Site of the Home of Elisha Stevens

Site of the Home of Elisha Stevens is a California Historical Landmark in Bakersfield, Kern County.

West of Garces High School, Bakersfield · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

Near this spot stood the last home of Elisha Stevens, noted American pathfinder and scout. Born in Georgia April 5, 1804, he learned blacksmithing during his youth. Drifting west he became a trapper on the upper Missouri for more than two decades. In 1844 he led the 50-member Murphy-Townsend wagon train safely from Council Bluffs to Sutter's Fort. During the Mexican War he served as an ordnance mechanic under Commodore Stockton. For a time he lived in Santa Clara County, then settled here on a 38-acre tract, the first permanent settler in the Bakersfield district. He died September 9, 1887, and is buried in Union Cemetery.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1810 · Mexico and Adjacent Provinces. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1855 · Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1855 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Passes, Sierra Nevada, Walker's Pass-Coast Range. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1886 · Sheet No. 4, Southern Portion, Irrigation Map of the San Joaquin Valley, California. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1906 · Bakersfield, California (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Mexico and Adjacent Provinces, 1810, covering the location of Site of the Home of Elisha Stevens, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Mexico and Adjacent Provinces, 1810, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

Site of the Home of Elisha Stevens

Historical maps covering this location

More markers nearby