Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church

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Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church
(National Register of Historic Places)
Eight-sided steeple of the Old Scotch Church
Location:	Hillsboro, Oregon
Built/Founded:	1878
Added to NRHP:	November 5, 1974
Governing body:	Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church

The Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church, better known as the Old Scotch Church, is a church and national historic site located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States.

The Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church was organized in November of 1873 and the first service was held at the four-room Columbia Academy schoolhouse, four miles northwest of the present site. Services were held at the academy until a permanent site for construction of a house of worship could be located by the congregation.

The current building was completed in 1878 and has an eight-sided steeple, buttresses on the outer walls, a steep roof and stained glass windows. This structure is one of the oldest continuously used churches in the state. The church was the 13th historical site in Washington County, Oregon to be honored. On November 5, 1974, the church (as the Old Scotch Church) was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

The charter members of the church mostly came from the same area in Aberdeenshire, west of Aberdeen, Scotland, having previously been members of the Free Church of Scotland. Upon coming to Oregon, they all settled in the same area in the Tualatin Valley. Because of the settlers' Scottish origin, their church building acquired its common name "The Old Scotch Church." The twelve original Scottish pioneers were: Mr. and Mrs. William Chalmers and their daughter Catherine, Mr. and Mrs. James Smith, Rev. and Mrs. George Ross, Mr. and Mrs. George Alexander, their daughter Eliza, Miss Alexander and John Milne. Most of them remained in the area and in the church all their lives. Eight of these twelve and many of their descendants are buried in the cemetery surrounding the church.

Many pioneers of the Oregon Country are also buried in the cemetery. One of the best known is the mountain man Joseph Meek, who was also the first U.S. Marshall of the Oregon Territory. He died June 20, 1875, and was buried at that time on his home place near the historic marker in his memory on the Sunset Highway. When that property was sold, his remains were moved to the church cemetery.

The Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church still holds services in the Old Scotch Church building every Sunday.