For 60 years, West Salem was a small farming city surrounded by orchards and hops fields on rolling terrain across the Willamette River from the state's capitol. This sprawling, 10.5-square-mile neighborhood on Salem's western edge now features a variety of housing, 15 parks, and some of Polk County's best schools.

Initially platted in 1889, West Salem grew to a city with more than 100 residents by the 1920s. Its location on a bend in the Willamette River attracted several agricultural processing businesses that still operate cold storage warehouses and packing plants in the neighborhood's southeast corner. Its 2,000 residents approved a plan to surrender their charter after a period of rapid growth in 1949 and joined their neighbors in the city of Salem.

The neighborhood's elevation climbs almost 800 feet as you head west from the Willamette River to the Eola Hills. The hilly terrain has created an obstacle for developers, who had to build subdivisions with winding roads, irregular lots, and sloping front or back yards. It's common to think a house has one story when looking at it from the street, only to walk around the back and see it has two floors, a back deck and large windows to take in the view. Contemporary houses built in the past 30 years make up nearly two-thirds of this neighborhood's housing stock. These newer houses sit on 4,000- to 7,000-square-foot lots that leave little space between neighbors. There are a few subdivisions where ranch-style houses from the 1960s and 1970s sit atop larger, 8,000 to 10,000-square-foot lots with room for a well-manicured front lawn and a fenced backyard with trees and bushes. You'll also come across an occasional Craftsman house, bungalow, or Cape Cod that dates to when this neighborhood was a city all to itself. Three-bedroom houses typically fetch $400,000 to $650,000, while those with four or more bedrooms will command $500,000 to $750,000 apiece.

The neighborhood's older houses surround its central business district, an area known as the Old Town Center, where you'll find a Roth's Fresh Market grocery store, a Safeway, CrossFit gyms, brewpubs like Xicha Brewing and Gilgamesh Brewing's west Salem locations, and a handful of Mexican restaurants. You'll also find neighborhood favorites like the Alibi Bar and Grill, which features brunch, burgers, and sandwiches on the menu, and the Urban Grange coffee house, where the coffee and the scones have received stellar online reviews. This heavily developed area centers on the Center Street and Marion Street bridges, which carry traffic on State Route 22 across the Willamette River to the rest of the city.

The old Union Street Railroad Bridge also connects the neighborhood to the rest of the city. But this bridge, which dates back to when West Salem was incorporated in 1913, is limited to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It crosses the river right before the 114-acre Wallace Marine Park – a cluster of 10 soccer and softball fields that's a favorite among the city's softball and kickball teams. It also has a basic playground, walking trails, and a boat dock that allows people to put in and take out on Willamette River's western shore. Other neighborhood parks include Orchard Heights Park, which has a fenced off-leash dog area and a trail leading down to a creek where your pets can get even more exercise, the Straub Nature Park, where you can follow a path through one of the neighborhood's few remaining patches of forest, and the Salem Audubon Society's 7-acre nature preserve where you can watch a pair of osprey raise their young in a nest that's visible from the parking lot.

Five elementary schools serve the West Salem neighborhood, including Kalapuya Elementary School, the best public elementary school in Polk County, according to Niche.com. Neighborhood students will move on to Straub Middle School or Walker Middle School, the best and the second-best public middle schools in Polk County, before graduating from West Salem High School. This high school, which opened in 2002, is the best high school in Polk County and the third best in the extended Salem area, according to Niche.com.

West Salem might not stand on its own as it did 100 years ago. But the houses, parks and schools you'll find on its rolling terrain make this a great place to call home.