Hillsboro, Oregon: Civic Pride Burger Family

A happy 1960s vintage outdoor statue display. Dad, Mom, Teen, and Baby Burger all hold aloft giant burgers and root beer mugs. Restored and given a place of honor by the town in 1993.

Mrs. Burger was away getting her hair fixed, with a promise of a return soon. The McDonald's across the street is gone, but the new tenant kept parts of the lower arches.

In 1977 I came to Hillsboro. We visited the A&W Root Beer restaurant many times, and I passed it a lot, setting on the corner of the highway in Hillsboro. There was no teenager in that family. It was a little boy with blue bib overalls, white shirt, tennis shoes, baseball cap on his head. He was smiling and he had a little sister. Only Root Beer Family I saw was Mom, Dad, little sister and little brother. The teenager that is now in the family doesn't belong. It is just another part of history that has been changed. I remember. It was the little boy that the high school kids took away to who knows where. Why doesn't anyone know that it was a little boy in overalls and tennis shoes?

Regarding the history of the A&W Root Beer/Burger family that so cheerfully stand by the Hillsboro Aquatic Center by Shute Park: Teen Burger was stolen, as noted by others, but the original was never recovered for use. The city managed to locate a twin Teen Burger in Longview, WA and had him shipped to Hillsboro to complete the family. The original A&W restaurant was the drive-up and order from your car type and is now Thomas Auto Sales, a used car dealership near 13th and TV Hwy.

The A&W Root Beer Family originally came from the A&W Restaurant in Forest Grove, on the corner of Pacific Highway and Tualatin Valley Highway. My family lived in Forest Grove from 1959 until now, and when I was a little girl in the early '60s my family used to go there to get root beer floats! Then they closed the restaurant (I believe in the early 70's) and they moved the A&W Root Beer Family first to Schutes Park in Hillsboro, and then in front of some kind of fast food place in Hillsboro.

By then I had gotten married and moved away. I do remember that one of the family members had been stolen and I never did find out if they recovered it or not.