Mojave is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. The population was 3,836 at the 2000 census. The town is located at the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert, below the Oak Creek Pass. Telephone numbers in Mojave follow the format (661) 824-xxxx and the area includes three postal ZIP Codes.

The city of Mojave began in 1876 as a construction camp on the Southern Pacific Railroad. From 1884 to 1889, the town was the western terminus of the , twenty-mule-team borax wagon route originating at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. It later served as headquarters for construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Today, the town of Mojave offers numerous restaurants, motels, and gas stations for motorists.

The name Mojave comes from the name of the Indian nation occupying the area before the arrival of European settlers. Geographic features using the word Mojave are spelled differently from state to state. The convention is to spell it Mojave in California and Mohave in Arizona according to David Darlington's book on the Mojave Desert.

Aerospace history

Located near Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and Palmdale Regional Airport, Mojave has a rich aerospace history as well. Its airport is the home of various aerospace companies and institutions such as Scaled Composites and the civilian National Test Pilot School. The town was home to the Rutan Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world nonstop and unrefueled. The airport is also the first inland spaceport in the United States, the Mojave Spaceport, which was the location of the first private spaceflight, the launch of SpaceShipOne on June 21, 2004.

After winning the Ansari X Prize, Burt Rutan quipped that the isolation of the Mojave Desert fosters invention. "Innovation is what we do here," he said, "because there's not much else to do in Mojave."

Geography

Mojave is located at (35.016867, -118.189145). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 58.5 square miles (151.4 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,836 people, 1,408 households, and 940 families residing in the town. The population density was 65.6 people per square mile (25.3/km²). There were 1,806 housing units at an average density of 30.9/sq mi (11.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 67.54% White, 5.58% Black or African American, 1.33% Native American, 2.01% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 18.12% from other races, and 5.29% from two or more races. 28.31% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,408 households out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town .5% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 103.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $24,761, and the median income for a family was $28,496. Males had a median income of $35,476 versus $19,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $12,477. About 31.7% of families and 36.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 48.8% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Trivia

• The opening line of the Frank Zappa song "San Ber'dino," from the album One Size Fits All, references Mojave, saying "She lives in Mojave in a Winnebago." Zappa had attended high school in nearby Lancaster.

Sources

• Bailey, Richard C., Kern County Place Names, (Bakersfield, California: Merchant's Printing and Lithography Co., 1967).
• Beck, Warren A. and Ynez D. Haase, "92: Borax Mines and Roads of the Late 1800s," Historical Atlas of California, (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974).
• United States Postal Service web site, 2006.

References

External links

• Mojave's official website
• Mojave Transportation Museum website