Nothing, Arizona

History

The locals told travelers it "got named by a bunch of drunks." Nothing has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.

The settlement was established in 1977 by Richard "Buddy" Kenworthy, located 118 mi northwest of Phoenix, and 23 mi south of Wikieup, the "rattlesnake capital of Arizona." It is west of Bagdad at milepost 148½ on U.S. Route 93 (the Joshua Forest Scenic Parkway) between Wickenburg and Kingman, on the route from Las Vegas to Phoenix.

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) installed one of four motorist call boxes on U.S. 93 at Nothing.

At its height, Nothing had a population of four. The settlement contained a gas station and small convenience store.

Abandonment

Nothing was abandoned by May 2005 when Kenworthy moved on from the settlement, and by August 2008, the disused gas station was beginning to collapse. An attempted revival of Nothing occurred at some time after August 2008 when Nothing was purchased by Mike Jensen. By April 2009, Jensen had opened his pizza business, run from a portable oven, with hopes of reopening the mini-mart and creating accommodations for RVs.

In April 2011, Nothing was marked as abandoned once again. The building has fresh boards in the windows, and no sign of inhabitance or any activity.

2016 promotion

In 2016, Century 21 Real Estate ran a "Give Dad Nothing" promotion where a free 24-hour lease to a piece of property at Nothing, Arizona could be secured for June 19, 2016 (Father's Day) only. The promotion was done with the participation of the current property owner and included a downloadable "Certificate of Nothing" and gift card.

In fiction

A fictionalized version of the town appeared in Star Trek: Forgotten Frontier.

References

References

1. {{cite gnis. 2675317. Nothing (historical)
2. Peterson, Dale. (2001). "Storyville, USA". University of Georgia Press.
3. Parker, Quentin. (August 2023). "Welcome to Horneytown, North Carolina, Population: 15: An insider's guide to 201 of the world's weirdest and wildest places". Adams Media.
4. "Arizona Town Has Just About Nothing Going On {{!}} The Seattle Times".
5. link. (2007-09-27 by Andrew Eames, from travelintelligence.net)
6. "A trip to Bagdad Arizona".
7. "Forgotten Wagners".
8. [http://www.us93corridor.com/safety.htm Motorist Assist Patrol] U.S. 93 Corridor {{Webarchive. link. (2009-04-10)
9. Will Shiers. (6 November 2010). "Roadside Relics: America's Abandoned Automobiles". MBI Publishing Company.
10. "Nothing, AZa".
11. Ruelas, Richard. (29 April 2009). "Pizza chef has high hopes for his roadside attraction". Gannett.
12. Cave, James. (13 June 2016). "You Can Literally Give Dad 'Nothing' For Father's Day". The Huffington Post.
13. Peters, Terry. (8 June 2016). "Real estate company offers the chance to give Dad 'Nothing' this Father's Day". NBC News.
14. "Home".
15. "Star Trek: Shards of Nothing Chapter 1, a startrek: other fanfic {{!}} FanFiction".
16. "Star Trek: Forgotten Frontier".