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Fallon is a city in Churchill County in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
. The population was 9,327 at time of the 2020 census. Fallon is the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
of Churchill County and is located in the Lahontan Valley.


History

The community was first populated during the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...
, because multiple would-be Forty-niners stopped after crossing the
Carson River The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five counties: Alpine Coun ...
. The town and post office were established on July 24, 1896, in a little shack belonging to Michael Fallon and Eliza Fallon, who operated a ranch at the site. Shortly afterwards, Jim Richards later operated a store near the post office. The town was officially incorporated in 1908. On June 16, 2019, downtown Fallon was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.


Geography

Fallon is located in western Churchill County at the
geographic coordinates The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various ...
(39.472792, -118.778826). It is in the Lahontan Valley, a former lakebed into which flows the
Carson River The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five counties: Alpine Coun ...
, which passes north of the city. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, Fallon has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.49%, is water.


Demographics

As of the
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
of 2000, there were 7,536 people, 3,004 households, and 1,877 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...
was 2,474.1 people per square mile (954.0/km2). There were 3,336 housing units at an average density of 1,095.2 per square mile (422.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 76.5%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 2.0%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 3.0% Native American, 4.7% Asian, 0.3%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 0.3% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 9.9% of the population. There were 3,004 households, out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.7% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.06. In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.4% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $35,935, and the median income for a family was $41,433. Males had a median income of $35,356 versus $22,818 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $16,919. About 9.5% of families and 12.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 15.6% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over. Between 1997 and 2003, the Fallon community experienced an unusually high incidence of childhood leukemia. In response, the U.S. Senate held the Field Hearing Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works during the winter of 2001. Nevada Assemblywoman Merle A. Berman was a participant. According to the minutes of that hearing, on February 14, Berman pressed for answers to ascertain why certain individuals, but not others were selected for the panel of experts chosen to investigate the leukemia clusters and “why the Federal Government was not involved in the testing.” And on April 12, Berman obtained this testimony from one of the medical experts in attendance:
r._Thomas_Sinks,_the_associate_director_for_science_at_the_National_Center_for_Environmental_Health_at_the_Centers_for_Disease_Control.html" ;"title="National Center for Environmental Health">r. Thomas Sinks, the associate director for science at the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control">National Center for Environmental Health">r. Thomas Sinks, the associate director for science at the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control] clarified that nobody ever developed cancer because of chances. There was always a cause, and the challenge in Fallon would be to discover the common denominator among the 11 children. The unifying cause was not yet known, but eventually science would identify the commonality. The probability of the Fallon cluster being a chance event was described by Dr. Sinks as being unlikely.”
In 2011, epidemiologists at the University of California, Berkeley theorized that the "space-time patterning" of the leukemia cluster was "consistent with the involvement of an infectious disease," and that a "possible mode of transmission" was "by means of a vector" since mosquitoes were "abundant in Churchill County outside of the urban area of Fallon."


Education

The city is served by the Churchill County School District.
Churchill County High School Churchill County High School is located in Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada. The building was built in 1917, and was opened in 1920. Academics Part of the Churchill County School District, operating under the Principal Kevin Lords, the school ha ...
is the main high school and also caters to students in rural areas outside the city. Western Nevada College has a campus in Fallon. Fallon has a
public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamen ...
, the Churchill County Library.


Climate

Fallon experiences a cold desert climate, with hot summers and cold winters. Due to Fallon's elevation and aridity, the
diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak da ...
is quite substantial, especially in the summer months. Fallon's climate is quite dry, due to its location in the
rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is ca ...
of the
Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...
. Summer days can be hot, but temperatures are cooler than in deserts such as the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, due to Fallon's altitude and higher
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
north of the equator. In the winter, daytime temperatures are usually above freezing, but nights can be bitterly cold. Fallon can experience heavy fog in winter, known as pogonip.


Nuclear weapons testing

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
, in conjunction with the Department of Defense, conducted an underground nuclear test southeast of Fallon at 5 p.m. on October 26, 1963. Named Project Shoal, the 12.5-
kiloton TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...
detonation was part of the
Vela Uniform Vela Uniform was an element of Project Vela conducted jointly by the United States Department of Energy and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its purpose was to develop seismic methods for detecting underground nuclear testing, and it involved ...
program. The device exploded at a depth of below ground surface. The site is located in Gote Flat in the
Sand Springs Range The Sand Springs Range is a short mountain range located in western Nevada in the United States within the Great Basin. It is approximately long and is in Churchill County. It separates Salt Wells (to the west) from Fairview Valley (to the ea ...
. Access to the Project Shoal Area is unrestricted. Access to the area is by Highway 50, Nevada Highway 839, then to an improved gravel road to the site.


In popular culture

* '' The Wizard'', starring
Fred Savage Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...
and
Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was awar ...
, was shot in and around Fallon. * ''
The Go-Getter "The Go-Getter" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the March 1931 issue of ''Cosmopolitan'' (as "Sales Resistance"), and in the United Kingdom in the August 1931 ''Strand''. Part of the Blandings ...
'', starring
Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film '' Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for h ...
and Jena Malone, mentions Fallon many times and even brings up Fallon's annual Heart 'O Gold Cantaloupe Festival. Malone's character lives in Fallon, and parts of the movie were filmed in and around Fallon. * Fallon is mentioned in '' The Stand'' by
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
. *Fallon is where
Home Improvement (TV series) ''Home Improvement'' is an American television sitcom starring Tim Allen that aired on ABC from September 17, 1991 to May 25, 1999 with a total of 204 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series was created by Matt Williams, Carme ...
’s Al Borland was stationed when he joined the Navy.


Notable people

* John C. Carpenter, rancher, businessman, and politician, was born in Fallon. * Harvey Dahl, St. Louis Rams a former offensive lineman, was born in Fallon. * Luella Kirkbride Drumm, former member of the
Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member district ...
Louella Drumm, in �
Legislature
” Reno, Nevada: ''Nevada State Journal'', February 11, 1939, p. 2.
*
Martin Heinrich Martin Trevor Heinrich (; born October 17, 1971) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Mexico, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Heinrich served as the U.S ...
, U.S. Senator from New Mexico since 2013; was considered for nominee
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's running mate for the 2016 presidential election, born in Fallon but raised in
Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourt ...
. * Joshua Mauga, a Fallon native, played for the Kansas City Chiefs. * Meaghan Martin, actress.


Twin towns

Fallon is twinned with the following towns: *
Vani Vani ( ka, ვანი) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town with the population of 3,744 (2014) is an administr ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...


See also

* Fallon Municipal Airport * Salmon Creek Railroad * Spirit Cave mummy *
Federal Building and Post Office (Fallon, Nevada) The Federal Building and Post Office, also known as the Old Post Office or Fallon Post Office is located at 90 N. Maine St. in Fallon, Nevada. It was built around 1928-29 and is a Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural s ...


Notes


References

* Steinmaus, C., M. Lu, R.L. Todd, A.H. Smith.
Probability estimates for the unique childhood leukemia cluster in Fallon, Nevada, and risks near other U.S. military aviation facilities.
' Environmental Health Perspectives. 112(6): 766–771. May 2004.


External links


City of Fallon official website

Fallon Chamber of Commerce

Fallon business


(Bureau of Land Management), with pictures of the carvings {{authority control 1896 establishments in Nevada Cities in Churchill County, Nevada County seats in Nevada Micropolitan areas of Nevada Nevada State Register of Historic Places Populated places established in 1896 Cities in Nevada