Yucca is an

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 ...

and

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,

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. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 96, down from 126 at the 2010 census. Located along Interstate 40, it lies southwest of Kingman, just east of the southern section of the Black Mountains and west of the Hualapai and McCracken Mountains in the Sacramento Valley. Yucca has a ZIP Code of 86438. Students in Yucca attend elementary school in the one-school Yucca Elementary School District, and high school in the Kingman Unified School District.

History

Yucca started as an order office and water fill station for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (affiliated with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) in the 1880s. It was part of a rail line commissioned by the U.S. Congress running from St. Louis, Missouri, to Needles, California. 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 List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. In 1918 Yucca started its own cemetery. 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 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 corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

and along with additional land, was turned into the Arizona Proving Ground comprising nearly . Chrysler 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. 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 lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

s, cafés, and a Whiting Brothers truck stop operated. In the early 1970s, Interstate 40 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.

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 parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and east of Needles, California. 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 (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''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

Education

It is in the Yucca Elementary School District.
Text list
/ref>

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

Education

See also

References