What Bakersfield looked like in the Late-19th Century Through Historical Photos

A group of 2 men, 2 women and 1 child, identified as Indians, standing next to a building east of Rancho El Tejon at the mouth of Tejon Canyon.

Majordomo's quarters at Rancho El Tejon, several men on horseback (Jose Jesus Lopez on the white horse).

Panoramic view of a street in Bakersfield. Horse-drawn vehicles are seen on the dirt street, and building materials are also on the street, next to a building where work is being done. Empty fields are visible at left. At right is J.S. Drury's Drug Store, as well as other shops

Ruins of the Southern Hotel after the Bakersfield Fire of 1889. The Hotel was located at 19th and Chester.

Spanish Society group photo with Mr. R. Arzu, S.J. seated, center. Group of 10.

Shows house set back among trees and lawn. Constructed of stone, brick and scalloped shingles, has three stories, bay and dormer windows and gazebo on back side of house. Young lady with bicycle in front, right side. Home of Canadian-American Robert M. Holtby, wife Celia (Woodman) and daughter Roberta. Mr. Holtby was sheep farmer, building this home in Bakersfield in 1891.

Shows three-story Southern Hotel occupying the corner of 19th & Chester Streets. Pedestrians walk sidewalks, horse and buggies stopped along road, bicyclist on corner. Scribner Block building and White Star Steam Laundry visible in right corner. Built in 1889 for Southern Hotel Association. Architectural drawings by Benjamin G. McDougall and Son of San Francisco and San Diego. Built by contractor William J. Doherty.

W.H. Scribner Building. Per the 1899 Bakersfield City Directory, Scribner was a "newsdealer."

An artesian well west of Bakersfield, several mean and a woman posing. Scene includes a structure, buggy with horse and a wagon with unhitched horses.

This hospital stood at 19th and Oak Streets. It was built in 1895 and was used until 1925, when the hospital now known as Kern Medical Center was built at Flower Street.

Downtown Bakersfield circa 1896-1907 during a holiday parade. Shows buildings, crowd, American flags, Chinese-American portion of the parade.

The headgate and weir of the Calloway canal in the Kern River, taken at low water and showing the construction of the headgate. Location is about one mile north of Bakersfield.

A wagon filled with people and decorated with flowers for a holiday parade.

The Southern Pacific Railroad roundhouse at Summer, CA (now in East Bakersfield), usually was much busier than shown here. (Photo courtesy of Ellen Gorelick, Director, Tulare Historical Museum)

The Kern Guards standing in a "V" formation.

A flat bottom boat is on the rocks at the edge of the Kern River.

Rose Station was located northeast of 'grapevine' near Ranco Canoa, northwest of Ostrich Farm. It was a trading post and watering stop for stages. It was also the center of social activities for the Tejon area.

A 'hedge' of cactus located on Rancho El Tejon, two unknown men standing within the cactus demonstrate it's size.

This was the first school building to be built on the current site of Bakersfield High School. Kern County Union High School, as it was then known, moved classes to this building in 1895. The building was later known as the Commercial Building after other buildings were added to the campus. The building was torn down in 1936 and Elm Grove was established in its place.

View of the Southern Hotel located at 19th and Chester Avenue.

Ingleside Hotel, with people in front and on balcony; the hotel replaced the town hall about January 1890, and burnt down August 1890; located at Northwest corner of 17th Street and Chester Avenue, the original Beale Memorial Library opened on that site in 1900.

The Southern Hotel was located at 19th Street and Chester Avenue. The fired occurred on July 7, 1889. The Hotel was later rebuilt in about the same location and remained until the 1940's.

Interior of First Methodist Church, which was built about 1870.

Kern County Land Company building located at [the corner of 19th and H Streets; view is from southeast.

First Baptist Church, which was located at the Northwest corner of 22nd and I Streets. It was dedicated April 1890. The building was sold in 1904 and replaced by a new building.

Street scene in Glennville

Blodget residence in Bakersfield, man and two momen and two children on the porch, antoher man leans against the stair post.

Viola Stoner (daughter of Austin Foster Stoner) is in middle front row, in white dress. Viola Stoner is the grandmother of Gaye Lenahan, who donated several family pictures of the Stoner family.

A view of the Kern Island canal headgate with a small structure nearby.

Heavily loaded branch of lemons, located at Old Headquarters, Rancho El Tejon.

Three men, each with a dog, standing or sitting on the patio of the Old Headquarters of Rancho El Tejon (looking west).

Eight men standing around the men's quarters and blacksmith shop buildings at the Old Headquarters of Rancho El Tejon.

Unidentified man in patio of El Tejon adobe ranch house.

This view is from a county bridge, looking eastward and upstream, on the McClung ranch two miles from the headgate.

One of Jimmie Rosemyre's daughters standing beside a chair on the patio of Rancho El Tejon.

House barely visible behind heavy growth of shrubbery, including some form of palm.

Corral and paddock area.

Bellevue Ranch headquarters.

Two men standing in doorway of kitchen building of Old Headquarters of Rancho El Tejon

Kern River above the canal, north channel taken from the county bridge looking westward downstream.

Very large oaks beside the Fort Tejon hospital building, with a family of three and dog beneath one of the oak trees.

Artesan well and pasture with cattle.

Freshly planted crop field near El Paso Creek, Old Headquarters, Rancho El Tejon.

View from Rancho De Castec looking southeasterly over the ruins of Fort Tejon CDalvry Post.

Bridge over the Pioneer Canal, with a mule drawn wagon crossing.

Bridge and weir just below the headgates of the Pioneer canal.

Three cowboys (names unknown) with a roped steer.

Ruins of band stable looking westerly through parade camp grounds from Canada De las Uvas (Grapevine Canyon, Rancho Castec)

Ruins of the headquarters building of Fort Tejon (looking northwesterly) from Rancho de Castec.

Two men posing a horse and a donkey, on a simple low bridge, site unknown, one of the men possibley E. M. Roberts.

View of the ranch showing a field of crops with the barn in the background.

Three men and two dogs on a veranda at Rancho El Tejon.

Cook/bunk wagon, wagon with 2 mule team and four men.

Front of two story fram house and yar with unknown woman tending roses.

Teams of horse-drawn equipment line the rim and scattered across site. Oil derricks visible in distance, a house, and two completed storage tanks in right background. One tank has lettering on sides probably the San Joaquin Oil & Development Company. San Joaquin Oil & Development Company was one of five largest companies in Kern River Field, operating in late 1800's to early 1900's. In 1901 combined with four other companies to create Associated Oil Company.

The Southern Pacific Railroad roundhouse at Summer, CA (now in East Bakersfield), usually was much busier than shown here. (Photo courtesy of Ellen Gorelick, Director, Tulare Historical Museum)