History

Tales of ghoulish apparitions, creaky houses, and floating spirits are about as prevalent during the month of October as chocolate is on Valentine’s Day. After all, people like to be spooked—that rush of adrenaline is addictive...

What words come to mind when you think of Bakersfield? In the 1970s, they were “sun, fun, stay, and play.” These words marked the edges of town at the north and south ends on Highway 99. These bright, old signs harken back to an era when families still took road trips in the car (without a TV and Blu-ray player). Erected to promote passers-through to stop and support local businesses, the mammoth signs were 49 feet tall and 60 feet wide so drivers on the 99 couldn’t help but notice.

In the early days of our fair city, the fire department was comprised of three different companies...

The Roaring ‘20s changed the face of the bustling little oil and farming city known as Bakersfield...

The mysterious message found carved into the bark of an oak tree read: “Peter Lebeck [sic] Killed by a X Bear Oct 17 1837.” The discovery of Lebec's famous epitaph by the Foxtail Rangers was not the first, but was definitive proof that Lebec once lived and was struck down by a grizzly and buried below the tree that bears (pun intended) the inscription...

What’s more exciting than fast cars and fireworks? In 1911, nothing.

When the discovery of Bakersfield’s oil in the early 1900s didn’t garner the national recognition that Kern River oilmen believed it deserved, they hatched a plan and brought it to the attention of the City of Bakersfield...

The Bushwhackers, Confederate sympathizers also known as the Mason and Henry Gang, had one stated goal: kill every Union man from Kern County to San Francisco, thereby eliminating any opposition to making California an independent republic...

Bakersfield and Kern County have long had a romance with the rails. In the late 1800s, just a few decades after Cyrus K. Holliday started the Santa Fe Railway in 1859, the land in these parts was well-covered with steel tracks. With freight lines and passenger lines traveling north and south, east and west, the Kern County railroad industry was growing at an unprecedented rate...

Gone but not forgotten, this mission-style beauty was once the focal point of Bakersfield...

For many in Bakersfield, the holiday season didn’t truly begin until they had driven by the Hopple’s house. Loading the family into the station wagon and cruising down Elm Street to view the festively-decorated home was as much a tradition as picking out a Christmas tree or roasting chestnuts...