BAKERSFIELD, TEXAS. Bakersfield is at the intersection of Interstate Highway 10 and Farm Road 11, thirty-six miles east of Fort Stockton and nine miles south of the Pecos River in eastern Pecos County. It was named for J. T. Baker, a promoter who hoped to develop the townsite in 1929 after the discovery of oil in the Taylor-Link field. A post office was established at Bakersfield the same year. The community grew rapidly as a grocery store, a cafe, a hotel, a real estate office, a pool hall, and numerous rent houses were hastily built. The population of Bakersfield was estimated to be more than 1,000 in 1930. Declining oil production and prices in 1930 caused Bakersfield to be abandoned, however, as rapidly as it was built. Many of the buildings were moved from the townsite. In 1945 the town had two businesses and an estimated population of fifty. The population declined by 1976 to thirty, where it remained in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pecos County Historical Commission, Pecos County History (2 vols., Canyon, Texas: Staked Plains, 1984).

Glenn Justice