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 | Parts of this article (those related to demographics) need to be updated. (November 2023) |
Kingman, Arizona | |
|---|---|
 Mohave County Courthouse in Kingman | |
 Seal | |
| Motto: "The Heart of Historic Route 66" | |
 Location in Mohave County, Arizona | |
 U.S. Census map | |
| Coordinates: 35°12′30″N 114°1′33″W / 35.20833°N 114.02583°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| County | Mohave |
| Incorporated | 1882 [1] |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ken Watkins[2] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 37.55 sq mi (97.25 km2) |
| • Land | 37.55 sq mi (97.25 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 3,333 ft (1,016 m) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 32,689 |
| • Density | 870.62/sq mi (336.14/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−7 (MST; Arizona Time (no DST)) |
| ZIP codes | 86401, 86402, 86409 |
| Area code | 928 |
| FIPS code | 04-37620 |
| Website | www |
Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is located 105 miles (169 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 180 miles (290 km) northwest of Arizona's state capital, Phoenix.[5] The population was 32,689 at the 2020 census.
History
Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a U.S. Navy officer in the service of the 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. Beale's Wagon Road became part of U.S. Route 66 and later Interstate 40. Remnants of the wagon road can still be seen in White Cliffs Canyon in Kingman.
Kingman was founded in 1882 before statehood, in Arizona Territory. Situated in the Hualapai Valley between the Cerbat and Hualapai mountain ranges, Kingman had its modest beginnings as a simple railroad siding near Beale Springs. Civil engineer Lewis Kingman supervised the building of the railroad from Winslow to Beale Springs. This spring had been used by Native Americans living in the area for centuries.
The Mohave County seat was originally located in Mohave City from 1864 to 1867. In 1865, the portion of Arizona Territory west of the Colorado River was transferred to Nevada after Nevada's statehood, and became part of Lincoln County, now Clark County, Nevada. The remaining territory of Pah-Ute County became part of Mohave County. Its seat was moved to Hardyville (now within Bullhead City) in 1867. The county seat transferred to the mining town of Cerbat in 1873, then to Mineral Park near Chloride. After some time, the county seat and all instruments were permanently moved to Kingman in 1887.
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 the war 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.[citation needed] Following the war, the Kingman Airfield was one of the largest 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,[6] which was at the time one of the largest arrests in American history.[7] In 1955, Ford Motor Company established a proving ground (now one of the Chrysler Proving Grounds) in nearby Yucca 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. Likewise, the development of the Mineral Park mine near adjacent Chloride, and construction of the Mohave Generating Station in nearby Laughlin, Nevada, in 1971 contributed to Kingman's population growth. Also, the location of a General Cable plant at the Kingman Airport Industrial Park provided steady employment.
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, 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 the 11 firefighters who died in the blaze.
1980s and on
The 1915-built Mohave County Courthouse and 1909-built Jail were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The downtown and other areas of Kingman were evaluated for historic resources in a 1985 study, the Kingman Multiple Resources Area study. The study identified 63 historic resources in Kingman and led to many of them being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[8] The county courthouse and jail, a 1928-built locomotive (the Santa Fe 3759), a World War II gunnery school radio tower, and about 50 various houses and other buildings in Kingman are listed on the National Register, comprising the majority of National Register listings in Mohave County.
Geography
Kingman is in central Mohave County, along Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 93. The city is served by three exits on I-40, which leads east 147 miles (237 km) to Flagstaff and southwest 62 miles (100 km) to Needles, California. US-93 leads northwest 107 miles (172 km) to Las Vegas and southeast 130 miles (210 km) to Wickenburg, 54 miles (87 km) from Phoenix. US 93 is planned to be replaced by Interstate 11 once built to interstate highway standards. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Kingman has a total area of 37.5 square miles (97 km2), all land.[3]
Climate
Kingman sits on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert, but it is located in a cold desert climate (Köppen BWk) due to its plateau location. 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 and 70 °F (16 and 21 °C). Winter highs are generally mild, ranging from around 50 to 60 °F (10 to 16 °C), but winter nighttime lows often fall to freezing, with significantly lower temperatures possible, and occasional snow.
