Peach Springs () is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

(CDP) in

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. 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 th ...

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. The population was 1,098 at the 2020 census. Peach Springs serves as the administrative headquarters of the

Hualapai The Hualapai ( , ) are a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled citizens. Approximately 1353 enrolled citizens reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Northern Arizona ( Coc ...

people and is located on the Hualapai Reservation.

Geography

Peach Springs is in eastern Mohave County on both sides of

Arizona State Route 66 State Route 66 (SR 66) is a surface road in the U.S. state of Arizona in Mohave, Coconino, and Yavapai Counties. In 1914, the road was designated as part of the National Old Trails Highway but in 1926 was re-designated as U.S. Route 66 (U ...

(historic

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

). It is northeast of Kingman and northwest of Seligman. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , all land. The community is mainly on the north side of Yampai Canyon, drained by west-flowing Truxton Wash.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 600 people, 166 households, and 139 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 219 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 93.0% Native American, 4.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.3% from other races, and 0.3% from two or more races. 5.3% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 166 households, out of which 48.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 35.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.7% were non-families. 12.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.61 and the average family size was 3.83. In the CDP the population was spread out, with 40.5% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 6.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $18,194, and the median income for a family was $17,292. Males had a median income of $20,833 versus $15,500 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $6,756. About 38.2% of families and 36.6% 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 38.7% of those under age 18 and 55.4% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

The town has the Hualapai Lodge, a motel and a small grocery market with fuel. It is an access point to Hualapai Hilltop, to the northeast, which is the trailhead from which hikers descend an trail, with a drop of , to the town of Supai, from which Havasu Falls and other waterfalls can be visited. Peach Springs is located on the route of the former

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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

(now the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

) and on historic

US Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

. Route 66 brought large numbers of cross-country travellers through the town until Interstate 40 was opened to the south in 1978.

I-40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway in the southeastern and southwestern portions of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and ...

diverges from

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

at Seligman to the east, and the two roads do not meet again until Kingman to the west. As no connecting roads join the two highways at Peach Springs, the town went from being on the beaten path to being more than thirty miles from the new main road overnight. I-40 shortened the highway distance from Kingman to Seligman by at the expense of turning villages like Truxton, Valentine and Hackberry into overnight ghost towns. Peach Springs survived as the administrative base of the Hualapai tribe but suffered irreparable economic damage. The John Osterman Shell Station, built by a Swedish immigrant in 1929, closed soon after the turn of the millennium. In 2007, the Hualapai Tribe received a $28,000 federal matching grant to rehabilitate the building, which has yet to re-open but which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2012.

In popular culture

Peach Springs served as one of the inspirations for the fictional town of Radiator Springs in the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

movie "

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

." The creators of the movie took a research trip along Route 66, visiting many small towns and drawing inspiration from their unique character and charm.

Education

It is within the Peach Springs Unified School District. At one time it had its own high school,

Music Mountain Junior/Senior High School Music Mountain Junior/Senior High School is a junior and senior high school grades 7 through 12 in Peach Springs, Arizona, established in 2001 and was closed in 2008. Starting in the 2022/23 school year, the school was reopened and is again serv ...

. Valentine Elementary School District has its single

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...

with a Peach Springs postal address, but the school is physically in Truxton. - The address states "Peach Springs, AZ" but the school, as per the page, is in Truxton. No part of the Peach Springs CDP is in that district.

References