Beale Memorial Clock Tower is a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

located in

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was a gift to the city; built by

Truxtun Beale Truxtun Beale (March 6, 1856 – June 2, 1936) was an American diplomat. Biography Beale was born in San Francisco to Mary Engle Edwards and Edward Fitzgerald Beale; his siblings were Mary (1852–1925), who married Russian diplomat George Ba ...

in memory of his mother, Mary Edwards Beale. It was dedicated on April 4, 1904, and was built in the middle of the intersection of 17th St. and Chester Ave.Beale Memorial Clock Tower
. Kern County Museum. Accessed: 05-08-2010. When he was ambassador to Spain, Beale was inspired by a clock tower he saw there. He hired architect Clinton Day to design it. In 1910, the

Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway The Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway was a streetcar company which operated between Bakersfield and Sumner (later Kern City), in California. Later, after Kern City was annexed by Bakersfield, the streetcar company operated completely in Ba ...

started planning a double track upgrade on the South Chester Line. The Beale Clock Tower was right in the path of that line upgrade. On January 22, 1912, the

Bakersfield City Council The Bakersfield City Council is the main governing body for Bakersfield, California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million re ...

voted to remove the clock tower. However, after protest from citizens, and Truxtun Beale, who built it only eight years earlier, it was decided to leave the clock tower. Tracks were built around it, which would create future traffic problems. However, the citizens at the time were content to drive around the narrow space.Lynch, Georg
The Streetcars, Gone but not Forgotten
. ''The Bakersfield Californian''. Accessed: 05-08-2010. The clock tower continued to stand until the

1952 Kern County earthquake The 1952 Kern County earthquake occurred on July 21 in the southern San Joaquin Valley and measured 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale. The main shock occurred at 4:52 am Pacific Daylight Time (11:52 UTC), killed 12 people, injured hundreds mor ...

sequence took place in July and August. Being damaged by the earthquake, the city council again voted to demolish it. The only parts to survive were: the clock works, bell, iron spiral stairwell, balcony railings, and arch iron grillwork. In 1961, a group of local citizens organized an effort to rebuild the clock tower. The new clock tower would be built in front of the

Kern County Museum The Kern County Museum is a history museum located in Bakersfield, California. Its main focus is the history of Kern County. Pioneer Village, located on , contains over 50 original buildings from around the county, related to life in the late 19th ...

on Chester Ave, approximately 1.25 miles north of its original location. It was dedicated on December 13, 1964 to the County of Kern.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Bakersfield, California Landmarks in Bakersfield, California Clock towers in California Buildings and structures completed in 1904