O'Kane Building

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Built in 1916, the O'Kane Building is a historic commercial building located in the heart of downtown Bend. It is named after its builder, Hugh O'Kane, who was a prominent local businessman and a native of Ireland. Designed in the Chicago Mercantile style, the building was the largest and finest modern commercial structure in Bend. It was also fire resistant and served as the first location of the Deschutes County Court. As for design, interesting features of the building include stained glass windows with the "Bend" emblem in the center, decorative green tile, and a plaster garland above the main entrance that featuring grapes, wheat, leaves, rosettes, and a large letter "K". Businesses continue to occupy the building today. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places 1986.

Images

The O'Kane Building was erected in 1916 and remains an important landmark in Bend.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Hugh O'Kane was born in 1857 in County Antrim, Ireland and had a colorful life. As a boy he stowed away on a ship to America, arriving in New York City where he started selling newspapers and shining shoes. He managed to earn enough money to enroll in night school. His teacher was also a tailor and soon began teaching O'Kane him the trade. Apparently, at some point in the coming years, the tailoring company he worked for sent him on a business trip to London and Paris.

In the 1870s O'Kane traveled west on the Northern Pacific Railroad, lured by the prospect of finding gold. He didn't mine for gold, it appears, right away. Instead, he was in charge of the supplies for U.S. Army during the Sioux Indian Wars (the most famous confrontation of the war was the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876). After the war he took up mining in the Black Hills where he struck it rich but apparently lost all of it while gambling in Denver, Colorado.

In 1881 he started working for Tom Cannon, the world champion Greco-Roman wrestler at the time. A few years later he became the manager of two sprinters and toured with them in Australia (it seems he may have traveled to South Africa at some point as well). Around this time he married his wife, Helen. In 1895 he built a hotel in Grangeville, Idaho that served as the headquarters for his horse-managing business, which was very successful.

It wasn't until 1903 that O'Kane (and Helen) moved to Bend where he built another hotel, the Bend Hotel. It became successful as well but unfortunately it burned down in a fire in 1915. As a result, he decided to build the O'Kane Building on the same location, completing it in 1916. The first floor had space for businesses and a theater, and offices and the O'Kane's apartment were located on the second floor. Eventually he and Helen moved to Portland, Oregon where he died on February 16, 1930.

Sources

"O'Kane Building." Waymarking.com. Accessed September 5, 2020. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8TH.

Zisman, Karen. "O'Kane Building." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. November 6, 1986. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/bb483002-a3ab-4f8a-aa73-95ff79f0b8b5.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Ian Poellet, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OKane_Building_-_Bend_Oregon.jpg

Additional Information

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: O'Kane Building