Map of Mettler CDP

Mettler, or Mettler Station, is a heavily Hispanic, low-income unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. The population was 90 at the 2020 census, down from 136 at the 2010 census. It is the place where motion picture actor James Dean received a traffic ticket on the last day of his life.

Mettler CDP overview:
Name:	Mettler CDP
LSAD Code:	57
LSAD Description:	CDP (suffix)
State:	California
County:	Kern County
Elevation:	541 ft (165 m)
Total Area:	0.233 sq mi (0.603 km²)
Land Area:	0.233 sq mi (0.603 km²)
Water Area:	0 sq mi (0 km²) 0%
Total Population:	90
Population Density:	390/sq mi (150/km²)
ZIP code:	93381
Area code:	661
FIPS code:	0647164
GNISfeature ID:	0245837

Online Interactive Map

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Mettler online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Mettler location map. Where is Mettler CDP?

Mettler location on the U.S. Map. Where is Mettler CDP. — Mettler location on the U.S. Map.

Mettler location on the California map. Where is Mettler CDP. — Location of Mettler in California.

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 Highway U.S. 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.