Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Kingston, NM

Kingston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sierra County, New Mexico, a former silver boomtown in the Black Range that is now often described as a ghost town.

The 2020 census counted 50 residents in Kingston.

Silver was discovered in the Kingston district in 1880, following prospecting developments at Hillsboro to the east, and prospector Jack Sheddon's 1882 discovery of silver at what became the Solitaire Mine set off the rush.

The town was surveyed in 1882, first called Percha City, and quickly grew to a population of about 1,800.

From 1883 to 1893, the district's 27 mines produced almost 6,000,000 ounces of silver; the Lady Franklin Mine was the largest producer of high-grade silver, averaging 15 ounces per ton.

At its height Kingston had 22 saloons, 14 grocery stores, five hotels, two schools, a church and an opera house, and the celebrated singer Lillian Russell once performed there; a fire in 1890 destroyed much of the boomtown.

Among the fortune-seekers drawn to Kingston's boom was Edward L. Doheny, who went on to become one of America's most famous oilmen.

The silver crash of 1893 curtailed mining in Kingston; there was a brief resurgence during World War II, but by 1952 most production had ceased.

New Mexico State Road 152 runs through Kingston, climbing west over the Black Range toward Silver City; the community serves as a gateway to the Gila National Forest.

The CDP covers just 0.20 square miles of land at an elevation of about 6,240 feet.