Historic Bakersfield & Kern County, California www.gilbertgia.com One Hundred Years at Old Hart Park by Gilbert P. Gia Copyright © 2011 Gilbert P. Gia, Bakersfield, California One Hundred Years at Old Hart Park is free to educators for public classroom use. Commercial users contact Gilbert Gia,
[email protected] Copyright details are at the end of this work. (Hart Memorial Park is near Bakersfield, county seat of Kern County, California.) y 1890 Capt. John Barker had settled on several B hundred acres of river-bottom land about seven miles upriver of Bakersfield. Barker died in 1909, and in 1915 his son-in-law Daniel Harris offered the property to the county for $30,000. The price squelched the deal. In 1920 the county had a second chance to buy the land, this time from Herman T. Miller and T.B. Wiseman. The Bakersfield Californian objected the barren location and the twisting road, and the paper pointed out there were camping spots nearer to town. Besides wrote the paper, this "hot bend of the river" was no way to spend $20,000. The Californian called for a public referendum,1 but the Bakersfield Morning Echo, its rival, said the Barker property would make a fine center for health and recreation, 1 Bakersfield Californian, Nov 9,1921 www.gilbertgia.com p 1 of 62 although the Echo admitted the road was bad.2 In 1921 civic and fraternal voices, the American Legion and the Caledonia Masonic Lodge of Bakersfield in particular, convinced the Kern County Board of Supervisors to buy the property for a county park.