Boring was platted in 1903 as "Boring Junction" after the construction of a railway line by the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company. The post office was established and named Boring the same year, which builders of an interurban railway adopted as the name of the community. An electric trolley operated on the railroad line from Portland through Gresham and Boring, ending in Cazadero, which began transporting passengers in 1905. The trolley significantly reduced travel time between Portland and the communities to its east: Horse and buggy travel from Boring to Portland took an average of six hours, while a trip to Portland via the trolley system took only one hour. Though younger students in the area attended a local school built on Richey Road, high school students in Boring commuted via trolley to Gresham and Portland to attend high schools there. The early residents of the area post-settlement were mainly German and Swedish immigrants.