The record low temperature in Kingman was set on January 9, 1937, at 6 °F (−14 °C), and the record high temperature occurred on July 15, 2023, at 114 °F (46 °C).[9] 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.[10][11] 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, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1901–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
113 (45) |
114 (46) |
111 (44) |
110 (43) |
100 (38) |
90 (32) |
77 (25) |
114 (46) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 68.6 (20.3) |
72.9 (22.7) |
80.7 (27.1) |
89.9 (32.2) |
96.7 (35.9) |
105.3 (40.7) |
107.7 (42.1) |
105.1 (40.6) |
100.8 (38.2) |
90.5 (32.5) |
81.8 (27.7) |
69.7 (20.9) |
108.9 (42.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 57.4 (14.1) |
60.6 (15.9) |
67.4 (19.7) |
74.8 (23.8) |
84.9 (29.4) |
95.1 (35.1) |
98.7 (37.1) |
97.2 (36.2) |
90.9 (32.7) |
78.9 (26.1) |
66.1 (18.9) |
55.7 (13.2) |
77.3 (25.2) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 44.2 (6.8) |
47.0 (8.3) |
52.7 (11.5) |
59.1 (15.1) |
68.8 (20.4) |
78.7 (25.9) |
84.3 (29.1) |
83.1 (28.4) |
75.6 (24.2) |
63.6 (17.6) |
51.3 (10.7) |
42.9 (6.1) |
62.6 (17.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 30.9 (−0.6) |
33.3 (0.7) |
38.1 (3.4) |
43.4 (6.3) |
52.7 (11.5) |
62.3 (16.8) |
70.0 (21.1) |
68.9 (20.5) |
60.4 (15.8) |
48.3 (9.1) |
36.5 (2.5) |
30.2 (−1.0) |
47.9 (8.8) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 18.5 (−7.5) |
20.9 (−6.2) |
27.1 (−2.7) |
31.3 (−0.4) |
39.4 (4.1) |
50.4 (10.2) |
62.7 (17.1) |
60.1 (15.6) |
48.0 (8.9) |
35.1 (1.7) |
24.5 (−4.2) |
19.5 (−6.9) |
15.7 (−9.1) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 4 (−16) |
9 (−13) |
11 (−12) |
20 (−7) |
29 (−2) |
34 (1) |
45 (7) |
43 (6) |
31 (−1) |
23 (−5) |
13 (−11) |
6 (−14) |
4 (−16) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.98 (25) |
1.04 (26) |
0.59 (15) |
0.46 (12) |
0.08 (2.0) |
0.11 (2.8) |
0.86 (22) |
0.88 (22) |
0.96 (24) |
0.74 (19) |
0.62 (16) |
0.68 (17) |
8.00 (203) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) | 4.0 | 4.7 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 40.1 |
| Source: NOAA (mean maxima/minima 2006–2020)[12][13] | |||||||||||||
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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% | |
| 2020 | 32,689 | 16.5% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[14] | |||
2020 census
At the 2020 census, there were 32,689 people.
2010 census
At the 2010 census, there were 28,068 people.
2000 census
At the 2000 census, there were 20,069 people, 7,854 households and 5,427 families residing in the city. The population density was 669.7 people per square mile (258.6 people/km2). There were 8,604 housing units at an average density of 287.1 units per square mile (110.8 units/km2). The racial make-up of the city was 88.0% White, <0.1% Black or African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.4% from other races and 3.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race comprised 12.2% of the population.
There were 7,854 households, 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.
25.0% of the population were 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 household income was $34,086 and the median family income was $41,327. Males had a median income of $32,036 and females $21,134. The per capita income 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
The city operates under the council-manager form of government. The city council, which is the policymaking and legitimate authority, consists of a mayor, vice-mayor, a five-member council and the city manager. The mayor is Ken Watkins and the vice-mayor seat is vacant. The city council consists of five elected officials – councilmembers SueAnn Mello, Jamie Scott Stehly, Deana Nelson, Cherish Sammeli and Keith Walker. The city manager is Ron Foggin. The city attorney is Carl Cooper.
The city government also includes boards and commissions that assist the 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 near Kingman.[15]
The United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management has a field office located in Kingman.
Mohave County Superior Court is located in Kingman.
Mohave County Administration offices are located in Kingman.
The Mohave County Fairgrounds are located in Kingman.
Economy
Top employers
According to Kingman's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[16] the top employers in the city are: