Wasco is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, United States. Wasco is located 24mi northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 328 feet . The population was 25,545 at the 2010 census, up from 21,263 at the 2000 census.Wasco is the headquarters of the Tejon Indian Tribe of California, a federally recognized tribe of Kitanemuk, Yokuts, and Chumash indigenous people of California.HistoryThe name Dewey was in honor of Admiral George Dewey, a hero of the Spanish–American War. The Deweyville post office opened in 1899, and changed its name to Wasco in 1900.The origin of the name Wasco is subject of two different theories: (1) That it was coined from Western American Sugar Company; and (2) that a resident from Wasco County, Oregon named it for that.Wasco is the site of the Fourth Home Extension Colony, founded in 1907 by the American Home Extension Association.
