unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is locat ...
. Essex lies on Old National Trails Highway – part of the old
Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...
– just south of
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
in the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996.
The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
(now the
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...
).
In Essex's heyday, there were a number of important buildings utilized by motorists and local patrons, including:
* Bell's Towing
* The Wayside Cafe
* Essex Post Office
* Essex Elementary School
* Essex Shell Tire Shop
Essex was notable along Route 66 for providing free water to travelers, thanks to a well installed by the
Automobile Club of Southern California
The Automobile Club of Southern California is the Southern California affiliate of the American Automobile Association (AAA) federation of motor clubs. The Auto Club was founded on December 13, 1900, in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first mo ...
. California Route 66 Preservation Foundation Over a dozen homes also serviced the small community.
The town of Essex had no television reception until 1977. The signal from Los Angeles, 150 miles west, was too weak, and the signal from Las Vegas, 110 miles north, was blocked by hills. A device called a translator, costing several thousand dollars, could have solved this problem, but the town voted against spending the money.
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...
found the town's lack of television interesting, and invited the entire town's population (about 50 people at the time) to attend the taping of the March 25, 1977 episode of ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...
''. He talked to 5 different townspeople about what it was like and whether they missed having television. All but one said they preferred it that way. Shortly after the Tonight Show appearance, executives at Electronics, Missiles and Communications (Emcee), which makes television transmitters, provided the town with a translator at no cost. Nashua Telegraph ', May 11, 1977
Today
Essex is on the verge of becoming one of many
ghost towns
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
scattered throughout the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
displaced by the creation of
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
. Essex Elementary school (founded 1937), which once served the educational needs of both Essex and its neighbor Goffs,http://www.desertusa.com/mnp/mnp_goff.html Desert USA: Goffs School has closed. It was once taught by a single teacher. Local School Directory: California Its location remote even with today's technological capabilities, Essex lacks many comforts of modern-day life, and was unable to receive
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
service until the end of 1977.http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=491794 NBC News from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Many of the homes and buildings in Essex have completely disappeared, almost 50 lie in abandonment, and of what was once a bustling roadside hub, only the post office,http://www.priss.org/99/day6.htm Touring the Mojave Desert
Caltrans
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...
maintenance yard, school house, and outdoor telephone are still operational. There are no facilities in town.
Essex has only one close neighbor, the equally abandoned Goffs, located to the north, just across I-40.
Three miles northeast of Essex, just north of the Goffs Road Junction with National Old Trails Highway, the remains of Camp Essex Army Airfield are still visible. This uniquely configured airfield has two parallel runways and twelve "hardstands," where aircraft could be parked.
Population
In the 2000 Census, the population was 111. Essex, California 92332 In a 2005 estimate, the population was presumed to be 89. Essex Community Profile Between the 2000 Census and the 2005 estimate, the community's population presumably decreased by 19.8%. Later in a 2013 estimate, it was presumed that the population was now approximately 10. Between 2005 and 2013, the community's population decreased by 88.7%.
Overall, the population of Essex presumably decreased by 90.9%. The town is presumably on its way to abandonment.
In popular culture
In the episode called "The Town" in the second season of the original '' Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' television series, a car carrying two would-be assassins is shown pulling out of a gas station in Essex onto old US 66.
In the season 20, episode 1 of The Johnny Carson show, the entire population of Essex was invited to the show. All but a few showed up. The date was March 25, 1977. Many of the members of the town were interviewed in the episode.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...