Arizona Route 66 Museum

The Powerhouse building was constructed in 1907 to supply electricity to the surrounding northwest Arizona mining region — particularly the gold mining operations at Oatman, Goldroad, and the smaller camps strung along the Black Mountains. At the time of construction it was one of the largest and most modern industrial structures in the Arizona Territory (Arizona did not become a state until 1912), and the building's substantial brick masonry and steel-truss roof system reflected the engineering ambition of the era's power-generation industry.

The plant operated as an active power generation facility into the mid-20th century before being decommissioned as larger regional power systems took over and the surrounding mining operations declined. The building sat largely vacant from the 1950s through the 1980s, deteriorating slowly while serving occasional secondary uses. By the 1990s the structure was considered endangered and various community-led preservation efforts began documenting its condition and exploring restoration options.

The current restoration was completed in the early 2000s as part of a broader downtown Kingman revitalization initiative. The City of Kingman acquired the building, secured funding from state and federal historic preservation grants, and converted the interior into a multi-use cultural facility while preserving the original industrial character — exposed brick walls, original timber framing where it survived, and reinterpreted industrial details throughout the exhibit spaces. The Arizona Route 66 Museum opened inside the restored Powerhouse in 2001 and has continued to expand and refine its exhibits across the subsequent decades.

The museum's central exhibit walks visitors chronologically through the full evolution of the transportation corridor that eventually became Route 66 — beginning with the Indigenous trade and migration trails that crossed the Mojave Desert long before European contact, continuing through 19th-century wagon roads, the National Old Trails Road of the early 1900s, the 1926 designation of Route 66, the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, the post-WWII tourism boom, the highway's decline after Interstate 40 was completed in the 1970s and 1980s, and the modern preservation movement that has kept the original alignment driveable and culturally significant.

The Dust Bowl section is one of the museum's strongest. Photographs, period documents, and a haunting full-scale diorama of a 1930s Okie family loaded into an overpacked Model A and heading west on the highway capture the era's desperation. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath gave Route 66 its enduring nickname as the "Mother Road" specifically because of the Dust Bowl migration, and the museum unpacks the historical reality behind the literary reference with photographs of actual migrant families who passed through Kingman in the 1930s.

The post-WWII boom section covers the era when Route 66 became America's vacation highway — when middle-class families with new cars and disposable income drove west to see the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, and the Pacific Ocean. Roadside motor courts, neon signs, diners, gas stations, and tourist attractions all flourished along Kingman's stretch of the highway during this era. The museum displays original neon signs, vintage gas pumps, restored automobiles from the 1940s through 1960s, and oral history listening stations where visitors can hear Kingman-area residents describe what the highway looked and felt like during its peak.

The museum's physical artifact collection is genuinely impressive for a regional museum. The centerpiece is a rotating display of vintage automobiles ranging from a 1930s-era family touring car (the kind of vehicle Dust Bowl migrants drove west) through a 1950s tourist-era station wagon and a 1960s-era Corvette. The vehicles are displayed in interpretive contexts that connect each car to a specific Route 66 era and a specific Kingman-area story.

Original highway signage is another strength. The museum has acquired and conserved dozens of original Route 66 highway shields, mile markers, business signs, and directional markers spanning the 1926-1985 active highway era. Several large neon signs from defunct Kingman-area motels, gas stations, and diners are mounted on the gallery walls and lit on rotating schedules to demonstrate how the highway looked at night during its tourism peak.

Smaller artifacts fill the gallery cases throughout — vintage road maps, gas station memorabilia, motor court key fobs and brochures, postcards, diner menus, period clothing, and personal effects donated by Kingman families with deep Route 66 connections. The oral history listening stations are an underrated feature; the audio recordings of Kingman residents describing the highway's heyday are some of the most genuinely moving exhibits in the building.

Co-located with the Route 66 Museum inside the same Powerhouse building, the Historic Electric Vehicle Museum is a smaller but genuinely interesting collection covering the surprisingly long history of electric vehicle development — including several Kingman-specific connections to early EV experimentation. The museum displays vintage electric vehicles ranging from early 20th-century delivery vans through 1970s-era EV prototypes and a small collection of modern production EVs. It's typically a 30-45 minute visit and is included in the combined Powerhouse admission ticket.

The official Kingman Visitor Center is also housed inside the Powerhouse and is covered in greater detail in its own listing. The visitor center provides free Route 66 maps, detailed Oatman Highway driving guides, Hoover Dam day-trip information, and general Kingman travel assistance. Pairing a Route 66 Museum visit with a stop at the visitor center desk before heading out on the Oatman Highway drive is the standard recommended sequence.

The combined Powerhouse experience — Route 66 Museum, EV Museum, and visitor center — typically takes 2 to 3 hours for visitors who want to engage thoroughly with the exhibits. Travelers on tight schedules can do a focused 60-90 minute Route 66 Museum visit and skip the EV Museum; travelers with a full day in Kingman can extend the Powerhouse stop to a half-day with the surrounding Andy Devine Avenue corridor providing lunch and shopping breaks.

The Arizona Route 66 Museum is the natural first stop for any Kingman-based Route 66 itinerary. The standard plan: arrive at the Powerhouse by 9am or 10am, spend 90 minutes to 2 hours engaging with the museum exhibits, stop at the visitor center desk for an Oatman Highway driving guide and current road condition information, have an early lunch at Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner directly across Andy Devine Avenue, then begin the Oatman Highway drive in the early afternoon. The drive itself takes 60 to 90 minutes one-way carefully, so returning to Kingman in time for an evening dinner generally works.

For travelers approaching Kingman from the east along the famous 158-mile preserved Seligman-to-Kingman alignment, the museum provides excellent historical context for the drive they have just completed. Seligman sits 80 miles east and is the eastern anchor of the longest continuously-driveable original Route 66 segment in the country; the museum's exhibits cover several of the small towns along that stretch (Hackberry, Truxton, Peach Springs, Valentine) with photographs and artifacts from each.

For travelers based at the Historic Beale Hotel or one of the other downtown Kingman lodging options, the Powerhouse is an easy walk along Andy Devine Avenue — typically 5 to 10 minutes depending on the specific hotel. For travelers staying at chain hotels along the I-40 corridor, the Powerhouse has its own ample free parking lot and is easily accessed from the I-40 Andy Devine Avenue exit.