Bend

Sister cities

• Belluno
• Condega
• Fujioka
• Muzaffarabad
• Toyota

History

American Indian tribes hunted and fished in the area. In late 1824, members of a fur-trapping party led by Peter Skene Ogden visited the area. John C. Frémont, John Strong Newberry, and other United States Army survey parties came next. Subsequent American pioneers heading further west passed through the area and forded the Deschutes River at a canyonless double bend, which may have actually been referred to as "Farewell Bend". The area was settled by Euro-Americans in the 1870s. John Young Todd, a Missourian who participated in the Mexican War (and for whom Todd Lake is named), purchased a land claim in the area and named it "Farewell Bend Ranch". Todd sold this to John Sisemore in 1881, who applied for a post office in 1886. Because the name "Farewell Bend" was already in use, it was shortened to "Bend" by the United States Post Office Department. Constructed in May 1901, the Pilot Butte Development Company's little plant was the first commercial sawmill in Bend, also providing the town's first irrigation. The original location was at the rear of the Pilot Butte Inn of later years. Steidl and Reed also set up a small mill in Bend in 1903. This was on the Deschutes River just below the Pioneer Park area. The mill was operated by water power. A small community developed around the area. In 1904, a city was incorporated by a general vote of the community's 300 residents; it was platted by Pilot Butte Development Company on May 28, 1904. In 1916, Deschutes County was formed from the western half of Crook County and Bend was designated as the county seat. In 1929, Bend amended the charter and adopted the council–manager form of government. The 1950 closure of Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company (which was sold to Brooks-Scanlon), due to a lack of significant timber, caused…

Geography

Bend sits on the boundary of the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills, a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and California, and the Deschutes River Valley, a Level IV ecoregion within the Blue Mountains Level III ecoregion. The Deschutes River runs through Bend, where it is dammed to form Mirror Pond. It is reached by U.S. Route 20. A lesser known characteristic of Bend, the Horse Lava Tube System enters and borders the eastern edge of the city. Just south of Bend is Newberry National Volcanic Monument on U.S. Route 97. Bend is often referred to locally as part of Oregon’s “high desert,” reflecting its elevation and relative dryness compared to the west side of the Cascades. In the Köppen climate classification, however, Bend has a cool semi-arid climate (BSk). The city receives about of precipitation annually, considerably more than the roughly that would define a true desert at its elevation and temperature, placing it in the steppe rather than desert category. While the city center of Bend has a cool semi-arid climate, areas immediately to the west rise quickly into the Cascades, where precipitation is much higher and the climate grades into a dry-summer continental type (Dsb). In Bend, annual average snowfall is , The coldest temperature ever recorded in Bend is , which occurred on February 9, 1933 and again on January 31, 1950, while the coldest maximum was on February 4, 1989. Central Oregon summers are marked by their very large diurnal temperature ranges, with a July daily average of , and an average diurnal temperature variation approaching . The hottest temperature on record has been on June 30, 2021. Bend's growing season is short; according to the U.S.…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  19,345
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,537
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  15,260
• Mountain Chickadee

  Poecile gambeli (Ridgway, 1886) · Aves
  14,424
• Pygmy Nuthatch

  Sitta pygmaea Vigors, 1839 · Aves
  13,969
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  12,901
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,897
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  11,797

Largest nearby schools

• Summit High School
  High · Bend · 1,444 students · 24.9:1 ratio
• Bend Senior High School
  High · Bend · 1,330 students · 22.5:1 ratio
• Mountain View Senior High School
  High · Bend · 1,221 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Caldera High School
  Other · Bend · 939 students · 22.4:1 ratio
• Oregon Family School
  Other · Crane · 746 students · 23.3:1 ratio
• Pilot Butte Middle School
  Middle · Bend · 686 students · 19.1:1 ratio
• High Desert Middle School
  Middle · Bend · 677 students · 21.2:1 ratio
• Cascade Middle School
  Middle · Bend · 614 students · 24.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.71 — 2025-01-29
  6 km SW of Prineville, Oregon
• M 2.77 — 2023-12-14
  5 km SW of Prineville, Oregon
• M 2.69 — 2018-03-06
  13 km SW of Mitchell, Oregon
• M 2.52 — 2017-07-11
  4 km ESE of Cascadia, Oregon
• M 2.89 — 2015-10-26
  23 km SW of La Pine, Oregon
• M 2.88 — 2015-10-24
  23 km SW of La Pine, Oregon