Largest ghost town in the US still crumbling 80 years after first breaking ground as abandoned mall turns to desert dust
THE US’s largest ghost town is still standing after being abandoned entirely over 20 years ago.
The fenced-off town sits on the edge of a mountain in the middle of a desert, miles from civilization.
Eagle Mountain, California is one of America’s largest and best-preserved ghost towns.
At its peak, the town had a population of 4,000 people, with 400 homes, a mall, swimming pool, and three schools.
The neatly organized blocks with box houses, telephone poles, and paved roads still exist today, 78 years after the town was founded.
Eagle Mountain was built in 1948 by the Kaiser Steel Corporation for workers at the adjacent mine.
The mine grew into Southern California’s largest iron ore mine, and by 1977, it had shipped 100 million tons of iron ore.
In 1981, facing environmental regulations and foreign competition, the mine was shut down.
The town’s last high school class graduated in 1983, marking the end of an already declining community.
Several attempts were made to repurpose the space.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation converted Eagle Mountain’s shopping mall into a low-security prison.
The prison was the area’s largest employer until 2003, when a riot broke out over viewing the World Series.
Two prisoners died, and the prison was shut down.
The town’s backdrop of boarded-up homes and hulking concrete ruins have occasionally been featured in film and TV, like Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and several episodes of Top Gun USA.
The town was also involved in a long court battle to convert the land into a landfill for waste from Los Angeles County.
The plan died in court in 2013 due to environmental concerns about the effect on Joshua Tree National Park, which is close to the town.
In 2023, a private entity acquired the land for $22.5 million, but no development has happened since and the future of Eagle Mountain is still unknown.