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California State...
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California Counties
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California Counties
The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties.
On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were
Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties
of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was
renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro
to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename
Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.
The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
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Kern County, California
Kern County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Bakersfield
Year Organized: 1866
Square Miles: 8,142 |
Court House: 1115 Truxtun Avenue, 5th Floor
County Administrative Center
Bakersfield, CA 93301-4617
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
The county derives its name from the Kern River which was named for Edward Kern, cartographer for General John C.
Fremont's 1845 expedition, which crossed Walker Pass. The Kern River was originally named Rio Bravo de San Felipe by
Father Francisco Garces when he explored the area in 1776.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
The Kern County area was first claimed by the Spanish in 1769. In 1772, Commander Don Pedro Fages became the first
European to enter the area. The expedition entered via the Grapevine Canyon (later the site of the Ridge Route along
U.S. 99 and now Interstate 5). Walker Pass was discovered in 1834 and is an important pass across the Sierra Nevada as
it is one of the few not closed by winter snows. It is now a National Historic Landmark. In 1848, the Kern area was
ceded to the United States as part of the transfer of California, Nevada, and Utah and other lands under the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The Havilah Court building was restored in the 1970s and now serves as a museum. Kern County was created in 1866
from parts of Los Angeles and Tulare Counties with the county seat located in the now abandoned mining town of Havilah.
In its beginning, Kern County was dominated by mining in the mountains and desert. The area of the San Joaquin Valley
was considered inhospitable and impassable at the time due to swamps, lakes, tule reeds, and diseases such as malaria.
This changed when settlers started draining lands for farming and constructing canals, most dug by hand by hired Chinese
laborers, to irrigate and drain these lands. Within 10 years the area of the San Joaquin Valley surpassed the mining
areas as the economic influence of the county, and the county seat was moved from Havilah to Bakersfield in 1874.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 8,161 square miles (21,138 kmē),
of which, 8,141 square miles (21,085 kmē) of it is land and 20 square miles (53 kmē) of it (0.25%) is
water. It is the third largest county by area in California.
Neighboring Counties:
- North: Tulare County
- Northeast: Inyo County
- East: San Bernardino County
- Southeast: Los Angeles County
- Southwest: Ventura County; Santa Barbara County
- West: San Luis Obispo County
- Northwest: Monterey County; Kings County
Cities and Towns:
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- Arvin |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Bakersfield
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- California City |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Delano |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Maricopa |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- McFarland |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Ridgecrest |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Shafter |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Taft |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Tehachapi |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Wasco |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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