On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taft is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #253 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Taft’s overall grade.
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 Taft’s 1.4 sits above most of its state (78% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
What stands out about Taft’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 year, then a sheet.
The town began as Siding Number Two on the Sunset Railroad. According to a display at the West Kern Oil Museum, local residents asked the Southern Pacific Railroad if the station could be named Moro when the rails arrived in about 1900, but a railroad official declined because the name would be too easily confused with the coastal town of Morro Bay. Instead, the railroad directed the station be called Moron, a word which as yet had no association with lack of intelligence (cf. Spanish word for hillock, morón). Pictures of local businesses, including the Moron Pharmacy, hang in the museum.
After a fire burned much of the town, the name was changed to Taft in honor of William Howard Taft.
Passages that mention Taft, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present1914 · page 1197Read the page →
Read the text
with C. S. Garfield of Bakersfield. but now of Ocean Park, he started to build the teleohone line from Bakersfield to JMcKittrick and the first station was in TetzlafT's store. Then he built the line into Maricopa, establishing the second station in Coons and Price's store in that place. When Taft started to build up, they built their line in there, and the third station was placed in Hopkins grocery store at Taft. The next station was in Fellows, in the Lawton and Blanks store. In all these fields the}^ extended their lines to the different wells or company headquarters and business assumed such proportions that they
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Kern County California1914 · page 1197Read the page →
Read the text
with C. S. Garfield of Bakersfield, but now of Ocean Park, he started to build the telephone line from Bakersfield to McKittrick and the first station was in Tetzlaff’s store. Then he built the line into Maricopa, establishing the second station in Coons and Price’s store in that place. When Taft started to build _ up, they built their line in there, and the third station was placed in Hopkins grocery store at Taft. The next station was in Fellows, in the Lawton and Blanks store. In all these fields they extended their lines to the different wells or company headquarters and business assumed such proportions that they
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present1914 · page 217Read the page →
Read the text
profession, supplementing an excellent practical training in one of the finest universities of the new world, admirably qualify Dr. Pascoe for the building up of a substantial clientele represented by a growing practice in the city of Taft and the surrounding oil districts. While the period of his association with professional work in the west has been comparatively brief (for it was in September of 1911 that he came to California and to Taft), the confidence and patronage of the people of the community have been accorded him and he numbers among his friends the leading men of the locality. When he under-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Kern County California1914 · page 215Read the page →
Read the text
profession, supplementing an excellent practical training in one of the finest universities of the new world, admirably qualify Dr. Pascoe for the building up of a substantial clientele represented by a growing practice in the city of Taft and the surrounding oil districts. While the period of his association with professional work in the west has been comparatively brief (for it was in September of 1911 that he came to California and to Taft), the confidence and patronage of the people of the community have been accorded him and he numbers among his friends the leading men of the locality. When he under-
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.
Timeline
Taft, 1909 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Taft post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Taft rank for history?
Taft is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #253 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.
What is on the National Register in Taft?
One place: the Fort, The (listed 1981).
How old are the homes in Taft?
12% of Taft’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
1910
1910
1911
2000
