The population of Kern County was about 10,000 when a General Election was held in Bakersfield on November 8, 1892.  When the ballots were tabulated, 1,274 residents had voted for, and 286 voted against, establishing the county’s first high school.  Kern County High School opened January 12, 1893.

Classes were held in two rooms on the second floor of a building at the corner of Truxtun and L Streets. There were 32 students in attendance.  The school was the responsibility of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, who at that time was Alfred Harrell, later to be the founder and publisher of The Bakersfield Californian newspaper.  In its second year of operation, the school held its first graduation ceremony.  A total of three students graduated.

The most recent estimate of Kern County’s population provided by the US Census Bureau put the county population in 2015 at more than 880,000.  What is now called the Kern High School District (KHSD) has a student enrollment of more than 40,000 students.  The District now includes 18 comprehensive campuses, five continuation schools, one Adult School, one Regional Occupational Center and numerous Special Education sites.  The KHSD is the largest 9-12 high school district in California.  The number of students who have graduated from the KHSD in the past about 123 years totals more than 200,000.

KHSD SCHOOL SITE CHRONOLOGY

1893 - Kern County High School (renamed Bakersfield High in 1945)
1928 - Shafter High

1938 - East Bakersfield High

1941 - Kern Valley High

1945 - Burroughs High

1949 - Arvin High

1953 - North High

1957 - South High

1961 - Foothill High

1965 - West High

1967 - Vista Continuation High

1970 - Highland High, Mesquite Continuation High, Nueva Continuation High   

1971 - Central Valley Continuation High

1972 - Ruggenberg Career Center

1974 - Burroughs High, Mesquite Continuation High leaves KHSD to form own district

1975 - Horizon Alternative High

1976 - Phoenix Learning Center

1978 - Vista East Continuation High

1979 - Constellation Center

1980 - McFarland High dropped from district to form its own district

1982 - Horizon High dropped from district

1985 - Regional Occupational Center opened after KHSD assumes control of all Regional Occupational Programs
1985 - Summit Continuation High
1985 - Mt. Vernon Campus of Bakersfield Adult School

1986 - Vista West Continuation High

1991 - Stockdale High

1993 - Centennial High

1993 - Discovery campus

1994 - Ridgeview High

1998 - Vista East Continuation High School dropped from district

1999 - Liberty High

2003 - Golden Valley High

2006 - Frontier High

2008 - Independence High

2008 - Mira Monte High

2011 - Tierra Del Sol Continuation High