The Deschutes Historical Museum occupies the Reid School, a 1914 brick schoolhouse that is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Bend. The museum covers the history of central Oregon from the first Native American inhabitants through the pioneer period, the timber era, and the city's more recent transformation into an outdoor recreation hub.
The collection is stronger than you might expect for a small-city museum — there are good exhibits on the Paiute people who inhabited the high desert for thousands of years, on the homesteaders who arrived in the early 1900s following the railroads, and on the logging industry that defined Bend's economy for most of the 20th century. A reconstructed general store and a vintage logging equipment display are among the more engaging elements.
The museum is small enough to cover in an hour, and the building itself — with its pressed-metal ceilings and original woodwork — is worth seeing. It sits in the Drake Park neighborhood, walkable from most downtown hotels. Admission is modest.