Twentynine Palms

The City of Twentynine Palms is the home of Joshua Tree National Park Headquarters and Main Park Entrance (the North Entrance) and proud host of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the world's largest Marine Corps training base. The City is renowned for its world-class murals and artists, supportive business climate, pristine air, beautiful natural surroundings, desert and mountain vistas, and friendly family lifestyle. Beyond the last of the traffic lights, we are the gateway to the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve, and the great California Outback. Enjoy our website, but we also invite you to experience the history, culture, lustrous starlit skies, breath-taking sunsets, and sunrises in person. The first recorded exploration of Twentynine Palms was made in 1855 by desert surveyor Colonel Henry Washington. He found Native Americans, principally from the Chemeheuvi tribe, living in the surrounding hills and near the spring they called "Mar-rah," meaning "land of little water." The spring, now called the Oasis of Mara, is located on the grounds of the historic 29 Palms Inn adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park Headquarters. Legend says that these gold miners first used the name of Twentynine Palms because of the 29 Washingtonia filifera palm trees surrounding the Oasis. In fact, the area was designated as such in the description of a mining claim by two partners, McKenzie and Germain, who stated that their claim was a certain distance from 29 Palms Springs. However, it is also known that A.P. Green, a member of an 1858 survey party, reported that there were 26, not 29, fine, large palm trees at the oasis. There are many stories of the derivation of our present name, including one that claims that it was Colonel Washington who named it for the number of palm trees he found at the oasis at the time of his 1855 survey, but this has never been authenticated. In the 1870s, local Native Americans led prospectors to locations south and east of the oasis where gold had been found. Thus, mining began in the area that later became known as Gold Park. It was not long before freighters were hauling supplies to be used in the Gold Park District and the Dale Mining District east of Twentynine Palms, where other valuable deposits had been located. Gold mining continued sporadically through the following years but ended about the time of the onset of World War I when no further new ore deposit discoveries were occurring. Crude two-rut roads were built beginning in 1927, and the burgeoning new community established its own school. Twentynine Palms has a short but rugged history. Many of the same ideals and values exist here today as they did in those early days. Pioneer Helen Bagley, author of "Sand in My Shoes," stated in her writings, "We did not always work in peace and harmony. But sincerity, interest, and enthusiasm we had in common. We accomplished." History, of course, is what we all make daily in our everyday lives, and Twentynine Palms has never lost its pioneer spirit as it has progressed. That spirit is catching and affects many who have chosen to make their home here and joined with the original families (and their second and third generations) in actively supporting the community's goals. (Photo credits: Top: Oasis of Mara, 1940s, by Harlow Jones. Above, Desert Road: 29 Palms "Highway," 1933, by Bill Hatch.) The City of Twentynine Palms, California, in the southern Mojave Desert, is the home of Joshua Tree National Park headquarters and north entrance and proud host of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the world's largest Marine Corps training base. Known for its clear skies, brilliant star-filled nights, desert and mountain vistas, wide open spaces, and world-class murals and public art, the City offers a haven for artists and nature lovers, a restful getaway destination for visitors, a scenic location for photography and filming, a supportive climate for small business