unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the 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. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
Hazen was founded in 1903 as a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Some sources say the town was first settled in 1869, but it doesn't appear on maps until 1903. The community was named for
William Babcock Hazen
William Babcock Hazen (September 27, 1830 – January 16, 1887) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Indian Wars, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. His most famous serv ...
, an aide to
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
. At one time Hazen had a post office, which was established in 1904. Hazen's early economy was driven by railroad workers and canal and dam builders, who patronized the town's saloons and brothels.
Hazen is noted for the being the historic site of the last lynching in Nevada. At 2:30am on Feb. 27, 1905, around 30 men broke Red Wood, AKA Nevada Red, out of jail and hanged him from a telegraph pole 30 feet away.
The Hazen Store is listed on 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 ...
(NRHP). It "almost defies architectural description" according to the NRHP nomination form.Vulcan Power Company started a permitting process to drill exploratory geothermal energy wells on land leases near Hazen. The project involves a
bypass road
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety. A bypass spec ...
across
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
property.
The
Hawthorne Army Depot
Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD) is a U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command ammunition storage depot located near the town of Hawthorne in western Nevada in the United States. It is directly south of Walker Lake. The depot covers or 226 sq. mi. and ...
is connected to the Union Pacific rail network by a single rail line beginning in Hazen.