A gravel road, a historic home and Hillsboro's planned North ...

HILLSBORO -- Ray Haag misses the mountains.

Mount St. Helens through the trees and over the ridge, before it erupted in a spectacular display on that May day in 1980. Mount Hood striking in its solitude across the valley.

He could even see Mount Jefferson on a clear day, on his tippy-toes, before the 78-year-old former educator shrunk with age.

On one of those crisp, blue-skied days, on the cusp of spring, Haag laughed and shook his head as he took in the land around his Washington County home, a scene that has transformed during the past 51 years.

"Now I can't see my mountains," Haag said. "I miss that."

Haag's three acres of land on the gravel swath of Northwest 253rd Avenue have gradually become less isolated in recent years. First the oaks and firs across the road were torn down in the 1980s, then wealthy new neighbors moved in. Over time, Intel's Ronler Acres in the distance and Genentech's gleaming facility in the foreground blocked his view.

More change is coming, and Haag knows it's not if, but when.

"The road is coming in," he nodded.

As the city races to make 330 acres of land northwest of Haag's property "shovel-ready" for industrial development, his property is one of several outside the designated "industrial sanctuary" that will inevitably be impacted in the name of progress and job growth. Roads will be carved through farmland. Traffic will increase. Homesteads will vanish.

After 52 years of tranquility, the future is suddenly approaching fast.

"I don't see tearing this all down," he said.

Ghosts of Shute

John W. Shute built the two-story Queen Ann-style home in 1890. Ray and Carol Haag settled there in 1962.

Ray Haag taught physical education in Hillsboro, and bounced around the western county before retiring as principal of Cornelius Elementary School in 1991. Carol Haag raised the five kids.

Mark Haag, the eldest child, said the land was like an island. The nearest neighbor was a half-mile away. Imagination ruled the kids' minds in the big old house rich with history. The ghosts would rattle door handles, doors often opened on their own when the family sat down for a meal.

Animals came and went. Bootsie, the black cat with white feet, showed up pregnant at the doorstep early on. Through the years, she spawned a clan of 20 cats, Mark Haag said. There were chickens too, and a herd of 40 sheep.

Carol Haag started a successful flower company, Country Gardens, in 1985. For 15 years, the family and staff would sell and distribute flowers out of the historic barn and nearby heated greenhouses.

"It really was fun," Carol Haag said of the business. "To be able to order those pretty things that women love."

Lisa Haag Goldbeck, the middle child, inherited the green thumb and worked alongside her parents for a decade. Goldbeck wants to restart the family's business at the old site.

"It's still hard for me to see it go," she said of the land surrounding the house. "Because I know it won't turn back to farmland."

What happens next

Ray Haag is a jovial man, quick to smile and laugh. He said he wanted to be paranoid and distrustful of the city's intentions with his property, and the future of nearby historic sites. Instead he's been pleased with staff's reception.

"They were very polite and understanding," he said.

City officials are well aware of the historic value of the house. It's on the county's cultural resource inventory, and will automatically be transferred to the city's inventory when the land is annexed.

Debbie Raber, planning department project manager and de facto staff historian, said the Haags have done an "amazing job of preserving that house."

"This is part of the fabric of our community. This is part of who we are," Raber said of the importance of the site.

But it's adjacent to an undeniably important road for the city's planned industrial areas, and will also serve nearby residents on Northwest Meek Road who will soon be unable to access Brookwood Parkway out of safety concerns.

"This road is a key industrial road," Hillsboro Economic Development Director Mark Clemons said.

Future unclear

The house is still the epicenter of the Haag's family life. They have five children, 17 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. It's still the gathering spot for holidays, and celebrations big and small. There's still no other home to house gatherings of 40-plus persons, Goldbeck said.

Ray and Carol never seriously contemplated moving. Conversation would stop after the question. "Where would we ever go if we had to move?"

Carol Haag, 76, with nagging arthritis and other health issues, still plugs away in her quilting room just off the home's parlor. Stacks of quilting material surround her desk, with brightly colored thread sitting at the ready, within an arm's reach. A bookcase filled with quilting books is in the corner.

Now, the couple is at "phase 1" of an exit strategy. Ray Haag said phase one includes investigating a community living situation. Mark said the kids are hoping to band together and help relieve the stress, angst and worry of the situation.

Ray Haag keeps floating ideas of a future purpose for his home, trying to save it, "having this nest in with all the industry." He's attended Parks & Recreation Commission meetings, floated the idea of the house being a community asset. Then there's the kid's plans for Country Gardens 2.

"I'd love to see a bright path to a great solution for everyone," Raber said. That path hasn't presented itself, she added. Meanwhile, the next big party is already scheduled, Easter Sunday, with a crowd of at least 35 expected.

Plenty of living, that's all there is, Ray Haag said.

How long that continues, amid the industry, is uncertain.

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/03/a_gravel_road_a_historic_home.html

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