Mettler, California

Mettler, or Mettler Station, is a heavily Hispanic, low-income unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. The population was 136 at the 2010 census, down from 157 at the 2000 census. It is the place where motion picture actor James Dean received a traffic ticket on the last day of his life.

Geography

Mettler, which is 25 road miles south of Bakersfield, is at 35°03′50″N 118°58′12″W / 35.06389°N 118.97000°W / 35.06389; -118.97000.>. The locality has an area of 0.2 square miles (0.52 km²) and an elevation of 541 feet (165 m).

History

Founding

According to the publication California's Geographic Names, Mettler was founded in 1941, but an obituary of Clifford Alvin Mettler in the Bakersfield Californian reported that the settlement was founded by him, his father, William H. Mettler, and his brother (unnamed) in the "late 1940s" in the Wheeler Ridge area, which settlement "later became known as Mettler Station."

James Dean

On September 30, 1955, motion picture actor James Dean was driving north on California State Highway 99 when he was stopped by California Highway Patrol officer O.V. Hunter and given a ticket for speeding. The officer wrote Mettler Station as the location of the infraction.