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Woody - Spring 2005
Joseph Weringer, Sr.
Pioneer Businessman, Mine Owner
Joseph Weringer, Sr., born 1855 in Vienna, established the
"Weringer Brewery and Bowling Alley" in Bakersfield at 20th in 1881. In
1889 he moved here and established the original townsite of Woody,
named after pioneer rancher Sparrell Woody. Renamed Weringdale
in 1891, the name reverted to Woody after a few years.
Weringer discovered copper here in 1891 and operated the
Greenback copper mine until after World War One, when ore
shipping costs to Arizona and drops in copper prices made the mine
uneconomic. At one time, the mine employed over one hundred men.
This building was a part of the nine-room Weringer Hotel (1899) and
Dance Hall. Woody also boasted a blacksmith shop, a modern
garage, and a post office. The original Woody General Store is now
located in the Kern Co. Museum Pioneer Village.
An agricultural center, there were local citrus and fig orchards,
ranching, a cold storage plant and a Fairbanks-Morse livestock
scale.
Dedicated April 17, 2005
Peter LeBeck Chapter #1866
E Clampus Vitus
Credo quia absurdum
