Kirkwood's coupling parameter

Kirkwood (formerly Kirk, Kirkwood's, and Roundtop) is an unincorporated community in Alpine and Amador counties, California, United States. Kirkwood's main attraction is the Kirkwood Mountain Resort. The town is accessible by State Route 88. Kirkwood is within the Eldorado National Forest. The population was 190 at the 2020 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Kirkwood as a census-designated place (CDP).

History

Zack Kirkwood, a cattle rancher who had settled in the area, opened an inn, named Kirkwood's, in 1863 with the opening of the Amador/Nevada Wagon Toll Road, the primary route through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The following year, Alpine County was created and the redrawing of the county borders placed the inn at the convergence of Alpine, El Dorado, and Amador counties (the borders were later changed so that the inn is no longer in El Dorado County, but the original signpost marking the intersection of the three counties is still in the building). Eventually, the inn became a fashionable summer resort.

After Zack's death, the inn stayed in the family and continued to operate until 1966, when it was sold to an investment group, who then converted it into the present-day Kirkwood Mountain Resort.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (18.28%) is water.

Climate

Kirkwood has a dry-summer subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Dsc''). Summertime is very mild, with little precipitation, while winter is very wet and cold.

Demographics

Kirkwood first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. Census.

2020 census

The 2020 United States census reported that Kirkwood had a population of 190. The population density was . The racial makeup of Kirkwood was 84.2% White, 3.2% African American, 3.7% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 1.1% from other races, and 5.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.7% of the population.

The Census reported that 72.6% of the population lived in households, 26.8% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.5% were institutionalized.

There were 81 households, out of which 8.6% included children under the age of 18, 13.6% were married-couple households, 11.1% were cohabiting couple households, 18.5% had a female householder with no partner present, and 56.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 56.8% of households were one person, and 7.4% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.7. There were 22 families (27.2% of all households).

The age distribution was 5.8% under the age of 18, 11.1% aged 18 to 24, 33.2% aged 25 to 44, 34.2% aged 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 45.0years. There were 121 males and 69 females.

There were 659 housing units at an average density of , of which 81 (12.3%) were occupied. Of these, 32.1% were owner-occupied, and 67.9% were occupied by renters.

Infrastructure

The Kirkwood Mountain Resort was built with a micro-utility providing electric power without connecting to the state electric grid. The community was eventually connected when the town of Kirkwood took over the utility.

In popular culture

In episode 4 of season 2 of ''The West Wing'' entitled " In This White House", Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn references Kirkwood in a televised debate about school funding, though he mistakenly states that Kirkwood is located in Oregon. His debate competitor, Ainsley Hayes, corrects him by noting that the town is located in California.

References

Pioneer Zack Kirkwood Was First To Tame This Frontier Mountain Wilderness

External links

Kirkwood Mountain Resort

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Census-designated places in California
Census-designated places in Alpine County, California
Census-designated places in Amador County, California
Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States)