Bakersfield, California

1952Bakersfield Sound Born: Buck Owens and Merle Haggard pioneered the Bakersfield Sound — a raw, electric, honky-tonk style of country music that challenged Nashville's polished productions.

1899Kern River Oil Strike: Massive oil discoveries in the Kern River field made Bakersfield the center of California's petroleum industry. Kern County remains one of the largest oil-producing counties in America.

1952Kern County Earthquake: A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Bakersfield, killing 12 people and causing widespread damage across the southern San Joaquin Valley.

1930Dust Bowl Migration: Thousands of Dust Bowl refugees from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas settled in Bakersfield's labor camps, bringing their music and culture that would eventually produce the Bakersfield Sound.

1869Bakersfield Founded: Colonel Thomas Baker established the town that bears his name at a crossing of the Kern River, initially serving as a supply stop for miners and farmers.

2000Agriculture and Oil Powerhouse: Bakersfield's economy runs on two pillars: Kern County is the most productive oil-producing county in California and the third-most productive agricultural county.

1970Cesar Chavez Organizing: The UFW organized farmworkers throughout the Bakersfield area, making Kern County a focal point of the fight for agricultural labor rights.

2020Air Quality Crisis: Bakersfield consistently ranks as having the worst air quality of any city in America, due to geography, agriculture, and oil production trapping pollution in the valley.

1915Cotton Industry Grows: Cotton farming boomed in Kern County, adding another major crop to the agricultural empire already producing grapes, almonds, and citrus.

2010Rapid Population Growth: Bakersfield became one of the fastest-growing cities in California as affordable housing attracted residents priced out of coastal cities.