A little history behind Bend

Milan — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:45:12 +0000

1834, members of the Nathaniel Wyeth party who came from their camp on the Columbia River were likely the first white explorers to visit the area that would become known as “Farewell Bend” and later simply as “Bend.” Eventually, pioneers that were westward bound would ford the Deschutes River at Farewell Bend, which was one of the few fordable places in the river. On January 4, 1905, the city elected A. H. Goodwillie mayor in its first meeting as an official incorporated municipality. Some of the original settlers, such as O.B. Riley, Billy Staats and Marshall Clay Awbrey, would later lend their names to the streets and roads of the town. Twelve years later, Bend became the county seat of Deschutes County.

Nearly the geographic center of the state of Oregon, the city of Bend is set at 3,623 ft. elevation above sea level, covers roughly 32 square miles, and boasts an extinct volcano, known as Pilot Butte, as a popular hiking destination. Very few cities in the continental United States have volcanoes within their city limits and only three of those cities have volcanoes that are extinct, including Pilot Butte. Pilot Butte is part of the 100-acre Pilot Butte State Scenic Viewpoint, which was acquired by the city in 1927. Near the turn of the century, the skeleton of a small bear was found in the lava beds of Pilot Butte. This discovery corresponded to a Native American legend about a ferocious little bear that lived in the lava beds and so was responsible for the name of Bend High School’s mascot: the Lava Bears.

Bend started as primarily a logging city. But in the 1980s, when the logging mills became less vital, the economy of the growing city became more varied. Tourism became a bigger part of Bend’s economy and allowed for more business diversification initiatives. Bend has experienced profound growth of population in roughly the last decade. In eight years between 2000 and 2008, the population of Bend grew by nearly 30,000 people. In 2000, the U.S. Census reported a population of 52,029. By 2008, that number had grown to 80,995 residents.

Bend Real Estate for Sale

Milan — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:08:04 +0000

Bend Oregon is a great place to live! If you are looking for a home in Bend, feel free to visit all of the pages in this site or click on any of the links that we have to resources for people relocating to the area.

We also recommend that you search for homes using the quick search in the right hand sidebar. It will take you to a home search on our main site that offers all of the listings currently available.