Incorporated in 1961, the city is located south of Beaverton and north of Tualatin, and is part of the Portland metropolitan area.

Public transit service is provided by TriMet, via several bus routes and the WES Commuter Rail line.

Before colonization by European settlers, the Atfalati inhabited the Tualatin Valley in several hunter-gatherer villages including Chachimahiyuk ("Place of aromatic herbs"), near present-day Tigard.

Primary food stuffs included deer, camas root, fish, berries, elk, and various nuts.

Prior to contact with white explorers, traders, and missionaries, the Kalapuya population is believed to have numbered as many as 15,000 people.

Under the terms of a treaty of April 19, 1851, the Atfalatis ceded their lands in return for a small reservation at Wapato Lake as well as "money, clothing, blankets, tools, a few rifles, and a horse for each of their headmen--Kaicut, La Medicine, and Knolah.

[6] The treaty resulted in the loss of much of the Atfalati's lands, but was preferable to removal east of the Cascade Mountains, which the government initially had demanded.

[4][6] Under continuing pressure, the government and Kalapuya renegotiated a treaty with Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs Joel Palmer.

[6] Under the terms of the treaty, the indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley agreed to remove to a reservation later designated by the federal government as the Grand Ronde reservation in the western part of the Willamette Valley at the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, sixty miles south of their original homeland.

[4][6] The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 promoted homestead settlement in the Oregon territory and encouraged thousands of white settlers to come to the area.

The period between 1907 and 1910 marked a rapid acceleration in growth as Main Street blossomed with the construction of several new commercial buildings, Germania Hall (a two-story building featuring a restaurant, grocery store, dance hall, and rooms to rent), a shop/post office, and a livery stable.

In 1910, the arrival of the Oregon Electric Railway triggered the development of Main Street and pushed Tigardville from being merely a small farming community into a period of growth which would lead to its incorporation as a city in 1961.

William Ariss built a blacksmith shop on Main Street in 1912 that eventually evolved into a modern service station.

However, residents in that area have rejected annexation and are currently fighting in court various moves by the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.69 square miles (30.28 km2), all land.

[9] The city of Tigard is officially divided into 14 geographic areas around schools and major transportation routes.

[10] Some of the neighborhoods carry unofficial names long associated with them prior to their current numeric designations.

The city is also home to the Washington Square mall, one of the largest in Oregon, and the northern part of Bridgeport Village.

and SW Gaarde St., remains, having been saved from demolition in the 1970s by the Tigard Area Historical and Preservation Association.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and now stands at the corner of SW Canterbury Lane and SW 103rd St. During the Portland Rose Festival every summer, the Tigard Festival of Balloons is held at Cook Park near Tigard High School.

[22] The Joy Cinema and Pub is a local independent theater that specializes in repertory screenings and cult films.

[citation needed] [A] Appointed to fill out term [D] Died in office [P] Mayor Pro tem The city of Tigard falls mostly under the jurisdiction of the Tigard-Tualatin School District; however, some of the northwesternmost part of the city falls under the jurisdiction of the Beaverton School District.

[28] Interstate 5 passes along the eastern edge of the city, with Oregon Route 217's southern terminus at I-5 at Tigard.

A proposed new light rail line, the Southwest Corridor light rail project, would have connected Tigard Transit Center to the MAX Green Line by 2027 had voters in November 2020 approved a measure to provide the region's share of the funding, but the measure did not pass.