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Mountaindale, Oregon
Mountaindale is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States, about four miles northwest of North Plains.[2] Settled in the 1850s, the small community was the longtime home of the Mountaindale Store. The area is part of Washington County Fire District 2.[3] HistoryThe Atfalati tribe of Native Americans had a seasonal campsite in the area prior to the arrival of European-Americans in the 1830s.[4] The first Euro-American settlers in the Mountaindale area were Samuel B. and Mary Raffety, who in 1852 traveled the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Territory and settled a donation land claim in northern Washington County in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range.[5] Originally from Kentucky, they raised eight children on their 320-acre (130 ha) farm.[5] One child, Charles H. Raffety, later served as mayor of East Portland before its annexation into Portland.[5] Mountaindale School District 41 was formed on December 5, 1868, with Alzada Cornelius as the first teacher and W. D. Pittenger as the first superintendent.[5] The school was built at that time and was located on the Dobbins land claim.[6] The store was later built in front of the school.[6] The post office was established in 1873 as "Mountain Dale" and the name was changed to "Mountaindale" in 1895.[7][8] The name combining "mountain" and "dale" is descriptive, as the community is where East Fork Dairy Creek emerges from the foothills at the north edge of the Tualatin Valley.[7]  In 1885,[9] a new schoolhouse was built for $200.[5] It was 30 feet (9.1 m) long, 13 feet (4.0 m) wide, and 12 feet (3.7 m) tall.[5] The new school was originally known as the Raffety School as it was built on land donated by Samuel Raffety.[6] Charles Reynolds opened the first store in the community in 1896.[5] In 1904, a new Mountaindale Store was built across the street from the original.[5] Reynolds also operated a freight line and a blacksmith shop.[5] In 1915, Mountaindale had two sawmills,[9] and much of the area surrounding area was logged.[4] The Mountaindale post office closed in 1935.[7] In February 1953, the school district was merged into the North Plains School District (originally known as the Glencoe district), which merged into the Hillsboro School District in 1996.[6][10] The Mountaindale school remained in use until 1954 or 1955, and by 1976 was owned by the Stohr family.[6][9] In 1990, the only public buildings remaining in the community were the store and the closed schoolhouse.[9] The store is also now closed. The Mountaindale Airport is a mile southwest of the community. References
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