The history of Kingman's Army base from WWII (and the 35,000 soldiers who trained here) has been on display at the Kingman Army Airfield Museum inside an original hangar from the base. The museum's last day of operation was Wednesday, May 25th. The museum has struggled for years and the volunteers operating it decided it was too strenuous to keep up. The museum's collection will be auctioned off. The Mohave County Museum of History and Arts, Powerhouse Route 66 Museum, and Kingman Railroad Museum are all still open.
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One of the first roads in Kingman, built before the invention of the automobile, is still clearly visible and open to the public. Slabs of limestone were strenuously transported along the road from nearby Metcalfe Quarry and used to build the Mohave County Courthouse, St Mary's Church, and Hotel Brunswick (along with several other buildings/homes). The White Cliffs Wagon Trail is located near downtown Kingman with a parking area at 1714 White Cliffs Road. After parking you'll cross a small a bridge over the wash and find the wagon trail remnants about 200 feet away.
Hotel Brunswick opened in 1909 as the tallest building (at 3 stories with an underground basement) in Northern Arizona. Three years later the business partners who had opened the hotel were at odds over a woman. They put a wall up down the middle to divide the building into 2 separate hotels. The wall was torn down but the remnants of the wall are still noticeable in the doorways today. Werner Fleischmann and his business partner have a vision to restore the historic building into a boutique hotel. The building stands in excellent shape with the original hardwood floors and tin ceiling panels still in place. They envision a day when downtown Kingman is packed with locals and tourists alike. His first project was the historic Old Trails Garage building next door. A kitchen was installed along with a couple of hotel suites. The restaurant space and hotel suites are currently for lease. He is also working to renovate the former JC Penney building into an events center (see Former Downtown JC Penney Gets New Life). There are issues the owners would like to address such as parking and the deteriorating conditions of adjacent buildings. There hasn't been a set deadline for reopening the hotel yet.
Several new marijuana cultivation facilities have opened near the Kingman airport to supply the numerous medical dispensaries continuing to open around the state. The ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries was passed by voters in 2010 and produced about $215-million in legal (i.e. taxed) sales for Arizona statewide in 2015. The good news for Kingman has not only been leasing a few vacant buildings. The number of jobs involved at a marijuana cultivation facility are numerous including grow laborers, bud tenders, sales staff, management, security guards, and facility maintenance personnel. Arizona voters will face a ballot measure (pending enough signatures on the petition) in November relating to the recreational sale and use of marijuana. While most states have legalized medical use only Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Colombia have passed laws for recreational use. Colorado was the first state to allow recreational sales and in the last two years had $901 million in sales (in addition to $794 million in medical sales for about $1.7 billion in marijuana sales.) Arizona has a larger population than Colorado. Will Arizona soon be the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana?
Central Christian church started holding services 4 years ago at the Lee Williams High School building. Now the church has leased the historic Central Commercial Co. building downtown. The building had sat vacant for several years with the exception of an occasional wedding or event. The church hopes the larger space will accommodate more "owners" (a term that refers to church members) which is currently around 400 people every Sunday. A coffee shop will also be opened in part of the building. The heavier flow of visitors to downtown Kingman on Sundays (currently the slowest day for downtown merchants) will help strengthen downtown. The church also plans to contract with downtown restaurants for catering events. The first church service planned in the historic building is scheduled for Sunday, May 1st. Special thanks to Bret Johnson (with Central Kingman) for his help with this article.
Filming movies in Kingman has helped the local economy as crews occupy our hotels, eat at our restaurants, and visit our bars. We even had a commission dedicated to getting Kingman on the big screen:
This scene from Mars Attacks was filmed at Red Lake just north of town in 1996:
Here is a scene from Universal Soldier that filmed downtown in 1991:
Roadhouse 66 was almost entirely filmed in Kingman & Oatman in 1984:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas even filmed a scene at Kingman's airport in 1997:
Do you know of any other movies that filmed scenes in Kingman? Leave a comment below!
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