Kingman, Arizona

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Kingman, Arizona
City
Mohave County Courthouse in Kingman
Mohave County Courthouse in Kingman
Official seal of Kingman, Arizona
Seal
Motto: "The Heart of Historic Route 66"
Location in Mohave County and the State of Arizona
Location in Mohave County and the State of Arizona
U.S. Census Map
U.S. Census Map
Kingman, Arizona is located in USA
Kingman, Arizona
Kingman, Arizona
Location in the United States
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country United States
State Arizona
County Mohave
Incorporated 1952
Government
 • Mayor Richard Anderson
Area
 • Total 30 sq mi (77.7 km2)
 • Land 30.0 sq mi (77.6 km2)
 • Water 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation 3,333 ft (1,016 m)
Population (2010)[1]
 • Total 28,068
 • Estimate (2014)[2] 28,549
 • Density 669.7/sq mi (258.6/km2)
Time zone MST (UTC-7)
ZIP codes 86401, 86402, 86409
Area code(s) 928
FIPS code 04-37620
Website www.cityofkingman.gov

Kingman (Huwaalyapay Nyava[3] in the Mojave language) is the county seat of Mohave County, Arizona,. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 28,068.[1] The nearby communities of Butler and Golden Valley bring the Kingman area total population to over 66,000. Kingman is located 33 miles (53 km) east of Bullhead City, Arizona, 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, about 150 miles (240 km) west of Flagstaff, Arizona, about 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Needles, California, about 165 miles (266 km) northwest of Phoenix, Arizona, about 205 miles (330 km) east of Barstow, California and about 250 miles (400 km) northeast of Los Angeles, California.[4]

History

File:Lewis kingman.gif

Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a U.S. Navy officer in the service of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, was ordered by the U.S. War Department to build a federal wagon road across the 35th Parallel. His secondary orders were to test the feasibility of the use of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. Beale traveled through the present day Kingman in 1857 surveying the road and in 1859 to build the road. The road became part of Highway 66 and Interstate Highway 40. Remnants of the wagon road can still be seen in White Cliffs Canyon in Kingman.

Kingman, Arizona, was founded in 1882, when Arizona was still Arizona Territory. Situated in the Hualapai Valley between the Cerbat and Hualapai mountain ranges, Kingman is known for its very modest beginnings as a simple railroad siding near Beale’s Springs in the Middleton Section along the newly constructed route of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The city of Kingman was named for Lewis Kingman, who surveyed along the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad's right-of-way between Needles, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M. Lewis Kingman supervised the building of the railroad from Winslow, Ariz. to Beale's Springs, which is near the present location of the town of Kingman.

The Mohave County seat originally was located in Mohave City from 1864 to 1867. The portion of Arizona Territory west of the Colorado River was transferred to Nevada in 1865 after Nevada's statehood, and became part of Lincoln County, Nevada later Clark County, Nevada. The remaining territory of Pah-Ute County became part of Mohave County. Its seat was moved to Hardyville (which is now within Bullhead City) in 1867. The county seat transferred to the mining town of Cerbat in 1873, then to Mineral Park near Chloride in 1877. In 1887, the county seat was moved to Kingman after some period of time without a permanent county seat, the instruments and records of Mohave County government were taken clandestinely from Chloride and moved to Kingman in the middle of the night during this final transfer of the county seat.

During World War II, Kingman was the site of a U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) airfield. The Kingman Army Airfield was founded at the beginning of WW II as an aerial gunnery training base. It became one of the USAAF's largest, training some 35,000 soldiers and airmen. The airfield and Kingman played a significant role in this important era of America's history. Following the war, the Kingman Airfield served as one of the largest and best-known reclamation sites for obsolete military aircraft.

Postwar, Kingman experienced growth as several major employers moved into the vicinity. In 1953 Kingman was used to detain those men accused of practicing polygamy in the Short Creek raid,[5] which was at the time one of the largest arrests in American history.[6] In 1955, Ford Motor Company established a proving ground (now one of the Chrysler Proving Grounds) in nearby Yucca, Arizona at the former Yucca Army Airfield. Several major new neighborhoods in Kingman were developed to house the skilled workers and professionals employed at the proving ground, as Kingman was the only sizable, developed town within a convenient distance. Likewise, the development of the Duval copper mine near adjacent Chloride, Arizona, and construction of the Mohave Generating Station in nearby Laughlin, Nevada, in 1971 contributed to Kingman's population growth. The location of a General Cable plant at what was to become the Kingman Airport Industrial Park provided a steady employment base as well.

