On a recent Saturday morning, trained volunteers with the Deschutes Historical Museum led small groups of people through Bend’s historic downtown neighborhoods. The walking tours explore architecture, landmarks and unique stories from the early 1900s, including those of six Bendites who helped transform the early community.
Volunteer and tour guide, Staci Louie, has been leading tours for approximately five years.
“That is my favorite part. I just like talking to people and sharing the history of Bend. I am proud to be a Bendite myself and I am very proud to live in this town. I absolutely love Bend. I love it when people come here and want to experience the history and how we became the town that we are … I also love it when the locals do it — whether they have been here one month or 20 years and are just taking the tour for the first time and want to learn. It is really special.”
The tours were introduced through the Deschutes Historical Museum in 2010, with the Early Days of Bend Tour. They soon added the Architectural Tour, which is now part of the May-August Saturday walking tour rotation. A third tour focuses on Drake Park. You can find self-guided tours on the Deschutes Historical Museum App, which can be downloaded for free.
One of the stops on the tours include the Overturf House which was home to Ruth Reid. The Deschutes Historical Museum building was once the Reid School, named after Ruth Reid Overturf. Another stop is at the former home of George and Dorothy Putnam. George Putnam was the editor of the Bend Bulletin newspaper from 1910-1919. Born in Rye, New York, his family ran the Putnam Publishing house. Putnam made his way west to make his own success. He met his wife while serving as a guide for the Sierra Club in 1908. Putnam lived in Bend from 1909-1916. He and Dorothy later divorced and George married Amelia Earhart in 1931, though she never lived in Bend.
According to the Deschutes Historical Museum, in 1924, George wrote, “Taken by and large if fate permitted me to become a westerner again, I would rather live in Bend than in any place I know. Those who have stayed in town have prospered and those I am sure who go there provided they are properly equipped will find success and happiness.”
Deschutes Historical Museum Manager Vanessa Ivey explained that many of the homes on the Architechtural Tour reflect the era during which they were built. The Colonial rival style in Bend started elsewhere in the western U.S. and was recreated locally due to two super mills, Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon, relocating to Bend from the midwest. Many of the Colonial revival homes in the Drake Park Historical neighborhood were higher-end homes for upper management of the mills.
“This is a mill town in that we had a community and a town established, and the mills came and they were the number one employer for a long time. But they wanted their mill workers to own homes. They wanted them to promote the product they were building,” added Ivey.
She pointed out that the farther away from the mill, such as along Congress Street, closer to the park and downtown, the more upper end homes were built, which at the time belonged to mayors, the newspaper editor, judges, doctors and city council members.
“It used to be the river decided the West Side from the East Side, and now Highway 97 divides the West Side from the East Side,” concluded Ivey.
Information about the walking tours
Tours leave the museum at 10:30 a.m. The price is $15, but are free for Deschutes Historical Museum members. Tours are approximately 90 minutes and, because they go through older neighborhoods, Ivey cautions there are uneven sidewalks They request that participants wear good walking shoes, clothing appropriate for the weather and leave pets at home.
“We tend to go out rain or shine,” says volunteer Staci Louie. “We have actually been really lucky with rain. A lot of times it will rain in the beginning, but it will pick up after a tour, or it might just rain really lightly.”
“The thing about doing a live tour, is that you are feeding off of your audience,” Ivey says. “I really like doing the one-on-one with the small groups. Our groups are not very big, and we limit them to 12.”
Ivey added, “We’ve been running these tours for nearly two decades and the public response has been overwhelmingly positive. That’s one of the reasons we keep doing them each year. It is very rewarding to have locals tell you they’ve learned something new about the place they live, then sign up again — returning with their out-of-town guests. For me, the stories of people and place are what makes history interesting. Being able to share our local stories with others and help connect the dots is the best part of the job.”
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