Kingman AZ was named for Lewis Kingman. Lewis surveyed along the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad's right-of-way from Needles CA, to Albuquerque NM. Lewis Kingman then supervised the building of the railroad from Winslow AZ to Beale's Springs, which was located near the present day town of Kingman.
Kingman is now the county seat for Mohave County. The Mohave County seat originally was located in what is now Nevada, in the settlement of Callville. This portion of Arizona Territory was transferred to Nevada in 1865 after Nevada's statehood, and became part of Clark County, Nevada. Some feel this loss of land was due to Arizona siding with the south in the American Civil War.
With the loss of this territory, the Mohave County seat was moved to Mohave City in 1866, and then to Hardyville, which became Bullhead City, in 1867. The county seat was then transferred to the mining town of Cerbat in 1871, then to Mineral Park near Chloride in 1872. In 1887, the county seat was moved to Kingman after some period of time without a permanent county seat.
According to local legend, the instruments and records of Mohave County government were taken clandestinely from Chloride and moved to Kingman in the middle of the night during this final transfer of the county seat.
