Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #290 of 847 in California. What drives it
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, East Bakersfield is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #290 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so East Bakersfield’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of East Bakersfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of East Bakersfield.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of East Bakersfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
East Bakersfield is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California. As of the 2020 census, East Bakersfield had a population of 9,749.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention East Bakersfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
But there were intervening vicissitudes. Before the railroad was built water had to be hauled from Buena Vista lake and cost $8 per barrel. Afterward it was shipped by tank cars from East Bakersfield and retailed at fifty cents. The town was first built on the south side of the railroad track on land leased from the railroad on short tenure, and the architecture was of a correspondingly frail and temporary character. On October 22, 1909, at five o'clock in the morning a drunken man tried to light a distillate burner in a Chinese restaurant. He turned on the distillate and struck a match. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
But there were intervening vicissitudes. Before the railroad was built water had to be hauled from Buena Vista lake and cost $8 per barrel. Afterward it was shipped by tank cars from East Bakersfield and retailed at fifty cents.. The town was first built on the south side of the railroad track on land leased from the railroad on short tenure, and the architecture was of a correspondingly frail and temporary character. On October 22, 1909, at five o’clock in the morning a drunken man tried to light a distillate burner in a Chinese restaurant. He turned on the distillate and struck a match. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in 1880 he embarked in the sheep business, with headquarters at East Bakersfield, and for six years he experienced the reverses and successes incident to that industry. During December of 1886 he bought the French bakery in East Bakersfield on Humboldt street between Baker and King and there he conducted a thriving trade for twenty-four years. His patronage extended through every part of Bakersfield and East Bakersfield and into the surrounding country. When finally he sold the business in 1910, with his wife he enjoyed a delightful vacation, returning to his old home in the south of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
he improved in 1911 with the Quincy building, a substantial three-story brick structure that is an ornament to the city and source of gratifying annual income to the owner. During 1909 he built the Fabian hotel on Humboldt street near Baker avenue. East Bakersfield, which he still owns, and in addition heowns the Hunter & Wilson building, also of brick, in East Bakersfield, as well as other valuable property both in Bakersfield and Los Angeles, where he continues the building and real estate business upon an extensive scale. Of late his attention has been given principally to the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…
1940Sunset District, East Bakersfield, Kern County, Calif…Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1890Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on East Bakersfield’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in East Bakersfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
East Bakersfield is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #290 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
12% of East Bakersfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1969.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
