Taking a look around Bakersfield today, you would probably never guess that it was a place that once upon a time had its own National Guard. But it is true. Picture this! A California full of thrills and danger that lurked around every corner!
Bakersfield’s Sound
Southern Pacific Oil Train circa 1908
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Oil and trains have been a long-time part of our community, but not many people may recall just how big of a deal it was at the turn of the 20th Century. Imagine people from all over California taking trains and buggy rides out to Kern County specifically to see our oil fields in action! Sounds too incredible to believe? Well, read on and start believing!
Bakersfield Firewagon
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It’s true: nothing can get the blood pumping like the feeling of lurking peril! However, that can only really be appreciated until the lurking becomes a reality.
Bakersfield Aviation Meet
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Bakersfield has played host to many spectacular events throughout its history, and having the second air meet in the entire United States was definitely one such instance.
Motorbike Mania
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In 1910, the first paved streets appeared in Bakersfield. Not surprisingly, in 1911, the first motorcycle race around China Grade Loop took place. However, paved roads were far from necessary when it came to some of the earliest daredevils in our midst, and those who were a part of the Bakersfield Motorcycle Club—also founded in the early 1900s—have become the stuff of local legend.
Bellevue Ranch
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It is true that our lovely city has grown quite a bit throughout the years. It has seen swampland turned to farmland that fed the world, and farmland turned to homes that housed generations of families. Along with the transitions, local history was made by the hands of many from all over the United States.
Bakersfield Masonic Lodge
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The laying of a cornerstone may not seem like much of an occasion to some, but it only seems fitting that when the Masonic Lodge on 18th Street started the building process, it brought attention far and wide.
William H. Scribner, Bakersfield Icon
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Throughout Kern County’s fascinating history, we have certainly had our fair share of enigmatic characters who helped to build the great community that we currently enjoy. These people were not afraid to bring their visions into reality, and they made certain that they helped to better the lives of their fellow neighbors along the way.
Kern Valley Bank
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The great fire of 1889, which raged for three hours through Bakersfield, took place on the Sunday afternoon of July 7. While families were attending church, an inferno started innocently enough…
Budweiser Rocket
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It was William A. Ward who once said, “Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.” There was no notable adversity that drove Stan Barrett to break the sound barrier on land that cold December morning in 1979—just the dream that was carried by both the man and the owner of the vehicle that propelled him to glory
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