About
The Bakersfield Californian is a local newspaper in Kern County. It is the direct descendent of Kern County's first newspaper, The Weekly Courier, which was first published Aug. 18, 1866, in Havilah, Calif. At that time, Havilah, a small mining town about 50 miles northeast of the present site of Bakersfield, was the center of the 1864 gold rush, which brought the first major population influx to Kern County. The newspaper's name was later changed to The Havilah Weekly Courier.
