Hillsboro Central/Southeast 3rd Avenue Transit Center is a light rail station and transit center on the MAX Blue Line in Hillsboro, Oregon. Opened in 1998, the red-brick station is the 19th stop westbound on the Westside MAX, one stop from the western terminus of the line. Physically the largest station on the line, it is located at a former stop of the Oregon Electric Railway and includes artwork honoring the history of the community.HistoryConstruction of the Westside MAX project began in 1994, while construction on the Hillsboro Central station was completed in August 1998, with a ceremony held on August 13. On September 12, 1998, Hillsboro Central opened along with the Westside MAX line. By 1999, the station was the third busiest on the westside line.In 2000, a plaque honoring former Hillsboro mayor Shirley Huffman's work getting the westside MAX extended from 185th Avenue to downtown Hillsboro was added to the station. Huffman lobbied federal officials to extend the line into downtown Hillsboro, including lecturing the Federal Transit Administration's leader. When Hillsboro Central opened, the Hillsboro Public Library operated a small branch at the station called Books by Rail, which was the only library on the West Coast located at a mass transit station. Because of budget cuts in the library system, the branch was closed in June 2003; in October 2003 TriMet began letting the Hillsboro Police Department use the space for its bicycle patrol. In March 2011, TriMet received a federal grant to pay for the installation of security cameras at the station.
