With Bend on one side and the Deschutes National Forest on the other Bessie butte is part of the Newberry Caldera, named for Bessie Wilkinson.
Bessie Wilkinson came to the area in 1905 from Minneapolis Minnesota to homestead a claim northwest of the butte encompassing its northwest flank. Within a year proving up her property (1907), she sold her holdings to a representative of the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company.
Bessie played the piano and was a member of one of Bend’s earliest organized orchestras. She played next to Iva West, Dr. Urling C. Coe, Creed Triplet, F.O. Miner, and H.P.J. McDonald. (The museum has a photo of the group c.1906)
In 1907, she was hired by Bend’s telephone exchange as the company’s second “Hello Girl” (telephone operator), resigning her position a year later. She died in 1954.