Bakersfield City Hall (which is also referred to as City Hall South) is the center of government for the City of

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 houses the Mayor's office and the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

chambers. It is located in the

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. A statue of Colonel Thomas Baker, the city's founder, is in front of the building and is marked as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

#382. Many of the city's departments and officials are located in City Hall North, which is one block west of City Hall South.

History

During the California agricultural strikes of 1933, in which mostly Mexican and Filipino agricultural strikers organized with the

Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union The Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU) was a Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the ...

(CAWIU) for an increase in pay and an end to contract labor, Pedro Subia, a Mexican striker, was murdered. His funeral was held at the old Bakersfield City Hall building. As described by

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

historian

Rodolfo Acuña Rodolfo "Rudy" Francisco Acuña, Ph.D., (born May 18, 1932) is an American historian, professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, and a scholar of Chicano studies. He authored the 1972 book ''Occupied America: A History of Chi ...

, "workers came from all the camps around Bakersfield to gather in his honor in front of the Bakersfield City Hall. They included 'Whites, Mexicans, and Negroes, some of them once farmers in their own right, tall fair men from the mountains of the South and their wives leading little children, some desperate, many hopeless.'" The current City Hall was completed in 1954, after the old structure was destroyed in 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 ...

. The old City Hall was too small and the city had started planning a new structure one year earlier. By the early 2000s, the city had again outgrown the existing building. Many of the city's departments and officials were at various locations throughout the city. The city decided to reconsolidate these services back to downtown.Burger, David
Building to Slowly Become New City Hall
The Bakersfield Californian. December 29, 2006. Accessed: 04-12-2011. A new building downtown was estimated to cost $18 million. Because the city was already committed to a variety of construction projects, it was decided to purchase an existing building nearby and remodel it for the city's needs. The Borton, Petrini & Conron building, constructed in 1995, was purchased for $4.5 million, and cost $1.4 million to remodel. Its name was changed to City Hall North. Many of the city's departments and officials (including the

City Manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

) were moved into it. The old City Hall was renamed City Hall South, although it is still the official seat of power for the city. The Mayor's office and the City Council chambers remained in the old building, as required by the City Charter. The Department of Water Resources remained at its existing location in

Southwest Bakersfield Southwest Bakersfield (commonly referred to simply as The Southwest) is the southwest region of Bakersfield, California. It is roughly bounded by the Kern River to the north and Oak Street/Wible Road to the east. The other boundaries are the city ...

California Historical Landmark

The California Historical Landmark reads: :''NO. 382 COLONEL THOMAS BAKER MEMORIAL - In 1863 Colonel Baker, friend to all travelers, came here to found 'Bakers Field.' His motto was, 'Time will justify a man who means to do right.' This civic center is his dream come true.''Cal California parks Historical Landmarks
/ref> Col. Thomas Baker's House in 1861

References

{{reflist

City halls in California c Buildings and structures in Bakersfield, California Government buildings completed in 1954

History

California Historical Landmark

See also

References