, and the local Wilsonville Spokesman newspaper.
City park in Wilsonville.
