Miller’s Landing Park

For decades, neighbors and visitors enjoyed the riverfront green space along the east bank of the Deschutes River in the heart of Bend. Miller’s Landing felt as much a part of the town’s riverfront greenway as publicly owned McKay Park, which lies just across the river. But unlike McKay Park, access to Miller’s Landing wasn’t guaranteed by public ownership but was allowed by the Miller family, which had owned the property for years.

Since 1887, Miller’s Landing has served the community in many ways—as a ranch, a site for a hotel and post office, and then as the Miller Lumber Company’s lumberyard. Once lumberyard production stopped, the Miller family allowed the public to use this open space to access the river.

Miller’s Landing provided an important close-to-home riverfront gathering space. So when a proposed development threatened the beloved green space, the Miller family, community partners, and Trust for Public Land acted quickly to conserve this special place as a public park owned by Bend Park & Recreation District. Now, in a rapidly growing region, residents know that Miller’s Landing is there to stay.