Most people know that California was part of Mexico from 1821 to 1846. But the Mexican influence in the Central Valley didn’t end with the Bear Flag Revolt or with California joining the United States. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of one of Kern County’s oldest settlements, one established by Mexican-era pioneers, the original Rio Bravo.
Years before Colonel Thomas Baker came to Kern County and founded Bakersfield, the earliest non-native settlers in the region were of Mexican descent. In the early 1840s, a group of Mexicans from Southern California migrated to Kern County. They settled along the banks of the old Kern River, just south of present day downtown Bakersfield, growing crops and raising cattle on Kern Island.
Back then, the Kern River was known as Rio Bravo de San Felipe. They called their settlement Rio Bravo. But the swampy area reminded many later settlers of the Isthmus of Panama, and over the years, Rio Bravo gained another name: Panama, or Old Panama. The old branch of the river later became known as Panama Slough. The land was eventually acquired by another Mexican-American immigrant, Ventura Cuen, who later sold the ranch to Miller and Lux.
Today you’ll still find Panama on the map of Kern County at Stine Road and Taft Highway. The original Rio Bravo settlement was around 2 miles to the north, near Stine and Panama Lane. Years later, other unrelated developments borrowed the Rio Bravo name, including a small farm colony west of Bakersfield near Interstate 5 on Hageman Road, and a country club near the Kern River east of Bakersfield. Regardless of the location, they all pay tribute to Kern County’s original Mexican American pioneers.
