Marvin Walder/The Broadside
The Old Mill is a well-known tourist destination in Bend, Oregon, featuring shops, restaurants, and the Regal Cinema. Interestingly, the site has a long history and that involves actual lumber mills. The Old Mill area started out as a lumber mill in 1916 when a company named Shevlin-Hixon Co. built a mill on the west side of the river. Later, a rival company moved in by the name of Brooks-Scanlon, which built a mill on the east side of the river. The two companies ran their respective lumber mills until 1953 when the Shevlin-Hixon Co. mill was sold to Brooks-Scanlon. The mills officially closed in 1983, and their fates were uncertain for quite some time. Then in the 1990s, Mill A was restored into the building that today houses REI in the Old Mill. To read the full history of the Old Mill, as well as learn about upcoming events and shopping and dining opportunities, visit the Old Mill website.
