Garcés Memorial Circle

Garcés Memorial Circle, informally known as Garcés Circle or just The Circle, is a traffic circle in Bakersfield, California. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Chester Avenue, Golden State Avenue (State Route 204) and 30th Street. An overpass stands over the circle, allowing through traffic on Golden State Avenue to bypass it.

Garcés Memorial Circle
Sculpture of Padre Francisco Garcés in Garcés Memorial Circle
Location
Bakersfield, California
Coordinates	35.387°N 119.019°W / 35.387; -119.019
Roads at junction	SR 204 (Golden State Avenue) Chester Avenue 30th Street
Construction
Type	Traffic circle with an overpass flyover
Opened	1932
Maintained by	Caltrans, City of Bakersfield
California Historical Landmark
Designated	October 21, 1937
Reference no.	277

The traffic circle honors Spanish Franciscan friar Francisco Garcés, who served as a missionary and explorer in the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. A California Historical Landmark, it was approximately on this site where Garcés visited an Indian rancheria on May 7, 1776.

History

The circle is named after Spanish priest Francisco Garcés, who arrived in the Bakersfield area in 1776.

The Circle was originally built as a part of US 99 in approximately 1932. A large 1939 sculpture of Father Francisco Garcés by John Palo-Kangas rests inside the circle.

At 280 feet (85 m) of inner diameter, the Garcés Memorial Traffic Circle is a smaller sibling of the similar 360-foot (110 m) inner-diameter 1930 Long Beach Traffic Circle located in Long Beach.

Landmark

California Historical Landmark reads:

NO. 277 GARCÉS CIRCLE - This is the approximate site of the Indian rancheria visited by Franciscan friar Padre Francisco Garcés on May 7, 1776. Padre Garcés named this spot San Miguel de los Noches por el Santa Príncipe.^[1][2]

See also

• California Historical Landmarks in Kern County
• California Historical Landmark