BlockFrom the record
One of 98 National Register listings published here for San Bernardino County · listed in 2016 · category: District.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Providence Townsite
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1942.
The listing
- Address. 10.7 mi. off Essex Rd., Essex, 92332
- When was it listed? August 2016
- Category. district
- Census division. Newberry Springs-Baker
- National Register reference number. 16000522 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Then and now
1942 to 1985The ground this property stands on, surveyed 43 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Fires near this property
13 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Providence Townsite between 1998 and 2012, burning about 3,736 acres in total. 12 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 12 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | BLAIR |
| 9 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | PROVIDENCE |
| 12 September 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | MORA |
| 8 August 2001 | Natural | under an acre | California Desert District | PROVIDENCE |
| 6 August 2005 | Natural | 1.5 acres | Mojave National Preserve | PROVIDENCE |
| 30 August 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | VULCAN |
| 12 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | PROVIDENC2 |
| 6 July 2006 | Natural | 30 acres | Mojave National Preserve | GLOBE |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 126 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 126 workings within 5 miles of Providence Townsite: 59 occurrences, 46 prospects, 18 past producers, 2 unknowns. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Gold, Silver, Silver, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams-Ikes Hope Prospect | Gold, Lead, Copper, Iron, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Dimension Stone Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Francis | Copper, Lead, Zinc, Silver | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Gold Star North Prospects | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper | Prospect | ||
| Iris Fin Prospect | Silver, Copper, Zinc | Unknown | 1980 | |
| L' Chacana Prospect | Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc | Occurrence | ||
| Lead Capping | Lead, Copper, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Mitchell Mine | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Red Rock Prospect | Silver, Lead, Gold | Prospect | ||
| Silver Queen 1-33 Prospect | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Tungsten | Occurrence | 1978 |
Storms near this property
8 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Essex, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 7 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $500,000 | A bridge was washed out on Route 66 southwest of Essex, and mud was over the roads in and around Essex. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $5,000 | National Trails Highway and Goffs Road were closed due to flooding with large amounts of debris. |
| August 2013 | Flash Flood | Essex | $5,000 | Mud covered Essex Road, with several cars stuck in the mud. |
| May 2023 | Flood | Essex | $2,000 | Minor flooding left sand and debris on the Essex Road off ramp from Interstate 40. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $2,000 | Water and debris were in the intersection of Goffs Road and National Trails Highway. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Two feet of standing water covered Essex Road. The road was eventually closed from National Trails Highway to Interstate 40. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Essex Road was flooded near Interstate 40. |
| September 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Three feet of water crossed National Trails Highway at Essex. |
Maps showing this location
8 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1942 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:250000
- 1943 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Flynn quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000 - 7 printings
- 1981 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Fountain Peak quadrangle1:24000
Listed places nearby
1 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vulcan Mine Historic District | 5.7 miles | 2019 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 16000522 in Record Group 79. |
| San Bernardino County | All 98 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.