Oatman Drug Company Building

The Oatman Drug Company Building was erected in 1915 during the town of Oatman's heyday as a thriving mining center in Mohave County. The building is one of the few structures from the period as it survived a 1921 fire that destroyed many of the neighboring buildings. The building held a general/drug store for many years and at other times was a saloon and soda fountain. Travelers and tourists on Route 66 often stopped at the building. Today, Oatman is a destination for those seeking an "old west" experience and those wanting to retrace Route 66. Appropriately, the historic Oatman building has long been home to a shop that caters to tourists driving along what was once part of Route 66.

Oatman started out as a small mining camp in the early 1900s shortly after gold was found nearby in the Black Mountains. The Mount Mohave Gold Mining Company acquired the individual claims that had been established and invested heavily in building mining facilities. This activity attracted people to Vivian and soon the camp became a town with businesses, a post office, and a chamber of commerce. The mine produced little gold, however, and the company stopped its operations.

Another company, the Tom Reed Gold Mining Company, acquired the mine in 1906 and found a large ore body in 1908 that would yield $13 million worth of gold. The town's name was changed to Oatman after the discovery. It is likely that Oatman was named after a woman named Olive Oatman (1837-1903), who had been captured by Mohave Indians in 1851. Despite the discovery, Oatman did not grow rapidly until the discovery of another gold vein in 1913 in the United Eastern mine. Three years later, the town's population rose from a few hundred to 3,500 people. The Oatman Store was established to provide needed medicine and general goods to residents. Law offices and a dentist's and/or a doctor's office were located on the second floor. The store operated until the 1950s.

Route 66 was instrumental in connecting towns like Oatman to large cities and enabling people to travel west. Tourists, former residents of the plains escaping the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and World War II veterans and their families all traveled on the highway. Oatman was a popular place to stop. Businesses catered to visitors who shopped, got something to eat, and filled their gas tanks. Tourism became the main industry after the war since the mines had closed in 1942.

When I-40 bypassed Oatman in 1953, the town's days as a Route 66 stop ended (Oatman was the first Route 66 town in Arizona to be bypassed). The population decreased significantly and there are only around 43 residents according to the 2020 census. In 1962, the Oatman Store was used as a backdrop for scenes in the classic western film, "How the West Was Won." The store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Eck, Fred R. "Oatman Drug Company Building." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. April 6, 2006. https://www.theroute-66.com/oatman.html.

"Oatman." TheRoute-66.com. Accessed September 12, 2023. https://www.theroute-66.com/oatman.html.