Front:
KERN COUNTY COURT HOUSE
HAVILAH CALIFORNIA
1866
Back:
FIRST KERN COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Havilah, California
Kern County (named after the Kern River, which was
named by Fremont for his topographer Edward M. Kern)
was organized in 1866 from parts of Los Angeles and
Tulare counties. Havilah was the county seat from 1866
to 1874 when it was moved to Bakersfield. Havilah was
named by Asbury Harpending, a man who became in-
volved in a Civil War plot to take over shipping in San
Francisco to help the Confederate cause. After the gold
mines played out the population moved out of the hills.
Railroads were being built and this made agriculture
replace mining. While only a little more than a mem-
ory Havilah along with its sister towns of Keysville,
Quartzburg, Kernville and Sierra played a tremendous
role in the building of the west . . . M.P.
& Published by Royal Pictures, Colton, California
C-126
Photo-color by Merle Porter
ICS-74564-2
HERE
