Arizona - Kingman

Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, a civil engineer. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 28,068.[3] Kingman is located approximately 105 miles (169 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada and about 165 miles (266 km) northwest of the state capital, Phoenix.

 

History

 

Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a U.S. Navy officer in the service of the U.S. 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 Highway 66 and Interstate Highway 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, Ariz. 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, Nevada, now known as Clark County, Nevada. The remaining territory of Pah-Ute County became part of Mohave County. Its seat was moved to Hardyville (which is 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 WW II 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 served as 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, Arizona 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, Arizona, 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. The explosion occurred 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 those 11 firefighters who died in the blaze.

 

Notable people

 

Andy Devine (1905–1977), actor, was raised in Kingman, where his father opened the Beale Hotel. One of the major streets of Kingman is named "Andy Devine Avenue" and the town holds the annual "Andy Devine Days".

Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001), who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing, was a resident of Kingman for various periods between 1993 and 1995.

Michael Fortier, Timothy McVeigh's co-conspirator, lived in Kingman from the age of seven.

Miki Garcia, model and Playboy magazine's Playmate for the January 1973 issue, was born in Kingman.

Doris Hill (1905–1976), born Roberta M. Hill, was an American film actress of the 1920s and 1930s.

Paul Kalanithi (1977–2015), neurosurgeon and writer, was raised in Kingman.

Doug Mirabelli, former Boston Red Sox catcher, was born in Kingman.

Aron Ra, atheist activist, regional director of American Atheists, and public speaker born in Kingman.

Joseph Rosenberg, worked as a banker in Kingman before moving to Los Angeles. Rosenberg was later Walt Disney's banker.

Tarik Skubal, MLB pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.

Karen Steele, actress, lived and died in Kingman.

 

In popular culture

 

Off screen

 

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married at the rectory of Saint John's Methodist Episcopal Church in 1939, during a break in the shooting of Gone with the Wind.

Onscreen

 

Kingman has been featured as a filming location for several movies and television shows.

 

In films

 

The films Roadhouse 66 and Two-Lane Blacktop were shot in Kingman.

The movie Management takes place but was not shot in Kingman.

Scenes from the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were filmed at the Kingman Airport; in the scene, it is possible to see a clear shot of the Hualapai Mountain.

Scenes from the 1992 movie Universal Soldier were filmed in the downtown area as well as a local grocery store and at the Kingman Airport.

 

In television

 

In "Otis", an episode from the television series Prison Break, LJ Burrows is sent to an adult facility in Kingman, Arizona. In a subsequent episode "Buried", LJ is released from the aforementioned facility.

In "Native Tongue", an episode from the television series "Medium" (NBC: 2005–09; CBS: 2009–2011), Alison has a dream about a man being threatened to be burned alive unless he revels the whereabouts of something the killer wants. The man tells the killer that 'it' is near Kingman, where his partner lives. As the story progresses, it is discovered that the man is associated with the Navajo Reservation located 20 E of Kingman.

In the HBO Series The Sopranos, when Tony Soprano was shot in the beginning of Season 6, he fell into a coma and believed he was involved in a case of mistaken identity with Kevin Finnerty who lived in Kingman, Arizona (see "Join the Club").

In "The Locomotion Interruption," the season 8 premiere of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper finds his belongings stolen at the Kingman, Arizona train station.

In episode 2 of the Showtime political satire documentary Who Is America?, members of the town are shown making racist anti-Muslim and anti-black statements when told by a disguised Sacha Baron Cohen that a mosque would be built in Kingman.

 

In literature and publications

 

The town is mentioned in Barbara Kingsolver's novel Pigs in Heaven.

In the post-apocalyptic novel Warday, Kingman is the "point of entry" to California; the Golden State, spared by the nuclear attacks that hit much of the rest of the country, is strictly guarded by troops, and "illegals" are jailed.

Pamela Anderson did one of her 1992 Playboy photo shoots at the corner of 4th Street and Andy Devine Avenue (U.S. Route 66), and was brought into the Kingman Police Department for indecent exposure. She was not charged, but was asked to write a letter of apology.

