Shevlin Park is a park located in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

. It was first established in 1921 by the City of Bend. Notable natural and manmade features include

Tumalo Creek Tumalo Creek is a tributary, about long, of the Deschutes River, located in Deschutes County in Central Oregon, United States. It rises in the Cascade Range at , where Middle Fork Tumalo Creek and North Fork Tumalo Creek meet, and forms several ...

, Aspen Hall, and Fremont Meadow.

History

Central Oregon is located on the ancestral lands of indigenous tribes including the Warm Springs,

Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States: Places United States * Wasco, California, a city in California ** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California * Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...

, and Paiute peoples that today comprise the

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is a recognized Native American tribe made of three tribes who put together a confederation. They live on and govern the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of Oregon. Tribes The confederat ...

. '' ''

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

camped in what is now the southern area of the park in his 1843 expedition. The space where he and his men camped was dedicated to the explorer and named Fremont Meadow. The City of

, was founded in 1904, and lumber businessman

Tom Shevlin Thomas Leonard Shevlin (March 1, 1883 – December 29, 1915) was an American college football player and coach at Yale University and a businessman. He was a consensus All-American for three of his four years, selected a first-team All-American b ...

donated the land to the city in 1919. ' The park was then established in 1921 by the City of Bend and named after the donor. It has been managed by the Bend Park and Recreation District since 1974.'''' In 2019, Hixon Crossing Bridge located in the park was dismantled. The original

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s were constructed in 1917, and in the 1990s,

the Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

built walls and a roof over the bridge to feature it in the 1993 film '' Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey''. In 2018, the Bend Park and Recreation district decided the bridge was to be removed to improve the riparian and shoreline habitats, given that another bridge was only downstream.

Recreation and events

Shevlin Park is popular for hiking, running, mountain biking, and cross country skiing. It has a network of trails that connect to other trail systems beyond the park. There is also Shevlin Pond, a fishing pond, in the northern portion of the park. Aspen Hall, an events space, is also located in that area north of NW Shevlin Park Drive. The park is open year-round and hosts summer camps for children through the Parks and Recreation district.''''

References

{{Reflist

External links

Bend Park and Recreation District

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

City of Bend
Parks in Bend, Oregon 1921 establishments in Oregon