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Essex

Ghost town · San Bernardino County, California

Essex quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1943, 1:62,500)
Essex quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1943, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Essex is a ghost town in San Bernardino County, California. It is one of 50 former communities in San Bernardino County on the federal names register. No county in California has more among the 58 California counties with a vanished settlement on record.

At its height the population reached about 89.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Essex as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 34.7336° N, 115.2442° W.

Key facts

Peak population89
Last recorded population89
Elevation1,733 ft
Nearest living townNeedles, CA
Distance to it35.5 miles
Coordinates34.73361, -115.24417

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Essex is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Needles, CA (population 4,882), about 35.5 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,733 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Essex, California
Essex, California · UnderPressure at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Essex?

Essex is in San Bernardino County, California, at 34.7336, -115.2442.

How many ghost towns are in San Bernardino County?

San Bernardino County, California has 50 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.