Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Barstow, CA

Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County in California's Mojave Desert, long known by its motto as a "Crossroads of Opportunity" where major rail lines and highways meet.

Barstow is named after William Barstow Strong, a former president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and the city was incorporated on September 30, 1947.

Barstow grew up around the railroad: the Southern Pacific built a line from Mojave through the area to Needles in 1883, ownership passed to the Santa Fe in 1884, and the town became a key division point after silver was discovered in the nearby Calico Mountains in 1882.

Barstow's Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe depot opened in 1911, still stands and now houses city offices, the chamber of commerce, museums and an Amtrak station.

Before the interstates, Barstow was an important stop on both Route 66 and U.S. Route 91, which met downtown and ran west together to Los Angeles; its Main Street follows the original Route 66, immortalized in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

Today Interstates 15 and 40 cross at Barstow, and Interstate 40 begins in Barstow for its run east across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Barstow is home to Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, established on December 28, 1942, one of the city's major employers.

Barstow had a population of 25,415 at the 2020 census.

Barstow has about 9,145 households averaging 2.71 people each, and its median owner-occupied home value of about $245,000 is among the most affordable in California.

Barstow sits at roughly 2,175 feet elevation in the Mojave Desert, in the valley of the Mojave River, one of the few rivers in California that flows inland into the desert.