35th Parallel

Still in Lake Havasu, AZ
Next Up: Yuma, AZ


For the first time in over a year, we cancelled our travel plans today due to high winds.  Although we only have a 3 hour drive to Yuma, we would be encountering winds with 50 mph gusts - not a good idea anytime, but especially in the desert in a motorhome.

The good news, I have a chance to do another blog post!

Kingman, AZ is about an hour drive from Lake Havasu so we made the trip thinking about another stop on Route 66.  But it was so much more!  The landmark 1909 Kingman Powerhouse was renovated in 1997 and now houses the Visitor Center and history museum.  Many of the exhibits discussed Kingman's role as a transportation hub.

Long before autos and roads, in 1857 Lt. Beale and his Camel Corps surveyed a wagon road along the 35th parallel which runs right through Kingman.  Yes, camels were used as pack animals while the crew created the wagon trail that many emigrants used in settling the west.  The main street running through town is called Beale Street.

 The town was actually established after the Santa Fe railroad laid track in 1883 based on Lewis Kingman's surveys.  Once gold and silver were discovered in the Black Mountains in the late 1800's Kingman became a commerce center for the mining industry.  The locomotive below is actually from 1927 and the water tank ( for the steam locomotive) was built in 1910.

In 1912 the National Old Trails Highway was established to help people moving west by car.  As its name implies, it connected many of the old trails including the Beale Wagon Trail.   People used the National Old Trail during the Great Depression to escape the Dust Bowl in the plains states.
The museum has a big exhibit with pictures by Dorothea Lange and quotes from The Grapes of Wrath.

The last section in the museum is the Route 66 era, which we had experienced before.  This Studebaker car is from the 1950's and was built in South Bend, IN.

I loved this sign outside the museum that details many stops on Route 66.

 We had lunch in this Route 66 diner in keeping with our theme on this outing.

The Bonelli family was involved in the mining supply business and ranching in early 1900s.  We decided to walk through their Kingman home built of stone from a local quarry in 1915.

Much of the house retained its original furnishings, including this kitchen.  I love the old iron stove.  And check out the farmhouse sink so popular today!

The dining room has a rare restored clock from the Bonelli home.  The smaller face on the bottom tells the month and day.

There was a lot of evidence of music in this house, including this piano that was made in Chicago!

When we left the Bonelli house, we noticed many other homes with interesting architecture in Kingman.  This is one of my favorites.

There are a lot of historic buildings in Kingman, and of course we didn't have time to see all of them. But this Little Red Schoolhouse was built in 1896.  Andy Devine, film star, grew up in Kingman and went to school here.

As you can tell, I was really taken with Kingman.  Its history and the proud people who want to preserve it are one of the treasures we have found along the road.