Aloha Tutors Come To You

In the heart of the Willamette Valley, Aloha, Oregon is a suburb of the Portland metropolitan area about 10 miles from the big city’s downtown. European-American settlement came to the area with the signing of the Donation Land Claim Act in 1850 by the United States Congress. The law offered 320 acres to any settlers who were willing to develop the land. One of the first of these claims in what is now Aloha was by Jacob Wheeler and the area came to be known as Wheeler’s Crossing. For most of the 19th century it remained a small agricultural town. In the early 1900’s Silas Buck moved from Wisconsin to Oregon to start a new life, building the town’s first business, a market on Wheeler Avenue which is now 185th Street. Stories differ as to the naming of the town. One version says it was named after Aloah, a resort on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. Another version recounts the night when prominent attorney Richard Caples was hosting officials from the Southern Pacific Railroad in hopes of luring them to build a station in Wheeler’s Crossing and his niece entertained them with a rendition of the song “Aloha Oe.” Whatever the truth, the city’s first post office established in 1912 was named Aloha.

An Aloha tutor will get you caught up on your studies so you can take some time away from the books to enjoy the best things to do in Aloha and Portland. Aloha is mostly a residential suburb between Hillsboro and Beaverton and benefits from its proximity to those communities. For movie buffs, Harvey the Giant Rabbit has been a fixture outside Harvey Marine in Aloha for decades. The 20-foot statue of the rabbit was business owner Ed Harvey’s nod to the mythical rabbit in the James Stewart movie Harvey. For nature lovers, the Beaverton Creek Wetlands Natural Area and Tualatin Hills Nature Park sit side by side on the eastern edge of Aloha. The 15-acre wetlands are a perfect spot for bird and wildlife watching with potential views of herons, kingfisher, hawks and eagles. The area also has a paved trail with a bridge over Beaverton Creek. Tualatin Hills features over five miles of hiking paths in the 222-acre preserve. The preserve includes wetlands, forests and streams with habitats for a wide variety of wildlife. For questions about this wilderness area visitors can find out more at the Tualatin Hills Nature Center.

For those interested in local art, the Art on Broadway Gallery in Beaverton features award-winning paintings, jewelry and sculpture from contemporary artists. Pieces vary from abstract paintings, jewelry inspired by Native American art and sculpture in the American West tradition. For more art, it’s only a short drive to the Portland Art Museum in the heart of the city’s downtown. Current exhibitions at the museum include “Constructing Identity,” an artistic display exploring the question of race and identity in the United States.

Portland is also home to the Oregon Zoo inside Washington Park. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi River. Animals include monkeys and crocodiles in the Africa Rainforest habitat. Giraffes, rhinoceros and hippopotamus can be viewed in the Africa Savanna and lions, cheetahs and python roam the “Predators of the Serengeti” exhibit.