Historic Photos
Take a virtual tour of Historic Bakersfield using Google Maps!|
Featured Image
Earthquake damage at east portal of Tunnel 3 on the Bakersfield to Tehachapi route.
On July 21, 1952, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Kern County. The epicenter was at the Southern Pacific Railroad line southeast of Bealville. There, the quake cracked reinforced-concrete tunnels and shortened the distance between the portals of two tunnels by about 2.5 meters and bent the rails into S-shaped curves. The earthquake ultimately claimed 12 lives and caused $60 million in property damage. |
 44B.Calif.Railroad.1 |
With a photograph collection of over 400,000 images, the Kern County Museum is one of the largest repositories of historic photographs in California. The Kern County Museum is working to make its collection more accessible to the public by posting a fraction of its collection on this website. If you would like to order a copy of one of the images in these pages, contact Sarah at sawoodman@kern.org with the brief identification and description found below the image. If you can't find the image that you want on our website, you may need to visit the museum. Contact sawoodman@kern.org to make an appointment to view the extensive photograph collection. Appointments are available 9:00am - 1:00pm, Monday - Friday.
Costs for photograph reproductions vary according to size, intended use, and quantity. Please see the below forms for information on ordering reproductions.
Important Information and Forms:
- Request for Study of Collections
- Historic Photo Fee Schedule
- Agreement for Private Use of Historic Photographs
- Agreement for Non-Private Use of Historic Photographs
- Historic Photos Use and Fee Policy
to purchase some of these historic images on t-shirts,
mugs, and more!
This is a Manila site.