 

In music

 

The town is mentioned in the lyrics to Bobby Troup's song "Route 66".

 

Points of interest

 

Hualapai Mountain Recreation Area

Mohave County Fairgrounds

Kingman is well known for its location on Route 66.

Oatman, Arizona, a nearby "ghost town" tourist attraction.

Keepers of the Wild, a wild animal sanctuary featuring lions and tigers among other animals.

Kingman is the closest city to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a transparent horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge and tourist attraction on the edge of the Grand Canyon, owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe.

The Grand Canyon Caverns, one of the largest dry caverns in the United States, is located in Peach Springs, Arizona.

Cella Winery is an award winning winery just off Route 66. The oldest vines in Northwest Arizona and all wines made on site.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Kingman ist eine Stadt im Mohave County im US-Bundesstaat Arizona und zugleich Verwaltungssitz (County Seat) des Countys.

 

Lage

 

Kingman liegt am östlichen Rand der Mojave-Wüste im äußeren Nordwesten Arizonas an der historischen Route 66. Die Stadt bildet zudem an der Kreuzung von Interstate 40, U.S. Highway 93 und Arizona State Route 66 einen wichtigen Verkehrsknotenpunkt vor der Spielerstadt Las Vegas und Laughlin.

Geschichte

 

Im Oktober 1857 passierte der Offizier Edward Fitzgerald Beale auf der Suche nach einem geeigneten Treck entlang des 35. Breitengrades erstmals die Gegend um das heutige Kingman] Die von ihm erkundete Wegstrecke sollte später auch als sogenannte Beale Wagon Road bekannt werden.

 

In den folgenden Jahren wurde in den umliegenden Bergen Gold und Silber gefunden, was einen verstärkten Zuzug von Menschen zur Folge hatte. Im Verlauf dieser Entwicklung errichtete die Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Anfang der 1880er-Jahre eine Eisenbahnlinie zwischen Needles und Albuquerque. Auf der Höhe einer Ausweichstelle entstand schließlich 1882 im Hualapai Valley eine kleine Siedlung, die nach Lewis Kingman, dem Konstrukteur der Bahnlinie, benannt wurde.

 

Zunehmende Bedeutung erlangte das Städtchen im Jahre 1887, als der Verwaltungssitz des Mohave County hierher verlegt wurde. Besonders die umliegenden Minen trugen zu einem ständigen Wachstum Kingmans bei, das bis in die Jahre nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg anhielt. Mit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg erlangte die Stadt schließlich als Stützpunkt der U.S. Air Force Bedeutung.

 

Der landesweite Ausbau des Interstate-Netzes in den 1960er-Jahren hatte den Niedergang der alten Fernverkehrsverbindungen wie der Route 66 zur Folge. Der Verkehr rauschte nun auf der neuen Interstate 40 an Kingman vorbei und die Stadt geriet immer mehr ins Abseits. In den letzten Jahren wurde die sogenannte Mother Road jedoch zunehmend zu einem Anziehungspunkt für Touristen und Nostalgiker. Die verkehrsgünstige Lage zu den Ballungsräumen von Las Vegas und Phoenix, dem Grand Canyon sowie Kalifornien hat Kingman als Zwischenstopp für Touristen beliebt gemacht.

 

Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Innerorts

 

Die Anzahl der Sehenswürdigkeiten in Kingman ist überschaubar. Das Visitor Center ist im alten Powerhouse an der Andy Devine Avenue untergebracht und informiert über die lokalen Attraktionen. Besonders erwähnenswert sind hierbei:

 

Downtown Kingman, der alte Stadtkern um das Mohave County Court House herum gelegen. Neben der St. Mary’s Church sind etwa 60 weitere historische Gebäude aus der Anfangszeit des Orts erhalten.

Das historische Hotel Beale an der Andy Devine Avenue gegenüber dem Bahnhof. Der Schauspieler Andy Devine verbrachte hier seine Kindheit.

