Sandy, Oregon

Sandy is a city located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, settled c. 1853 and named after the nearby Sandy River. Located in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range, the city serves as the western gateway to the Mount Hood Corridor, and is located approximately 25 mi east of Portland.

The city of Sandy was originally settled by travelers passing along Barlow Road, one of the final sections of the Oregon Trail. In its early years, the city's local economy was based on logging and the sawmill industry due to the abundance of timber in the area. The city continued to grow with the arrival of German immigrants in the late-nineteenth century, and the city was formally incorporated in 1911.

As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 9,570. It is the home of Sandy High School, founded in 1914, which serves the population of Sandy as well as outlying communities, such as Boring and the Villages of Mount Hood.

Nineteenth—twentieth centuries
Sandy was founded after pioneer Sam Barlow passed through the area in 1845 and formed Barlow Road, the most widely-used final portion of the Oregon Trail. The first people to settle the area were Francis and Lydia Revenue, c. 1853. The abundance of natural resources in the area, ranging from fish, deer, elk, berries and roots, attracted them to build a homestead and trading post. Around 1873, the Revenues built the city's first hotel.

Initially known as Revenue (after the Revenue family), in the late-nineteenth century the settlement took its namesake of Sandy from the nearby Sandy River, which itself had taken its name from Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their 1805 expedition, who at that time named it the "Quicksand River" due to the abundance of sand on its banks. The river had priorly been named the Barings River after Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, an English merchant banker, by Lieutenant W.R. Broughton of the Fort Vancouver expedition on October 30, 1792.

A second hotel was erected in Sandy in 1890 by Baron Otto Von Scholley, an Austrian immigrant who also served as the city's second postmaster and first notary. A Clackamas County Bank was established in 1916. As of 2018, the bank remains the oldest community bank in the state of Oregon. A significant part of Sandy's economy in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries was logging and sawmill operations which utilized the abundance of forests surrounding the city.

On August 11, 1911, the city of was formally incorporated, and on November 14, 1913, city voters approved its charter. Friedrich Meinig, a German immigrant and businessman who came to Sandy in 1876. His son, Paul Meinig, served as the city's second mayor from 1912 to 1918. In 1919, a year prior to the Nineteenth Amendment, the city elected two women to its government: Blanche Shelley was elected mayor, along with Edna Esson to city council. Both women were also active business leaders in the city.

Twenty-first century
As of the twenty-first century, Sandy's population has increased significantly with the growth of the Portland metropolitan area. Per a 2018 study completed by Portland State University and Clackamas County, it is the second-fastest growing city in the state, and is estimated to reach a population of 18,980 by the year 2034.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.14 sqmi, all of it land. Its elevation is 967 ft.

Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Sandy has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 9,570 people, 3,567 households, and 2,486 families residing in the city. The population density was 3047.8 PD/sqmi. There were 3,768 housing units at an average density of 1200.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 90.0% White, 0.4% African American, 1.3% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 3.4% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.2% of the population.

There were 3,567 households of which 40.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.7% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.3% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.17.

The median age in the city was 32.8 years. 29% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.5% were from 25 to 44; 22.6% were from 45 to 64; and 10.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female.

Education
There are three schools within Sandy's city limits: Sandy Grade School, Cedar Ridge Middle School and Sandy High School. Those schools are administered by the regional Oregon Trail School District.

Transportation
U.S. Route 26 runs through the middle of Sandy, forming downtown Sandy's Pioneer and Proctor Boulevards. Sandy is the northern terminus of Oregon Route 211.

Mass transit
From at least the 1940s through the 1960s, bus transit service connecting Sandy with Gresham and Portland was provided by a private company named Portland Stages, Inc. This service was taken over by TriMet, a then-new public agency, in 1970, and TriMet continued to provide transit service to Sandy until 2000.

Since the beginning of 2000, Sandy has operated its own public transit system, the Sandy Area Metro, which connects with TriMet's MAX light rail system at the Gresham Transit Center. Since 2004, the Mount Hood Express (originally named Mountain Express) has also provided public transit bus service to Sandy, connecting it with communities and resort areas in the Mount Hood Corridor.

Air
Two airports exist in Sandy: the Sandy River Airport and Country Squire Airpark.

Media
The Sandy Post is the community's weekly newspaper, and is the official newspaper of record for the city's legal notices.

Utilities
As of 2015, the City Government offers gigabit fiber-optic internet to all of its residents for $60 per month and 300 mbps internet for $40 per month.

Notable people

 * Nan Britton (1896–1991), secretary and mistress of President Warren G. Harding
 * George Bruns (1914–1983), film composer
 * Alma Francis (1890–1968), Broadway and silent film actress and singer
 * Bill Johnson (1960–2016), Olympic skier
 * Brenda Strong (1960–), film and television actress
 * Mark Thorson (1983–), football quarterback