Kingman Arizona
Elevation: 3,333 ft.
Poplulation: 32,463 (2021)
Kingman is in northwestern Arizona and serves as the county seat of Mohave County. The city’s motto is “The Heart of Historic Route 66”. The city is named after a civil engineer named Lewis Kingman, who surveyed routes for the Acheson Topeka and Santa Fe railroad across Arizona. He directed construction of the railroad from Winslow to Beale Springs which is near Kingman.
In the 1851, the U.S. Government sent Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves to explore parts of Arizona. He was followed in 1857 by Lt. Edward Fitzgerals Beale who was charged with surveying and then building a wagon road along the 35th parallel in 1859. He was also to test the feasibility of the use of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. Beale’s Wagon Road became part of Highway 66 and later, Interstate 40. Remnants of the original wagon road can still be seen in White Cliffs Canyon in Kingman.
Kingman was actually founded in 1882 and had modest beginnings as a simple railroad siding near Beale Springs. Gold and silver were discovered nearby in the 1870’s and cattle were driven to Kingman to take advantage of the lush green grasses. It became a shopping and shipping center for the mines and ranches in the sparsely settled northwestern Arizona.
During World War II, Kingman was the site of the U.S. Army Air Force airfield where it served as an aerial gunnery training base. It trained over 35,000 airmen during the war.
Kingman was on the National Old Trails Highway and when Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, it followed the N.O.T. roadbed to Kingman. It became a popular stopping place for travelers along the Route.
120 W. Andy Devine Ave.
The Powerhouse Visitor’s Center is a good place to begin your tour of Kingman and find out what to see and do. The Visitor’s Center and the Arizona Route 66 Museum are both located within the Powerhouse building.
The Kingman Powerhouse was built in 1906 and placed in service in 1907 to generate electricity for the city of Kingman and the surrounding mines in the Black Mountains. It was firs named the Desert Power & Water Company Electric Power Plant. When the Hoover Dam opened in 1938, there was no need for it to continue as a local generating station.
It sat vacant for many years. The old powerhouse was converted into the Visitor’s Center and also houses several other historic centered organizations.
Locomotive Park
1st and Andy Devine St.
The Locomotive Park in Kingman is home to Acheston Topeka & Santa Fe steam engine No. 3759. The big old steam engine is available for visitors to climb aboard. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This locomotive, known as a 4-8-4, was built in 1927 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works originally as a coal-burning locomotive. In 1941, it was converted to use oil. It was retired from service in 1953 after having traveled over two and a half million miles. For more than twenty years, this engine was used to transport passengers making ten round trips each month.
In 1957 it was the last steam engine to travel the main line from Chicago to Kingman and the Santa Fe Railroad presented the engine to the city of Kingman.
In 1987, caboose 999520 was retired from service and donated to Kingman to add to the Engine 3759 display.
Locomotive Park is a nice shady location for afternoon visit or picnic. It’s located right across the street from the Powerhouse Visitor’s Center and from Mr. D’z Diner
The Kingman Water Tower and Storage Tanks is another photo op and place to visit in historic downtown Kingman on Route 66. The Kingman Dailer Miner newspaper provided some of the history about the water tanks.
They were once used to add water to railroad steam engines and are more than 100 years old. In 1986, they were slated to be torn down because they were rusting and leaking. A longtime Kingman resident, Betty McBrayer, led a citizen effort to save the tanks as historical artifacts. They collected over 1,000 signatures urging the tanks’ preservation. After the tanks were refurbished, local residents pitched in with the upkeep and it’s prominent Route 66 shield.
