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D−History
History · Three Rivers

Half of Three Rivers’ homes were built after 1999

More historic than 4% of U.S. towns · #129 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it

Most of Three Rivers was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Below: maps from 1963 on.

0on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Kingofthedead · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

About Three Rivers’ history

How historic is Three Rivers?

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More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Three Rivers’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Three Rivers is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #129 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Three Rivers’ overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.6) · typical OR town 5.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical OR town 2.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 4%
NewerOlder
Oregon towns of 2,500+ (142)Ahead of 9%

Oregon towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oregon town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Three Rivers’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Three Rivers’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Three Rivers are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Three Rivers’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Three Rivers’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Three Rivers, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Three Rivers yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Three Rivers South or Three Rivers is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,014 at the 2010 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,014 to 3,925 (+30%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Three Rivers, 1896 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Lava post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Lava post office closes
  5. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Three Rivers on the map, 1963 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Three Rivers. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Three Rivers on the 1963 USGS mapThree Rivers on the 1981 USGS map1963Anns Butte sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Three Rivers.

Famous people

Famous people close to Three Rivers

Nobody well known was born in Three Rivers itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Ian BoswellAmerican racing cyclist · b. 1991
William A. NiskanenAmerican economist · b. 1933
K
Kiki CutterAmerican alpine skier · b. 1949
D
Don A FarrellAmerican educator · b. 1947
J
Jill TwissAmerican writer · b. 1976
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Lava, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Carlisle Post Officepost officeGeneral Patch BridgebridgeLava Post Officepost officeWanoga Sidinglocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

SunriverIts storyD−

Questions about Three Rivers’ history

How does Three Rivers rank for history?

Three Rivers is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #129 of 142 in Oregon. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Three Rivers?

0.4% of Three Rivers’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1999.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.