Hawthorne, Nevada, United States

🇺🇸 Hawthorne is a place (CDP) in Mineral County, Nevada, United States. It is the county seat of Mineral County. The nearby Hawthorne Army Depot is the primary economic base of the town.

History The first permanent settlement at Hawthorne was established in 1880.

The townsite was selected in 1880 by H. M. Yerington, president of the Carson and Colorado Railroad Co. as a division and distribution site for the new railroad.

The location was adjacent to the important Knapp's Station and Ferry Landing on the busy Esmeralda Toll Road from Wadsworth to Candelaria. Connecting roads were built to all of the surrounding mining areas.

H. M. Yerington named the new town Hawthorne after a lumberman, rancher, and law enforcement friend he knew in Carson City. The first train arrived on April 14, 1881 loaded with prospective buyers for the new town lots.

In 1883, Hawthorne took the Esmeralda County seat from declining Aurora but later lost it to booming Goldfield. In 1911, it again became a county seat, this time for the new Mineral County.

Hawthorne has been county seat of Mineral County since 1911.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all of it land. It sits near Walker Lake, the remains of Babbitt and under the peak of Mt. Grant, and its summit of 11,239 feet (3,426 m).

Education Hawthorne has a public library, the Mineral County Library.

Place of interest • Hawthorne Army Depot • Hawthorne Ordnance Museum • Mineral County Museum • Walker Lake.