Geography

Kingman is located at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (35.208449, -114.025730),[7] at 3,333 feet (1,016 m) in elevation.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 30.0 square miles (78 km2), all of it land.

Climate

Kingman sits on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert, but is located in a "cold semi-arid climate" (Köppen BSk) instead of the desert. The BSk climate type receives slightly more precipitation than the BWh hot desert climate found to the south and west, and the wintertime low temperatures are significantly colder. Kingman's higher elevation and location between the Colorado Plateau and the Lower Colorado River Valley keeps summer high temperatures away from the extremes (115 °F (46 °C) or more) experienced by Phoenix and the Colorado River Valley. The higher elevation also contributes to winter cold and occasional snowfall. Summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F (32 °C) frequently, but rarely exceed 107 °F (42 °C). Summertime lows usually remain between 60 to 70 °F (16 to 21 °C). Winter highs are generally mild, ranging from around 50 to 65 °F (10 to 18 °C), but winter nighttime lows often fall to freezing, with significantly lower temperatures possible. Kingman occasionally receives a dusting of snow in the winter, though it rarely remains on the ground for longer than the mid-to-late morning.

The record low temperature in Kingman was set on January 9, 1937 at 6 °F (−14 °C), and the record high temperature occurred on August 19, 1915, July 16, 1917, and July 3, 1967, at 111 °F (44 °C). The wettest year was 1919 with 21.22 inches (539 mm) and the driest year was 1947 with 3.58 inches (91 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 9.85 inches (250 mm) in September 1939. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 6.03 inches (153 mm) on November 28, 1919. The snowiest year was 1949 with 18.2 inches (0.46 m). The most snowfall in one month was 14.0 inches (0.36 m) in December 1932.[8] On December 31, 2014 and January 1, 2015, Kingman received 6.5 inches of snow. The storm was so significant that it was a contributing factor for closing Interstate 40 at the US 93 Junction for 24 hours.

Climate data for Kingman, Arizona
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 78
(26)		 82
(28)		 90
(32)		 97
(36)		 106
(41)		 110
(43)		 111
(44)		 111
(44)		 108
(42)		 99
(37)		 90
(32)		 77
(25)		 111
(44)
Average high °F (°C) 55.9
(13.3)		 60.0
(15.6)		 65.8
(18.8)		 74.2
(23.4)		 82.7
(28.2)		 92.7
(33.7)		 97.8
(36.6)		 95.3
(35.2)		 90.3
(32.4)		 79.0
(26.1)		 66.5
(19.2)		 56.7
(13.7)		 76.41
(24.68)
Average low °F (°C) 31.1
(−0.5)		 33.6
(0.9)		 36.8
(2.7)		 43.2
(6.2)		 49.7
(9.8)		 58.1
(14.5)		 67.2
(19.6)		 65.5
(18.6)		 58.0
(14.4)		 47.6
(8.7)		 37.8
(3.2)		 32.1
(0.1)		 46.73
(8.18)
Record low °F (°C) 6
(−14)		 9
(−13)		 16
(−9)		 20
(−7)		 29
(−2)		 34
(1)		 45
(7)		 43
(6)		 31
(−1)		 27
(−3)		 13
(−11)		 10
(−12)		 6
(−14)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 1.09
(27.7)		 1.30
(33)		 1.05
(26.7)		 0.66
(16.8)		 0.25
(6.4)		 0.15
(3.8)		 0.90
(22.9)		 1.42
(36.1)		 0.98
(24.9)		 0.66
(16.8)		 0.71
(18)		 1.17
(29.7)		 10.34
(262.8)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 1.3
(3.3)		 0.3
(0.8)		 0.7
(1.8)		 0.1
(0.3)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.3
(0.8)		 1.0
(2.5)		 3.7
(9.5)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) 4 4 4 3 1 1 4 5 3 2 2 4 37
Source: Western Regional Climate Center[9]

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1890 322 —
1910 900 —
1920 1,276 41.8%
1930 2,275 78.3%
1950 3,342 —
1960 4,525 35.4%
1970 7,312 61.6%
1980 9,257 26.6%
1990 12,722 37.4%
2000 20,069 57.8%
2010 28,068 39.9%
Est. 2014 28,549 [10] 1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[11]
2014 Estimate[2][12]

As of the census of 2000, there were 20,069 people in all with 7,854 households, and 5,427 families residing in the city. The population density was 669.7 people per square mile (258.5/km²). There were 8,604 housing units at an average density of 287.1 per square mile (110.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 82.2% White, .04% Black or African American, 1% Native American, .09% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.41% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. 12.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 7,854 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,086, and the median income for a family was $41,327. Males had a median income of $32,036 versus $21,134 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,181. About 8.2% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

Kingman's city administration consists of the Mayor, Vice-mayor, the City Council, and the City Manager. The current Mayor and Vice-mayor are Richard Anderson and Mark Wimpee Sr. The City Council consists of 5 elected officials - Jen Miles, Mark Wimpee Sr., Larry Carver, Stuart Yocum and Mark Abram. The City Manager is John Dougherty. The City Attorney is Carl Cooper.

The city government also includes boards and commissions that assist the City Council in decision making. They are the:

  • Clean City Commission
  • Economic Development & Marketing Commission
  • Golf Course Advisory Commission
  • Historical Preservation Commission
  • Municipal Utilities Commission
  • Parks and Recreations Commission
  • Planning and Zoning Commission
  • Transit Advisory Commission
  • Tourism Development Commission
  • Youth Advisory Commission
  • Tri-City Council

Arizona State Prison – Kingman, a privately run prison of the Arizona Department of Corrections, is located in unincorporated Mohave County, Arizona, near Kingman.[13][14]

The United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management has a field office located in Kingman.

Economy

Top employers

According to Kingman's 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[15] the top employers in the city are:

# Employer # of Employees
1 Kingman Regional Medical Center 1,630
2 Mohave County 1,325
3 Kingman Unified School District 985
4 Mohave Community College 700
5 American Woodmark 500
6 Walmart 470
7 UniSource Energy Services 360
8 City of Kingman 332
9 State of Arizona 278
10 K Mart 150
11 Petro Stopping Centers 145
12 Proving Grounds Company 115
13 True Value 90

Transportation

File:Mission Style ATSF-BNSF-Santa Fe Train Station Kingman-AZ 2012-01-25.JPG
The Amtrak station in downtown Kingman.

Major highways

Airport

The Kingman Airport is located nine miles northeast of Kingman on Arizona State Route 66. The airport was originally built as Kingman Army Air Field during World War II, and was home to the Kingman Aerial Gunnery School. After the war, large numbers of USAAF aircraft were stored and dismantled at Kingman. The airport was turned over to Mohave County for civilian use in 1949. Today, the airport has air ambulance and air charter services, and daily scheduled regional airline services to Las Vegas and Farmington. The airport continues to be used as a location for long-term aircraft storage due to its suitable large ramp space and a long decommissioned runway. Kingman is a non-towered airport.

Rail

Kingman has passenger rail service at its train station. It is served by the Amtrak Southwest Chief route, with daily service between Los Angeles and Chicago. The small Amtrak station in downtown Kingman is a historically significant building, constructed in Mission Revival Style architecture; however, prior to the establishment of Amtrak in 1971, the structure had fallen into disrepair with the decline of passenger rail service in the U.S. A total renovation of the building was completed in 2010. While still serving as a railroad station, the building is also now home to a model railroad museum.

Kingman also is located on the Southern Transcon route of the BNSF Railway. This is the main transcontinental route between Los Angeles and Chicago, and carries 100 to 150 freight trains per day.

In August 2012 the Kingman Terminal Railroad ( KGTR ) opened at the Kingman Airport Authority and Industrial Park. The KGTR is a short line railroad owned by Patriot Rail. Patriot Rail owns and operates 13 railroads in 13 states across the U.S. The KGTR interchanges with BNSF and delivers to the customers that populate the industrial park.

Education

Kingman has one public school district, one charter school district, and one Christian school. All primary education is split between the public and charter school districts: Kingman Unified School District and Kingman Academy of Learning.

Public schools

Kingman Unified School District (KUSD) consists of 12 schools. These are divided between elementary, middle, and high schools, plus one K-12.[16]

Elementary Schools

  • Hualapai Elementary School
  • Cerbat Elementary School
  • Palo Christi Elementary School (closed for two years for repairs after the 2012–2013 school year[17])
  • Black Mountain Elementary School (located in the neighboring town of Golden Valley)
  • La Senita Elementary School
  • Manzanita Elementary School
  • Desert Willow Elementary School
  • Kingman Academy of Learning Primary/Intermediate School

Middle Schools

  • Golden Valley Middle School
  • Kingman Middle School
  • White Cliffs Middle School
  • Kingman Academy of Learning Middle School

High Schools

  • Kingman High School
  • Lee Williams High School
  • Kingman Academy of Learning High School

K-12

  • Mt. Tipton School, a KUSD K-12 school, is located in Dolan Springs, approximately 30 miles northwest of Kingman.

