Capitol Highway Approaching Hillsdale from the West

By Tim Lyman – May 4, 2015

This glass slide prepared for the Oregon Highway Department ca. 1920 shows Capitol Highway approaching Hillsdale from the west. The viaduct is visible in the center of the photo.

Capitol Highway, officially opened on October 22, 1916, was not just the main thoroughfare between Portland and the State Capitol in Salem, but a part of the Pacific Highway, the main automobile route between Canada and Mexico, passing through the West Coast’s major cities. From the present site of the Capitol Hill library to the Tualatin River, it followed the route of Taylor’s Ferry Road, which dated to the 1850s.