It was built by the Oregon Electric Railway and ran 19.1 miles (30.7 km) from Garden Home to Forest Grove via Beaverton and Hillsboro.

The Oregon Electric Railway completed the 19.1-mile (30.7 km) branch from its main line at Garden Home to Forest Grove in 1908.

[4] Under pressure from the city of Portland to vacate Front Avenue, the Oregon Electric filed in 1941 to abandon its original main line into the downtown, and with it the Forest Grove branch between Garden Home and Beaverton.

[9] The Burlington Northern abandoned the original right-of-way through Beaverton in 1984 following the construction of a new connecting track to the Southern Pacific's parallel line.

[11] As late as 1994, all light rail alternatives assumed that the line from Beaverton to Hillsboro would follow the Forest Grove branch's right-of-way, then still in use, as far as Orenco.

[15] In 1987–1988 the Burlington Northern attempted to divest itself of 288 miles (463 km) of branchline track in Oregon, including the Forest Grove branch.