Das 1915 erbaute Bonelli House im Stile englischer Landhausarchitektur an der 5th Street.

Das Route 66 Museum im Powerhouse, es informiert über Geschichte und Gegenwart der alten Fernstraße Route 66, die einst von Chicago nach Los Angeles führte.

Der Locomotive Park, wo seit 1957 die historische Dampflokomotive Nr. 3759 der Santa Fe Railway ausgestellt ist. Sie wurde 1928 gebaut und befuhr mehr als 20 Jahre lang die Strecke zwischen Kansas City und Los Angeles.

Das Mohave Museum of History & Arts in der Beale Street gibt einen Einblick in die Geschichte und Kultur der Gegend.

 

Umgebung

 

Die Gegend um Kingman besteht meist aus trockener Wüste und ist daher sehr karg. In unmittelbarer Nähe der Stadt lohnen dennoch folgende Umwege:

 

Das ehemalige Camp Beale Springs etwa 2 Meilen (3 km) westlich der Stadt, eine verfallene Siedlung, die zunächst von Indianern bewohnt wurde und im 19. Jahrhundert als Fort diente.

Der Hualapai Mountain Park, ein Erholungsgebiet ca. 12 Meilen (19 km) südlich der Stadt. Neben verschiedenen Freizeitaktivitäten wie Wandern und Campen kann man mit etwas Glück auch die seltenen Berglöwen beobachten.

Die historische Route 66, sie verläuft außerhalb Kingmans durch dünnbesiedeltes Wüstengebiet und konnte einige Überbleibsel aus ihrer Blütezeit erhalten. Der Abschnitt östlich von Kingman ist heute Teil der AZ 66.

 

Kingman in Kunst und Medien

 

In Film und Fernsehen

 

In Kingman fanden Dreharbeiten zu mehreren Filmen statt, darunter:

 

Asphaltrennen (1971)

Universal Soldier (1992), Szenen zu dem Film von Roland Emmerich wurden unter anderem in Crazy Fred’s Truck Stop gedreht.

Mars Attacks! (1996), in der Anfangssequenz des Science-Fiction-Films sind die Hualapai Mountains in der Nähe der Stadt zu sehen.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), wurde unter anderem am Flugplatz Kingman gedreht.

Zoom (2006), eine Szene entstand im örtlichen Wendy’s-Restaurant.

 

Namentlich erwähnt wird die Stadt ebenso in:

 

Otis, einer Episode der Fernsehserie Prison Break, in der LJ Burrows Jr. (Marshall Allman) in ein Gefängnis in Kingman gebracht wird.

Der Träumer und die Parasiten, einer Episode der Fernsehserie Die Sopranos, in der Anthony Soprano (James Gandolfini) von einem Vorfall mit einem Mann aus Kingman träumt.

The Big Bang Theory, in Episode 160 (1. Episode der 8. Staffel) endet Sheldons Eisenbahnreise durch die USA nach 45 Tagen in Kingman, da man ihn im Schlafwagen aller Habseligkeiten beraubt hat.

 

In der Musik

 

Kingman wird ebenfalls in dem Lied Route 66 genannt. Es wurde 1946 von Bobby Troup komponiert und im selben Jahr von Nat King Cole erstmals vorgestellt. Mittlerweile existieren dutzende Coverversionen des Liedes, darunter auch von den Rolling Stones.

Sonstiges

 

Pamela Anderson veranstaltete 1992 eines ihrer Playboy-Fotoshootings an der Ecke von 4th Street und Andy Devine Avenue (Route 66) und wurde daraufhin zum Kingman Police Department gebracht.

 

Berühmte Einwohner

 

Der Schauspieler Andy Devine (1905–1977) wuchs in Kingman auf, wo sein Vater 1906 das Hotel Beale eröffnete. Eine Straße der Stadt wurde in Andy Devine Street umbenannt, sie ist zugleich Teil der Route 66.

 

(Wikipedia)

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