Howell House

In 1891, William Howell hired local carpenter John Singleton to build this Queen Anne style Victorian home on the northeast corner of 17th and H Streets in Bakersfield. William Howell had moved with his parents and sisters from Nebraska to Kern County in 1877 and, after his father died of pneumonia, became a court reporter for the Kern County Superior Court. He later became County Auditor and a successful businessman. In 1901, he married Elizabeth Dugan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, in Bakersfield, and they raised two children, Genevieve and William Howell, Jr., in this home. In 1968, The Bakersfield Californian newspaper donated the house to the museum, and the Howell family contributed the foundation for the house at its new site on the museum grounds.

Bakersfield, California · United States