History of Tualatin High School

In 1900, the community built this large two-room school closer to the village center. George Saum designed the L-shape and built it with lumber from his sawmill on Borland Rd.

It opened with 59 grade-school students and one high-schooler. The school bell summoned the children each morning.

In 1911, the schoolhouse was raised to excavate a basement for indoor toilets and a central heating system to replace the old pot-bellied stoves. By then, the school offered a full four-year high school curriculum.

The first year a class graduated from the high school was 1915. It consisted of Gladys Byrom, Orpha Alspaugh, Bert Copple, and Anna Geiberger. The flower-bedecked ceremony was in the school’s new gymnasium-auditorium It graduated its last high school class in 1936 and its last eighth grade class in 1939.

The new Tualatin High School was founded in 1992. The 64 acre campus includes a 12,000 sq. ft. library, an 8-lane all weather track, 6 fenced tennis courts, plus a softball, baseball, soccer & football fields. A new sports stadium was completed in the summer of 1998, while the new auditorium & swim center were finished in the fall.

The first diplomas were presented to the class of 1994.