First Presbyterian Church began its ministry in Kern County in 1889 as Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1905 it merged with Westminster Presbyterian and was renamed First Presbyterian Church of Bakersfield. The church acquired property at the corner of 17th and H Streets in 1909 and built its first sanctuary in 1913. Local architect Thomas B. Wiseman, an associate of the Train & Williams firm, designed the church in a Tudor-Gothic style. After fire destroyed the facility in 1920, San Francisco architect John Galen Howard redesigned it and local contractor James Marshall supervised construction. That Gothic structure stood until the 1952 earthquakes. A new sanctuary in the Louisiana Colonial style, designed by Los Angeles architects George B. Allison and Ulysses F. Rible, was dedicated in 1955. In 2003, the church expanded by closing G Street and extending its campus from H to F Streets between 17th Street and Truxtun Avenue, with Klassen Corporation constructing additional buildings including an administration office and activity center.