Gentle Giant

Inyokern was founded in the mid-19th century as a small agrarian community located in the northernmost corner of the Mojave Desert. It expanded during construction of the Owens Valley aqueduct. The first post office opened in 1910. The Inyokern Elementary School was founded in 1913, and though the sign might make one think that the first building is still in use, the original three small one-room buildings with pit toilets were replaced in the mid-1930s by a much larger building with a stage and indoor facilities. (This building was demolished in the early 1970s.) In the 1930s, half a dozen irrigated farms were scattered around Indian Wells Valley, growing mostly alfalfa and livestock.