Labeled Red Butte on early maps, Pilot Butte was known as a natural landmark identifying to travelers a safe place to ford the Deschutes River was nearby.
Erupting nearly 190,000 years ago, this extinct cinder cone butte rises 500 feet in elevation over the city of Bend, Oregon, making the city one of six in the United States to have a volcano within its boundaries.
Dedicated on September 30, 1928, a gift of Pilot Butte Park was presented to the state of Oregon, commemorating the life and accomplishments of Terrence H. Foley. Foley died on August 17, 1925 from injuries suffered in an auto accident near Millican. He arrived in Bend in 1910, and was an early leader in the young community, becoming vice-president of Bend Water, Light, and Power Company. Friends and associates of Foley’s purchased the 100-acre parcel of land and donated it to the public as a memorial in T.H. Foley’s name.
In 1922, the road to the top of the butte was built and a year later in 1923, the Bend Bulletin reported the Klu Klux Klan burned a cross on its summit.
For the US Junior National Ski Championships in 1964, a ski jump was constructed on its north side. Due to a lack of snow that year, trucks transported snow to the butte prior to the event. The following year the event was held on Mount Bachelor.