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Washington County historical site threatened with destruction

A Google-map satellite image from 2012 may show the location of the graves.

An industrial development threatens to obliterate the site of one of the earliest churches in Washington County—a building that was used by pioneer families for early government meetings as well as the burial site for members of Joe Meek’s family. A group of descendants, Native Americans, and others interested in preserving history met at a historic home across the road from the site on September 5 to bring attention to the situation.

On Christmas Day in 1840, Joe Meek, his Nez Perce wife Virginia, and several other former “mountain men” and their families arrived on the Tualatin Plains to settle down and become farmers. In 1843, Edward and Brazilla Constable arrived from Missouri and settled on their nearby Donation Land Claim near present-day Evergreen Road. (Cedar Mill’s own “first lady” Elizabeth Constable arrived in 1852 with her four younger siblings after their parents died on the trail, to be taken in by relatives.) The Constables held church services in their home until Constable and his neighbors built the Methodist Meeting House (MMH) on their land.

Two Nez Perce elders performed a blessing for the land and the people who were buried there.

The Meeting House was the scene of gatherings that led to the formation of Oregon’s first government, as well as being the site of the Provisional District Court until a Court House was built in Hillsboro. Baptist and Congregational services were also held in the building.

The Meeks buried five of their children near the Meeting House, and it is certain that other burials occurred there. The MMH is a Cultural Resource Site in the City of Hillsboro and the State of Oregon and therefore protected. During the 1980s, as Oregon implemented Land Use Regulations, the site was named as a Goal 5 historic and cultural resource.

A memorial might include a shelter, a partial stockade to recall the protective wall that was built around the church, and interpretive signs.

In 2003, the land was brought into the Urban Growth Boundary by Metro, and was designated as a Special Industrial District by the city of Hillsboro. Then Hillsboro Mayor Tom Hughes (now Chair of the Metro Council) pledged, in a letter to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the governor, that one acre of land would be preserved, with a monument to be provided by a future developer.

The site was sold earlier this year to QTS Realty Trust for use as a data center. The plan calls to excavate the MMH site for a stormwater retention pond. Their website declares, “Hillsboro is attracting technology companies and rapidly becoming one of the largest hyperscale data center markets on the west coast due to multiple factors, including affordable power, robust connectivity, and local and state tax incentives. Our Hillsboro campus allows customers to leverage numerous advantages, including no city and state taxes, 100% property tax abatements and a 100% green campus utilizing clean wind energy.” No city or state taxes??

Dirk Knudsen, founder of Five Oaks Discovery Coalition, says, “We intend to stop anyone who attempts to violate State and Federal Law by desecrating or covering this site. We will bring awareness of this matter to our friends and neighbors and solicit their help and support.”

Tribal elders of the Nez Perce Tribe offered a ceremony during the September 5 event, to bless the site of the graves. The groups have a plan, “far different than that proposed by Majestic Westmark Partners, LLC. Members of the Meek Plains Historians and Five Oaks Discovery Coalition are hosting this event and leading the preservation efforts and they have submitted a detailed plan for the Methodist Meeting House memorial.”

Knudsen continues, “The developers’ machines are aimed at the site and we need your support and help. Watch the video if you have time and want to support us.”

We’ll continue to follow the situation and bring updates as they are available.

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