History of Kingman Arizona including Mohave County

  Mohave County, at the time of its creation by Arizona’s first Territorial Assembly in 1864, actually included portions of present day Nevada. In 1865, the northern portion of Mohave County was split off as Pah-Ute County. And in 1867, parts of both counties – including the present site of Las Vegas – were attached to Nevada, which had become a state in 1864. The much-reduced Pah-Ute County was merged with Mohave County in 1871. Today, most of the historic sites of "Arizona’s Lost County" are covered by the waters of Lake Mead. The area that is now Mohave County began to attract settlers shortly after it was brought into the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The 1860s saw an influx of miners after gold was discovered, and Mormons who were sent south from Utah by their church. Mohave County is geographically the second largest in the state. Most of it is classified as desert, but of its 13,479 square miles, 186 square miles are water. The county boasts 1,000 miles of shoreline and is a great water sports center. It also has the longest stretch of historic Route 66. The Colorado River and both man-made lakes, Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu, play an important role in the growth of Lake Havasu City and Bullhead City.

  Kingman, the county seat, was not founded until the 1880s with the coming of the railroad. Before being moved to Kingman in 1887, the county seat had been in Mohave City, Hardyville, Cerbat, and Mineral Park – none of which exist today. Although these communities did not survive, the forces that led to their establishment – mining, the Colorado River, and the railroad – are still important to the county’s economy. Enterprise Zones serve Bullhead City, Colorado City, Kingman Industrial Park and the I-40 industrial corridor. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land management own 55.2 percent of the land; Indian Reservations, 6.7 percent; the state of Arizona, 6.6 percent; individual or corporate, 17.2 percent; and other public lands, 14.3 percent.

  Kingman is located in northwestern Arizona at the intersection of Interstate 40 and U.S. 93. Kingman is situated in the Hualapai Valley between the Cerbat and Hualapai Mountain Ranges at an elevation of 3,400 feet. The city was established in the early 1880s by Lewis Kingman who located the route of the Santa Fe Railway. It was incorporated in 1952 and has served as county seat of Mohave County since 1887.

PRINCIPAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

  Kingman is a regional trade, service and distribution center for northwestern Arizona. Its strategic location relative to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Laughlin and the Grand Canyon has made tourism, manufacturing/distribution, and transportation leading industries. Favorable Arizona taxes, I-40, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway mainline, and the proximity to the California market make Kingman a prime site for industries and distributors. The fully developed Airport Industrial Park, with reasonable land costs, is attracting the attention of manufacturers and distributors who wish to establish facilities to serve the Western states. True*Serve Hardware, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and American Woodmark Corp. are a few of the more than 70 companies located in the Airport Industrial Park. Northstar Steel and Guardian Fiberglass Inc. also has completed a steel recycling plant South of Kingman. Kingman is also a NADO award-winning Arizona REDI accredited community.

SCENIC ATTRACTIONS

  The scenic mountains around the Kingman area, including the Hualapai Mountain Park and Cerbat Mountains, offer hiking, picnicking, camping, and other outdoor activities. The Kingman and the Colorado River areas offer unique recreational and historical attractions as do several ghost towns in the area. Water sports also play a central role in the county's recreation. The Colorado River forms the western boundary of Mohave County. An estimated 1,000 miles of fresh water shore-line lie within Mohave County along the Colorado River and Lakes Havasu, Mohave and Mead. The rivers and lakes offer fishing along with boating and other forms of water-oriented recreation. Nearby Hoover Dam also has visitor tours. Kingman has a Multiple Resource Historic District with a developed walking tour and district map which can be seen at Locomotive Park. Other interesting sites may be seen in and around Kingman including the Beale Wagon Road, Beale Springs, and the White Cliffs Wagon Road. Historic Route 66, which runs through Kingman, offers the longest remaining preserved stretch of old U.S. Route 66 left in the United States. The Powerhouse Visitor Center and other sites of interest are located along Historic Route 66 in the heart of Kingman.

COMMUNITY FACILITIES

  Kingman offers a broad range of community facilities including a resource center, senior center, museum and library. Recreational facilities include: 10 parks, aerobic centers, two swimming pools, numerous lighted tennis, racquetball, shuffleboard and horseshoe courts, two golf courses, and a bowling alley.

LINKS

For some of this information you will need Adobe Acrobat reader, click here.

Early Aviation History of Kingman and Mohave Co.
Death Trap Rock in the Cerbat Mountains
More info on Kingman at Wikipedia.org
More info on Mohave County at Wikipedia.org
For a profile of Mohave County, please click here
For links to other sites please click here
For relocation information, click here
For Indian community profiles, click here