Bend Oregon History
We can easily say that Bend’s history dates back to the early 19th century, when only Native Americans, who found the right setting for hunting and fishing, knew the region. It was not until the winter of 1824, when members of a fur trapping party were led to visit this region, guided by Peter Skene Ogden.
Skene Ogden was a Canadian explorer of the American West, later credited for his expeditions exploring the part of the states of Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Farewell Bend, the name originally given to this region, remained uninhabited for several years after those early expeditions.
Later, Dr. John Strong Newberry, John C. Fremont, and other American military officers and explorers, arrived to the region, heading farther west, and went through the area and next forded the Deschutes River at Farewell Bend. All those pioneers explored the area but no settlement was recorded during the 1800s.
The railroad service hastened the start of 2 pine sawmills on either side of the river, south edge of Farewell Bend, staying as a rough-hewn mill region, until the turn of the century when the first settlers arrived here, lead by the hand of Alexander M. Drake,
Drake was the founder of the Pilot Butte Development Company. Pilot Butte is an extinct volcano located in Bend, and one of only two extinct volcanoes located within the boundaries of an American city. The other extinct volcano located of this kind is also located in Oregon but is Mount Tabor, Portland.
The small community developed around the bend in the river was incorporated to the Pilot Butte Development Company in 1904 by a general vote of the 300 residents living in the region. By January 4, 1905, Bend had 500 inhabitants, held its first official meeting as a city, and incorporated municipality, appointing A. H. Goodwillie as the first mayor.
On April 27, 1905, the first fire occurred, destroying the O’Kane Saloon, after a revolver was fired accidentally while its owner was sleeping on a billiard table at the saloon. Community Volunteers had to battle the fire using wet blankets, but the loss to the saloon was $4,000. Later that year, Bend received its first fire protection system costing $1,395.50,
Bend became the county seat of Deschutes County in 1917 from the western half of Crook County, On February 24, 1919, by resolution of the City Council, Bend’s Fire Department was formed, and in 1927, the Pilot Butte State Park was acquired by the city covering nearly the entire Pilot Butte plus 100 acres.
In 1929, Bend amended the charter adopting the manager and council form of government, while Pilot Butte became a popular hiking venue that requires an ascent of 511 feet to reach the top, with an elevation of 4,130 feet above sea level.
Bend’s original settlement was known as Farewell Bend, but the US Postal Service, established in 1910, renamed the city as only Bend, a shortened form of the former name. Bend, is home to David Stoliar, the sole survivor of an attack on the Struma, a ship carrying Jewish refugees from the holocaust, sailing from Romania to Palestine in 1942.
From the middle 1950s to the present, visionary leaders began to develop a small tourism trading that eventually became a major resort industry, after the establishment of Mount Bachelor’s ski in the 1970s.
The economy model of the city left aside the timber in the 1980s. Since then, the city has developed into the top tourism destination and favorite retirees getaway that Bend is today, as one of the fastest growing city’s in the United States, home of many major national companies, including the following top employers listed by EDCO as of 2005:
- St. Charles Medical Center, 2,337 employees
- Bright Wood Corporation, 1,466 employees
- Les Schwab Tire Center, 1,142 employees
- Sunriver Resort, 870 seasonal employees
- Mt. Bachelor, Inc., 750 seasonal employees
- T-Mobile, 674 employees
- Beaver Motor Coaches, 654 employees
- iSKY, 625 employees
- Clear Pine Mouldings, Inc., 597 employees
- JELD-WEN Windows and Doors, 521 employees
- Eagle Crest Partners, Ltd., 500 seasonal employees
- Safeway, 490 employees
- Hap Taylor and Sons, 465 employees
- Bend Memorial Clinic, 460 employees
- The Lancair Company, 447 employees
- Wal-Mart, 445 employees
- Fred Meyer, 411 employees
- Woodgrain Millwork, 365 employees
- Black Butte Ranch, 350 employees
- Kah-Nee-Tah, 350 seasonal employees
From the times when the banks of the river were the gathering spot for Native American tribes, to the present, many companies has been established in this city, including Bend Research, Inc., Deschutes Brewery, IdaTech, LLC, American Licorice Company, Bend Linux Solutions, Columbia Aircraft of the Earth Clothing, Ruff Wear, and Full Circle Couriers, and more.