Quatama / Northwest 205th Avenue (MAX Station) - History

History

During the planning stages of the light rail line, Hillsboro rezoned much of the area around the station to increase building densities. Initial planning for a light rail line on Portland's west side began in 1979, with groundbreaking on the Westside MAX project coming in 1993. On September 12, 1998, the Quatama station opened along with the Westside MAX line. The area around the station was named Quatama after the former station on the Oregon Electric Railway. That train stop was near the current one and was on property owned by the Oregon Nursery Company and settled in part by Hungarians.

In 1998, and again in 2004, the weather vane at the station was vandalized. Within several months of opening, the park and ride lot was at 92% capacity and by July 1999, the lot was filled to capacity during the peak travel times on the MAX line. A fight injured a 17-year old at the station in October 2000. Hillsboro planned to improve street connections to the station as part of the planned redevelopment in the south Tanasbourne area announced in 2006.

The station’s platform was vandalized in a graffiti spree in June 2007 along with several surrounding developments. In October of that year a 12-year old was attacked with a hammer at the station. In 2008, TriMet secured a grant from the Transportation Security Administration to allow the transit agency to add security cameras to the station.