Yucca is an

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 ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in

Mohave County Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United St ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 96, down from 126 at the 2010 census. Located along

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

, it lies southwest of Kingman, just east of the southern section of the Black Mountains and west of the

Hualapai The Hualapai (, , yuf-x-wal, Hwalbáy) is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled members. Approximately 1353 enrolled members reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Nort ...

and McCracken Mountains in the

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

. Yucca has a ZIP Code of 86438. Students in Yucca attend elementary school in the one-school Yucca School District, and high school in the

Kingman Unified School District The Kingman Unified School District is the school district for Kingman, Arizona and nearby areas. It includes 11 schools. Owens-Whitney Elementary School District students may choose to attend Kingman USD for high school. Additionally, since 200 ...

History

Yucca started as an order office and water fill station for the

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was a U.S. railroad that owned or operated two disjointed segments, one connecting St. Louis, Missouri with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico with Needles in Southern Californi ...

(affiliated with the

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 larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

) in the 1880s. It was part of a rail line commissioned by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

running from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, to

Needles, California Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Situated on the western banks of the Colorado River, Needles is located near the Californian border with Arizona and Nevada. The city is a ...

. This rail line grew to be transcontinental and is a major freight corridor to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. During World War II, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

purchased of land and developed the

Yucca Army Airfield Yucca Army Airfield is a former military airfield located about west of Yucca, in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is on the east side of Interstate 40, south of Kingman. It is now used as a private facility owned by Fiat Chrysler ...

for training pilots. In 1954 the air base was purchased by

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

and along with additional land, was turned into the Arizona Proving Ground comprising nearly .

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

purchased the proving grounds in November 2007 from Ford for $34.9 million. Yucca became part of Route 66 in 1952 when the highway was realigned, bypassing

Oatman, Arizona Oatman is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, United States, located at an elevation of . It began as a small mining camp when two prospectors struck a $10 million gold ...

. This was the heyday for the small town when

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

s, and a Whiting Brothers

truck stop A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...

operated. In the early 1970s,

replaced the section of Route 66 going through Yucca. The motels and truck stop went out of business as people used facilities in larger Kingman and Needles. A small general store/café, post office, automotive service center, real estate office, and bar were the only retail businesses remaining by 2008. In 1997 a land exchange between the Santa Fe Railroad and the US Government of approximately was completed just southwest of Yucca. Much of the land subsequently owned by the railroad was subdivided into typically parcels and offered to the general public as the Stage Coach Trails development. This land has primarily been purchased by individuals for residential use or long term investment. Other smaller developments opened just north of Yucca in 2006. Over time these residential developments may spur renewed business growth in the area.Arizona land, Kingman real estate for sale
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Location and climate

Yucca is located in southern Mohave County, north of Lake Havasu City, southwest of Kingman, 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 st ...

, and east of

. Yucca has a hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''BWh'') with brutally hot summers and cool winters. In summer, it is normal to record temperatures above for days on end, while in winter it is very mild with practically no snowfall: the highest rainfall in a month is merely . The average minimum temperatures in the winter are usually . The sun shines throughout the spring and early summer, and most of the limited rain falls from extratropical lows in the cooler months.

Demographics

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Mohave County, Arizona Census-designated places in Arizona Unincorporated communities in Mohave County, Arizona Populated places established in the 1880s Unincorporated communities in Arizona

History

Location and climate

Demographics

See also

References