Banks High School

The Banks Public Library serves Banks, Oregon, and is part of the Washington County Cooperative Library Services.

Sunset Speedway is a .25-mile (0.40 km), dirt oval track in Banks in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1986, races are held from April through September. Racing classes include IMCA Modifieds, Northwest Wingless Tour Sprints, Street Stocks, NW Extreme Sprints, NW Extreme Late Models, USAC Midgets, WRS Late Model Lites, ASCS Sprints, Dwarfs, and 4-Bees among others.

Banks is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States which is located in the Tualatin Valley. It is the southern anchor to the Banks–Vernonia State Trail, which is a 21-mile (34 km) long linear trail popular with bicyclists, hikers, and equestrians. The population was 1,777 at the 2010 census. The community was named for John and Nancy Banks, who owned a nearby dairy farm. Incorporated in 1921, it is located in the western part of the county where Oregon Route 6 intersects Oregon Route 47.

Wilkesboro is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located on Oregon Route 6, one mile east of Banks. Wilkesboro was settled in 1845 by its namesake Peyton G. Wilkes, and platted in 1912. The locale was named about the time United Railways built its interurban line through the area. The post office was established in 1916. In 1915 the town had a population of 50, two churches, a fraternal lodge, a farmer's alliance and a railroad depot. Later there was also a grocery, meat market, blacksmith shop and brickyard, but by 1990 none of these businesses remained. The post office was closed in 1932.The terminus of the United Railways line was in Wilkesboro, and Gales Creek and Wilson River Railroad (GC&WR) started from this line and ran 12.75 miles to Glenwood. The GC&WR also connected with the Tillamook Branch of the Southern Pacific line in Wilkesboro—that line is now operated by the Portland and Western Railroad via a lease agreement with the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad. When Oregon Route 6 was extended from Glenwood in 1957, portions of it used the then-abandoned GC&WR grade. The United Railways track was eventually extended to Vernonia but is now abandoned.

Greenville is an unincorporated historic community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located approximately two miles south of Banks on Oregon Route 47.Greenville post office was established in 1871 and ran until 1907, when it was moved to the location of the former Banks post office and renamed Banks. Greenville was likely a descriptive name for the verdant surroundings.At one time the community had a school, built in the 1870s, which as of 1990 was being used as a storage shed. The area is part of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District.

Roy is an unincorporated historical community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located south of the Sunset Highway (U.S. 26) and southeast of the city of Banks. Circa 1905, representatives of the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company, interested in putting a rail line through from Hillsboro to Tillamook on the coast, began approaching farmers living northeast of Greenville. With the railroad coming through the Tualatin Valley a mile north of the Vandervelden farm, William Vandervelden and his sons, J.W. and Frank, decided to buy land around the intended railway went through Lewis Roy's place, thus the road crossing was called Roy. The railroad went through that region in 1907, and a new church was built north of the tracks in 1908. Roy post office was established in 1907 and named for the Roy family, who were local pioneers.In 1908, a Catholic school called St. Ferdinand's opened in the local church. A standalone wood-framed school opened in September 1912, which was renamed as St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in 1920. The railroad reached Roy in 1912. St. Francis moved into a new brick building in 1951. Roy post office closed in 1955. Locations in Roy currently have Banks mailing addresses. Different parts of the area are served by the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District, Banks Rural Fire Protection District, and Washington County Fire District 2.

Kansas City is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States, located approximately 28 miles (45 km) west of Portland. Its ZIP code is 97116, the same as the nearby city of Forest Grove. The area is part of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District. Kansas City is part of the Portland Metro Area.

Thatcher is an unincorporated historic community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It was located approximately three miles north of Forest Grove at the intersection of Hillside and Thatcher roads. The area is part of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District.The community was named after pioneers Harmon and Jemima Thatcher, who came from Indiana soon after their marriage in 1847, first settling in Yamhill County, and later taking up a Donation Land Claim in the area that now bears their name.A Thatcher post office was established in 1895 and closed in 1902, with the introduction of rural free delivery. According to author Ralph Friedman, as of 1990, nothing remained at the site to indicate a settlement was thereThe Thatcher post office was located at 5901 Thatcher Road. The building that formerly housed the post office and the surrounding land was purchased by Carl and Wilma Mayer in 1941. It became their personal family residence until their deaths in 1996. The main post office building is set to be demolished in May 2014. Directly across the road from the old post office building is the Thatcher Grange Hall. The post office land is still owned by descendants of Carl and Wilma Mayer.

Washington County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon and part of the Portland metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded the population as 600,372, making it the second most populous county in the state and most populous "Washington County" in the United States. Hillsboro is the county seat and largest city, while other major cities include Beaverton, Tigard, Cornelius, Banks, Gaston, Sherwood, North Plains, and Forest Grove, the county's oldest city. Originally named Twality when created in 1843, the Oregon Territorial Legislature renamed it for the nation's first president in 1849 and included the entire northwest corner of Oregon before new counties were created in 1854. The Tualatin River and its drainage basin lie almost entirely within the county, which shares its boundaries with the Tualatin Valley. It is bordered on the west and north by the Northern Oregon Coast Range, on the south by the Chehalem Mountains, and on the north and east by the Tualatin Mountains, or West Hills. Major roads include sections of Interstate 5 and 205, the Sunset Highway, Oregon Route 217, 47, 10, 6 and 8. Public transportation is primarily operated by TriMet and includes buses, the Westside Express Service commuter rail, and MAX Light Rail. Other transportation includes air travel at Hillsboro Airport, private airfields and heliports, and heavy rail cargo on rail lines.

Manning is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States on the Sunset Highway (U.S. Route 26/Oregon Route 47). The Banks–Vernonia State Trail, a rail trail conversion, passes through Manning. The NorthWest POINT offers twice-daily roundtrip intercity bus service between Portland and Astoria with a flag stop in Manning.

Verboort is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located approximately two miles northeast of Forest Grove, one mile east of Oregon Route 47 in the Tualatin Valley. The community is part of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District.

The Banks–Vernonia State Trail is a paved rail trail and state park in northwest Oregon in the United States. It runs for 21 miles (34 km), primarily north–south, between the towns of Vernonia in Columbia County and Banks in Washington County on an abandoned railroad bed. Banks is about 25 miles (40 km) west of Portland. The 8-foot (2.4 m) wide trail is open to non-motorized uses such as hiking and biking. A 4-foot (1.2 m) wide horse trail parallels the hiking and biking trail. The rail trail crosses 12 bridges and the Buxton Trestle, a former railroad trestle bridge that is 600 feet (180 m) long and 80 feet (24 m) high. A second railroad trestle, the Tophill (or Horseshoe) Trestle, was damaged by fire in 1986 and is bypassed with a series of switchbacks at the Tophill trailhead. Amenities available at some locations in the park include picnicking, fishing, wildlife watching, forests, bird-watching, historic sites, public restrooms, parking, horse hitching posts, a loading platform, and a whistle stop shelter. The rail trail connects to a network of about 20 miles (32 km) of unpaved mountain-biking trails in L. L. "Stub" Stewart State Park. About 14,000 people used the rail trail in 2004.