Hope is a small

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 the deserts of La Paz County,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States. Hope was founded as a rail town called Johannesberg on the Arizona and California Railroad in 1909. The community was revitalized by the construction of what are now State Routes 60 and 72 in the 1930s, and it declined after the construction of

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

, which bypassed the area. Hope is the site of a noted road sign claiming that travellers are "beyond Hope".

Geography

Hope is at the base of Granite Wash Pass in the McMullen Valley, at the junction of Arizona State Route 72 and Arizona State Route 60. The section of Highway 72 between Bouse and Hope is also known as the Hope Highway. This historic road was an Arizona Territorial-period (1863–1912) road first established in 1865.

History

1954 USGS map - Vicksburg AZ - Hope AZ - Pioneer AZ Harcuvar AZ

In 1865,

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona, commonly known as the Arizona Territory, was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the ...

built a road through the area which reached the Colorado River Indian Reservation, providing a connection between the white settlers of Arizona and the

Chemehuevi The Chemehuevi ( ) are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. They are the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute. Today, Chemehuevi people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes: * Colorado River Indian Tribes * Cheme ...

and

Mohave Mojave or Mohave most often refers to: *Mojave Desert *Mojave River *Mohave people *Mojave language *Mohave County, Arizona, a county in the U.S. state of Arizona Mojave or Mohave may also refer to: Places * Fort Mojave Indian Reservation * Mo ...

tribes. This road later became State Route 72, also known as the Hope Highway. In the early 1900s, the Arizona and California Railroad, a branch of the

Santa Fe Railroad 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 variou ...

, was built through the area, passing through what is now Hope, Bouse, and

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

. In Arizona, the rail line ran between

Wickenburg Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. The population was 7,474 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and was estimated to be 7,920 in 2022. H ...

and Parker. The community was originally founded under the name Johannesberg, and in 1909, the '' Arizona Gazette'' announced that the "new town had sprung into existence." The Johannesberg community was renamed Hope in the 1920s by merchants visiting the town. In the 1920s, State Route 60 bypassed the original Johannesberg site, leading residents to relocate to the newly-constructed highway. By the 1930s, Hope was one of the Arizona towns served

icebox An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrig ...

ice by the Parker Ice Company of Parker (the others being Aguila, Vicksburg, Bouse, Wenden, and

). Between 1934 and 1938, the Hope Highway was expanded during the construction period for Parker Dam; the route was improved by paving and widening the road. Hope is near the site where General

George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...

trained soldiers during World War II. Tourism to the area started in the 1930s due to the development of the two highways, which linked Phoenix to the West Coast, but the later construction of

and the Brenda cutoff "left Salome, Hope, Wenden and Aguila marooned in the desert." Hope and the nearby communities have been called part of the "Great Arizona Outback ..where the frontier never closed". In 2010, La Paz County officials stated that Hope "is anticipated to be a growing community over the next decade with a focus on local services and residential community development." The community is one of the towns expressly part of La Paz County's comprehensive plan. Today Hope is noted for its mining and also its hiking trails. A roadside sign just outside of Hope states, "If you can read this sign, you are beyond Hope." According to one book, "the sign exemplifies the humor and eclectic boosterism that have always been present in the McMullen Valley."

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in La Paz County, Arizona Unincorporated communities in Arizona

Geography

History

See also

References