Beale Memorial Library 20th Anniversary

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Meet Me at the Beale...Again!

The original library building, donated by the family of General Edward Beale, founder of the Tejon Ranch, was located on Chester and 17th Streets until the earthquake of 1952 permanently closed it. After 5 years a new building was constructed on Truxtun Avenue between Chester and L Streets which served as the Central Library until 1988. In 1964, the Central Library was renamed the Beale Memorial Library by order of the Superior Court of California.

The new Beale Memorial Library received three awards subsequent to opening. In 1989, the Library received a special "John Cotton Dana Public Relations" award for eleven days of opening celebrations and community support of the new main library which was also the basis, in part, for the City of Bakersfield's "All America City Award" in 1990. For interior design and for the fine art collection, the library with the Kern County Library Foundation received a "Beautiful Bakersfield Award."

The Kern County Library has over 1 million holdings composed of books, DVDs, CDs, photographs,
microfilm, and maps. The total circulation in 2007 was over 1.5 million.