Kingman, Arizona, United States

🇺🇸 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) south-east of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 180 miles (290 km) north-west of Arizona's state capital, Phoenix.

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. 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, which was at the time one of the largest arrests in American history. 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.

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.

The 1915-built Mohave County Courthouse and the county's somewhat older 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. 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 south-west 62 miles (100 km) to Needles, California. US-93 leads north-west 107 miles (172 km) to Las Vegas and south-east 130 miles (210 km) to Wickenburg, 54 miles (87 km) from Phoenix. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Kingman has a total area of 37.5 square miles (97 km²), all land.

Government 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 city council consists of five elected officials. 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.

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, the top employers in the city include: 1 Kingman Regional Medical Center; 2 Mohave County; 3 Kingman Unified School District; 4 Mohave Community College; 5 American Woodmark; 6 Walmart; 7 City of Kingman; 8 Laron Inc; 9 The Home Depot; 10 Indiana Western Express, Inc.

Infrastructure

Major highways • Interstate 40 • U.S. Route 93 • Arizona State Route 66 • Business Loop 40 and Arizona SR 66 are composed of the remnants of what was U.S. Route 66. • Arizona State Route 68 • Interstate 11 is proposed to replace U.S. Route 93.

Transport: Air The Kingman Airport is located 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Kingman on Arizona State Route 66. The airport was originally built as Kingman Army Air Field during World War II and was the location of the Kingman Aerial Gunnery School. The airport was turned over to Mohave County for civilian use in 1949. There are air ambulance and air charter services, but no commercial flights. The closest commercial airport is Harry Reid International Airport in Paradise, Nevada, approximately 104 miles (167 km) north-west of Kingman. The Kingman airport now primarily exists 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.

Transport: Rail Located downtown, the Kingman station station has daily services on Amtrak's Amtrak Southwest Chief between Los Angeles and Chicago. The historically significant station is constructed in Mission Revival style. Prior to the establishment of Amtrak in 1971, the building had fallen into disrepair. A total renovation was completed in 2010. The station houses a model railroad museum. Amtrak Thruway offers connecting service to Las Vegas.

Kingman is located on the Southern Transcon route of the BNSF Railway which is the main transcontinental route between Los Angeles and Chicago, which carries approximately 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 businesses at the industrial park.

Transport: Bus The City of Kingman operates Kingman Area Regional Transit. Kingman is served by the intercity bus companies Greyhound and TUFESA. FlixBus boards from a stop at 915 W Beale St. Tri-State Shuttle connects Kingman with Harry Reid International Airport in Paradise.

Amtrak Thruway is Kingman station bus service that travels to Las Vegas's stations at South Strip Transit Terminal, Airport Terminal One and Las Vegas downtown, called the Amtrak Kingman-Las Vegas Thruway Motorcoach, a 107 miles (172 km) trip. There is also a Laughlin to Kingman Amtrak Station at the Tropicana Laughlin in Laughlin, Nevada, a 34-mile (54.7 km) trip.

Water The water system uses groundwater. The same aquifer serving the city is used by the industrial agriculture in the surrounding desert.

Education Kingman has one public school district, one charter school district and one Christian school.

Kingman Unified School District (KUSD) consists of 12 schools, ranging from Kindergarten to high school.

Elementary schools • Hualapai Elementary School • Cerbat Elementary School • Palo Christi Elementary School (closed) • 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 north-west of Kingman.

Other schools • The Kingman Academy of Learning, a charter school, is split into four schools: a primary (pre-school – 2nd grade), intermediate (3–5), middle (6–8), and high school (9–12). • The Emmanuel Christian Academy teaches students from kindergarten to 8th grade. • Arizona Virtual Academy is a (K–12) Blended learning center.

Post-secondary education • One of four main campuses, Mohave Community College, a junior college, is located in Kingman. • Northern Arizona University has an extension campus located in Kingman.

Points of interest • Hualapai Mountain Recreation Area, 12 miles (19 km) to the south-east of Kingman • Oatman, a "ghost town" tourist attraction 28 miles (45 km) south-west of Kingman.