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History of Bakersfield, California, USA
Journey back in time to Bakersfield, California, USA
Explore the history, people, photographs, newspapers, postcards, and genealogy connected to Bakersfield, California, USA.
ABOUT THE PLACE
About Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA
Bakersfield is the oil capital of California.
Bakersfield lies in the San Joaquin Valley, aka the "food basket of the world".
Bakersfield is also home to the world's two largest carrot producers: Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms together account for about 90 percent of all the carrots grown in California.
Bakersfield is the oil capital of California.
Bakersfield lies in the San Joaquin Valley, aka the "food basket of the world".
Bakersfield is also home to the world's two largest carrot producers: Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms together account for about 90 percent of all the carrots grown in California.
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VINTAGE BAKERSFIELD
Bakersfield Nostalgia: Vintage Photos, Ads, and Postcards
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Nineteenth Street
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Beale Memorial Library, 1907
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Post Office, 1907
Bakersfield, California, USA
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The Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California
June 29, 1908
Bakersfield, California
June 29, 1908
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Chester Ave. Looking South
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Oil Exchange Building
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Bakersfield, California, USA
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Southern Hotel
Bakersfield, California, USA
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In The Oil Fields Near Bakersfield, California (1911)
Bakersfield, California, USA
Postcard
"Bakersfield High School (BHS) is a high school located in Bakersfield, California, United States.
Institutional names and dates of operation:
Kern County High School 1893–1915
Kern County Union High School 1915–1945
Bakersfield High School 1945–present
Bakersfield Junior College 1913–1956
Bakersfield Adult (Night) School 1917–1985...
The school has been in the same location since its inception, though most of the buildings have been reconstructed. The 1952 Kern County earthquake precipitated a great deal of reconstruction."
wikipedia){kind=small}
Kern Co. High School, Bakersfield, California. (1918)
"Bakersfield High School (BHS) is a high school located in Bakersfield, California, United States.
Institutional names and dates of operation:
Kern County High School 1893–1915
Kern County Union High School 1915–1945
Bakersfield High School 1945–present
Bakersfield Junior College 1913–1956
Bakersfield Adult (Night) School 1917–1985...
The school has been in the same location since its inception, though most of the buildings have been reconstructed. The 1952 Kern County earthquake precipitated a great deal of reconstruction."
wikipedia
"Bakersfield High School (BHS) is a high school located in Bakersfield, California, United States.
Institutional names and dates of operation:
Kern County High School 1893–1915
Kern County Union High School 1915–1945
Bakersfield High School 1945–present
Bakersfield Junior College 1913–1956
Bakersfield Adult (Night) School 1917–1985...
The school has been in the same location since its inception, though most of the buildings have been reconstructed. The 1952 Kern County earthquake precipitated a great deal of reconstruction."
wikipedia
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Kern County Airport, 1937
Bakersfield, California, USA
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"Bakersfield, Built 1912, Arch- Frederick Meyers, Contr- Frederick J. Amweg, Damaged by earthquake - 1952."
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Kern County Court House
"Bakersfield, Built 1912, Arch- Frederick Meyers, Contr- Frederick J. Amweg, Damaged by earthquake - 1952."
courthousehistory.com
"Bakersfield, Built 1912, Arch- Frederick Meyers, Contr- Frederick J. Amweg, Damaged by earthquake - 1952."
courthousehistory.com
Bakersfield, California, USA
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The Patio... Fairgrounds Motel & Coffee Shop
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Overpass - Bakersfield Inn
Genealogy gifts & optional resources
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Genealogy Gifts & Resources Related to BAKERSFIELD
CALIFORNIA Dreamin' Ancestry Coffee Mug - Genealogy
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LOCAL HISTORY
Discover Bakersfield: History, News, Travel, and Stories
Explore the events, newspaper stories, people, and moments that shaped Bakersfield through the years.
Bakersfield was settled in 1858 by a handful of families who had trekked northward through the El Tejon Pass seeking home sites rather than gold.
The town was named by an early settler, Colonel Thomas Baker, who invited the weary travelers through the valley to rest overnight. These travelers would plan in advance to meet and rest in "Colonel Baker's field." Baker formally laid out the town in 1869, and within two years the city had a telegraph office, two stores, a newspaper, two boarding houses, one doctor, a wagon shop, a harness shop, one attorney, a saloon, and fifty school pupils. The Bakersfield Centennial Garden and Convention Center rests on part of the original Colonel Baker's field as well as the Centennial Plaza community park.
The City of Bakersfield was first incorporated in 1873, and in the same year, the County seat was moved from the booming little town of Havilah to Bakersfield.
Three years later, the town decided to disincorporate. It was not until 1898 that the community incorporated again.
1895 - Bakersfield
Ba'kersfield, a city, the capital of Kern co., Cal., on the Kern River, and on the Southern Pacific Railroad, in a fine stock-raising and fruit-growing section, 300 miles S.E. of San Francisco. It has 5 churches, 2 banks, 4 news paper offices, railroad-car-shops, planing- and flour-mills, and fruit-packing establishments. Pop. in 1890, 2626.
1906 - SIX BURIED IN A TUNNEL. ENTOMBED IN KERN RIVER POWER CO.'S SHAFT. FOURTEEN SECTIONS COLLAPSED LIKE CARDS AND BODIES ARE FAR BEYOND REACH.
Bakersfield, Dec. 7. - Six miners were entombed this morning by the caving of a shaft leading to the big steel pipe conduit which passes through a mountain 2000 feet at a high angle in the Kern river canyon, at Camp No. 1, of the Edison Power company plants, eighteen miles from this city.
The names of the miners are:
G. ANDERSON.
C. D. ROBLES.
GEORGE WARNER.
H. FARRIS.
L. D. HICKS.
JOHN WHIBLE.
Reports as to the seriousness of the accident are conflicting and from the office of GLASS and FISHER, a contracting firm, it was stated tonight that but seventy feet of shafting was caved in and that work on the line would be delayed about one week. Coroner MULLINS has been notified of the accident, but will not go to the scene until two weeks, being instructed that it will take that length of time to reach the bodies.
The accident occurred while the miners were removing timbers from the shaft. It is supposed that the workmen had become careless, in their anxiety to make good...
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The names of the miners are:
G. ANDERSON.
C. D. ROBLES.
GEORGE WARNER.
H. FARRIS.
L. D. HICKS.
JOHN WHIBLE.
Reports as to the seriousness of the accident are conflicting and from the office of GLASS and FISHER, a contracting firm, it was stated tonight that but seventy feet of shafting was caved in and that work on the line would be delayed about one week. Coroner MULLINS has been notified of the accident, but will not go to the scene until two weeks, being instructed that it will take that length of time to reach the bodies.
The accident occurred while the miners were removing timbers from the shaft. It is supposed that the workmen had become careless, in their anxiety to make good...
1910 - March 14 - Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vented to atmosphere
1916
Bakersfield, a banking city, the capital of Kern co., Cal., on the Kern River and on the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rs., in a fine stock-raising and fruit-growing section, 300 miles SE. of San Francisco. It has oil-refineries, foundries, machine- and railroad-car shops, and fruit-packing establishments. It is a shipping point for live-stock, wool, hides, grain, and fruit. Pop. in 1890, 2626 ; in 1900, 4836.
1928 - 2 CHILDREN BURN TO DEATH IN CAR. TWO WOMEN RECEIVE PROBABLY FATAL INJURIES WHEN AUTO EXPLODES.
Bakersfield, Cal., April 12 (AP) - Two children burned to death and two women received probably fatal injuries when their automobile exploded at a service station east of here last night shortly after a lantern was placed near the gasoline tank of the car. Fire that followed the blast destroyed the automobile, filling station and a house.
MRS. EARL STEARNS and MRS. CECIL D. AGEN, both of Stockton an two of their children occupied the car. Their husbands, who were in a nearby machine, were unable to reach the children and rescued the women only after they were severely burned.
MRS. EARL STEARNS and MRS. CECIL D. AGEN, both of Stockton an two of their children occupied the car. Their husbands, who were in a nearby machine, were unable to reach the children and rescued the women only after they were severely burned.
1929 - Man Chokes to Death on Cigar Butt
Bakersfield, Cal. - Steven W. Marshall, 35, chief clerk of a petroleum securities company here, choked to death Sunday night on the butt of a cigar which he was chewing. While bending over a safe, he coughed heavily and fell to the floor gasping. He died a few minutes after reaching a hospital. Physicians removed a two-inch cigar stub from the man's throat.
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1952 - Bakersfield hit by earthquake, caused over $50 million in property damage
1952 - NEW QUAKE JARS SOUTHLAND, BAKERSFIELD LOSS IN MILLIONS. 2 DEAD, 32 HURT, BUSINESS AREA LEFT SHAMBLES. RESCUERS DIG INTO WRECKAGE, MORE TEMBLORS FEARED.
Bakersfield, Calif. (UP) - Another earthquake rattled windows in Southern California today as Bakersfield dug out of the debris left by the bomblike earth shock that caused the deaths of two persons yesterday, injured at least 32, and made a shambles of the business district.
Police and sheriff's switchboards were deluged with telephone calls from frightened Southern Californians shaken awake in the predawn by another in the series of "after-shocks" that hav been hitting regularly since the big Tehachapi 'quake 33 days ago.
Seismologist Dr. Charles F. Richter, of the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, warned that Southern California can expect shocks as big as the Bakersfield temblor for "a year or more - at wider and wider intervals."
Authorities here, meanwhile, estimated that damage from yesterday's sudden shake would run upwards of $100,000,000. The $20,000,000 Kern County Central hospital, which suffered a $3,000,000 beating in the Tehachapi 'quake, was to...
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Police and sheriff's switchboards were deluged with telephone calls from frightened Southern Californians shaken awake in the predawn by another in the series of "after-shocks" that hav been hitting regularly since the big Tehachapi 'quake 33 days ago.
Seismologist Dr. Charles F. Richter, of the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, warned that Southern California can expect shocks as big as the Bakersfield temblor for "a year or more - at wider and wider intervals."
Authorities here, meanwhile, estimated that damage from yesterday's sudden shake would run upwards of $100,000,000. The $20,000,000 Kern County Central hospital, which suffered a $3,000,000 beating in the Tehachapi 'quake, was to...
1960 - March 14 - 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield Calif
Here's a list of places to go and things to do in Bakersfield:
1. Kern County Museum: Explore the history of the area at the Kern County Museum. It features a variety of historic buildings, including a one-room schoolhouse, a doctor's office, and a train depot. Don't miss the opportunity to ride the "Loraine," a fully operational steam locomotive.
2. Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: If you're a country music fan, a visit to the Crystal Palace is a must. This iconic venue celebrates the legacy of Buck Owens, a country music legend. Enjoy live music, dancing, and a delicious meal at the on-site restaurant.
3. California Living Museum (CALM): CALM is a wildlife park that focuses on native California animals and plants. You can see everything from bears and big cats to reptiles and birds. It's a great place for families and animal lovers.
4. Rabobank Arena, Theater & Convention Center: Check out the events happening at this multipurpose venue, which hosts concerts, sporting events, and live performances. It's a hub for entertainment in...
Read more
2. Buck Owens' Crystal Palace: If you're a country music fan, a visit to the Crystal Palace is a must. This iconic venue celebrates the legacy of Buck Owens, a country music legend. Enjoy live music, dancing, and a delicious meal at the on-site restaurant.
3. California Living Museum (CALM): CALM is a wildlife park that focuses on native California animals and plants. You can see everything from bears and big cats to reptiles and birds. It's a great place for families and animal lovers.
4. Rabobank Arena, Theater & Convention Center: Check out the events happening at this multipurpose venue, which hosts concerts, sporting events, and live performances. It's a hub for entertainment in...
GENEALOGY IN BAKERSFIELD
Discover YOUR Roots: Bakersfield Ancestry
Explore ancestors connected to Bakersfield through births, deaths, marriages, cemeteries, and local genealogy resources.
BIRTHS & DEATHS
Ancestors Who Were Born or Died in Bakersfield, California, USA
We currently have information about 23 ancestors who were born or died in Bakersfield.
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Updated: 9/25/2023 9:19:38 AM
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