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Bakersfield High School Schools did not escape the fury either. Bakersfield High School’s Warren Hall, formerly Bakersfield Junior College, survived, but some buildings on campus dating back to the high school’s beginning in 1893 was damaged. The quake chipped the exterior corners of some structures, and the question loomed of whether schools would be ready for classes with the new school year just weeks away. BHS alone received $1.5 million in damage. “Some of the buildings on the F Street area had to be removed,” Brewer said. “The brick buildings suffered quite a bit of damage. Harvey Audi-
Kern General Hospital seen from Flower Street prior to the earthquake. 52
Bakersfield Life
May 2011
Kern General Two hospitals were evacuated following the ’52 quake, including Kern General, built in 1925 on Flower Street. Two-thirds of the all masonry building was destroyed by the July 21 quake. The wing’s floors were concrete and the exterior walls were made of unreinforced brick bearings. Only one building which was designed to resist shock sustained no damage. Damage to the other wards made the facility a total loss and immediate evacuation was ordered. With power knocked out, those patients in labor were wheeled near a window for better lighting. Steel columns and tie rods were added to the southeast corner of the “D” wing for bracing, and no additional damage occurred. However, fire walls were pulled down, as was exterior ornamental work. Cracks were evident in the interior corridors. “Kern General lost a number of wings to condemnation and had to rebuild as they were deemed u uninhabitable,” Brewer added. It cost $3 million to rebuild Kern General, and today, Kern Medical Center as it is now called, is a state-of-the-art teaching hospital and medical facility.
Photo courtesy of the Kern County Museum
Bakersfield High School received extensive damages during the 1952 quake.
Californian file photo
torium was made of concrete and steel and was heavily reinforced and as a result it did very well.” Thanks to a $17 million bond issue, BHS was retrofitted and rebuilt, including its south Industrial Technology building and administration building. Bakersfield College was rebuilt on a new site on Panorama Drive. Lowell School at 10th & “H” streets was condemned and made way for the new St. Francis Church. A newly repaired wall section at Hawthorne Elementary collapsed after the Aug. 22 hit. A $6 million dollar bond was approved to build a modern, air-conditioned new high school, Foothill, which served as a construction model for others around the state.