Bakersfield Life

Stories Behind the Structures

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Stories Behind the Structures

The Kern County Museum recently received an Institute of Museums and Library Services grant to add interpretive signs in front of each historic structure. These signs will add a much-needed layer of information that will enhance visitors’ experiences. The following are a few stories found on the grounds of the Kern County Museum written by Lori Wear and Sarah Woodman:

Howell House

In 1891, William Howell hired local carpenter John Singleton to construct a Queen Anne-style Victorian home on the northeast corner of 17th and H streets.

Howell moved with his parents and sisters from Nebraska to Kern County in 1877. He became a court reporter for the Kern County Superior Court after his father died of pneumonia and later became the county auditor and a successful businessman. Howell married Elizabeth Dugan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, in 1901. The Howells raised two children, Genevieve and William Howell, Jr., in their home.

The Bakersfield Californian donated the house to the museum in 1968 and the Howell family contributed the foundation for the house at its new site on the museum grounds.

Barnes Log Cabin

After being injured while fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War, Thomas Barnes came to Kern County looking for opportunity.

In 1868, a tremendous flood washed trees from the Sierra Nevadas down the Kern River depositing them on the valley floor.

Barnes built his cabin from logs he retrieved after the fl ood. Barnes lived in this house with his wife Jane and seven of their children.

The Barnes family settled on 160 acres southwest of Bakersfield near Kern and Buena Vista lakes on land later known as the Canfield Ranch. They grew alfalfa, wheat, corn and peaches, and raised cattle and hogs on their land.

Due to the efforts of Hugh M. Allen, the Kern County Land Company donated this log cabin to the Kern County Museum in 1946.

Pinkney House

During their childhood, William Pinkney and Amanda Boydston took part in a migration of Americans heading west to seek land, gold and other opportunities in the western states shortly after the end of the Civil War.

In 1898, Pinkney married a widow named Amanda who had two young daughters. Two years later, the young couple bought the house which was originally located at 812 H St. Pinkney, born in South Carolina, came to Bakersfield in 1884 with his parents to pick cotton on a one-year contract.

William later worked wrangling cattle, as a hod carrier and for the City of Bakersfield’s Streets Department.

Amanda, born in Kansas near the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, originally settled in the San Gabriel Valley before moving to Bakersfield. She was a member of the Golden West Women’s Club, the International Order of Twelve Knights and the Daughters of Tabor.

Hynda Randolph, the Pinkney’s daughter, donated the house to the museum in 1964.

Kern County Chamber of Commerce Building

When the Kern County Chamber of Commerce building was completed in 1928, Chester Avenue was part of Highway 99, the main north-south route through California.

Architect Charles H. Biggar designed the Spanish-style building on land adjacent to the Kern County Fairgrounds. Inside this building, visitors were treated to exhibits of Kern County’s produce and products.

Soon after the building opened, a letter to the editor suggested historical materials be collected at the Chamber. In 1941, the Kern County Board of Supervisors voted to establish a local museum.

The Kern County Museum was granted space in the basement of the Chamber of Commerce building to collect artifacts documenting Kern County’s rich and diverse heritage.

The first museum exhibits opened to the public in a corner of the first floor of this building. When the Chamber of Commerce moved its operations downtown, the museum expanded to use the entire building for exhibits.

Adobe Building

Adobe was a common material used to construct buildings from the Spanish mission period of California history through the 1930s.

Adobe is a sun-dried brick made from soil or clay. This structure was built to resemble an adobe dwelling in Kern County during the mid-1800s.

The adobe bricks used to construct this building were salvaged from a 1930s Bakersfield residence. The adobe house, located near Fairfax Road and Brundage Lane, belonged to William and Flora Deuel Combs.

In 1979, Dr. Lewis L. Sandidge and Dr. Dyrel Faulstick donated the adobe bricks used to reconstruct this building. Chicanos Unidos Para El Progreso constructed this building on the museum grounds in 1977.