Other schools

  • The Kingman Academy of Learning, a charter school, is split into 4 schools: a primary (preschool - 2nd grade), intermediate (3rd - 5th), middle (6th - 8th), and high school (9th - 12th).
  • The Emmanuel Christian Academy teaches students from kindergarten to 8th grade.

Postsecondary education

Kingman Explosion/Doxol Disaster

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Main article: Kingman Explosion

The Kingman Explosion, also known as the Doxol Disaster or Kingman BLEVE, was a catastrophic boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) that occurred on July 5, 1973 in Kingman. The explosion occurred during a propane transfer from a Doxol railroad car to a storage tank on the Getz rail siding near Andy Devine Avenue/Route 66

Firefighters Memorial Park in Kingman is dedicated to those 11 firefighters who died in the BLEVE.

Famous residents

File:KingmanArizonaStrip.JPG
Motels along Andy Devine Avenue in Kingman in 2004
  • The actor Andy Devine was raised in Kingman, where his family had moved from Flagstaff when he was one year old. His father opened the Beale Hotel here. One of the major streets of Kingman is named "Andy Devine Avenue" and the town holds the annual "Andy Devine Days".
  • Michael Fortier, Timothy McVeigh's co-conspirator, lived in Kingman from the age of seven.
  • Miki Garcia, model and Playboy magazine's Playmate for the January 1973 issue, was born in Kingman.
  • Timothy McVeigh was a resident of Kingman for various periods between 1993 and 1995, including immediately prior to the Oklahoma City bombing.
  • Former Boston Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli was born in Kingman.
  • Actor Will Sasso has been known to stay in Kingman for extended periods, escaping Los Angeles to get some R&R for his mind, body and soul.
  • Several members of the rock band The Asphalt currently live in Kingman, including drummer Nick Turner, guitarist Jason Marino and bassist Clifford Hickle.
  • Because Arizona is a "neutral" state for the Mafia and with Kingman's proximity to Las Vegas, members and associates of various La Cosa Nostra organizations, including Chicago and New York, have reportedly made Kingman their home over the years, as well as other areas of Mohave County.[citation needed]

In popular culture

File:Kingman Arizona - 2013 - 01.jpg
A "Welcome to Kingman" sign on a water tower, marking its connection with Route 66

Celebrities

Onscreen

Kingman has been featured as a filming location for several movies and television shows.

In films

In television

  • In "Otis", an episode from the television series Prison Break, LJ Burrows is sent to an adult facility in Kingman, Arizona. In a subsequent episode "Buried", LJ is released from the aforementioned facility.
  • In "Native Tongue", an episode from the television series "Medium" (NBC: 2005-09; CBS: 2009-2011), Alison has a dream about a man being threatened to be burned alive unless he revels the whereabouts something the killer wants. The man tells the killer that 'it' is near Kingman, where his partner lives. As the story progresses, it is discovered that the man is associated with the Navajo Reservation located 20 E of Kingman.
  • In the HBO Series The Sopranos, when Tony Soprano was shot in the beginning of Season 6, he fell into a coma and believed he was involved in a case of mistaken identity with Kevin Finnerty who lived in Kingman, Arizona (see "Join the Club").
  • In "The Locomotion Interruption, the season 8 premiere of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper finds his belongings stolen at the Kingman, Arizona train station.

In literature and publications

  • The town is mentioned in Barbara Kingsolver's novel Pigs in Heaven.[20]
  • In the post-apocalyptic novel Warday, Kingman is the "point of entry" to California; the Golden State, spared by the nuclear attacks that hit much of the rest of the country, is strictly guarded by troops, and "illegals" are jailed.
  • Pamela Anderson did one of her 1992 Playboy photo shoots at the corner of 4th Street and Andy Devine Avenue (U.S. Route 66), and was brought into the Kingman Police Department for indecent exposure. She was not charged but asked to write a letter of apology.[citation needed]

In music

Points of interest

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Munro, P et al. A Mojave Dictionary Los Angeles: UCLA, 1992
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ C.R. Waters, Mohave Miner, 1953-08-30.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?az4639; http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?az4645
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 1950 census figure enumerated prior to incorporation.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ "Golden Valley CDP, Arizona." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
  15. ↑ City of Kingman CAFR
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Universal Soldier (1992) - Filming locations
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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