Needles is a small city in San Bernardino County, located in the Mojave Desert on the western banks of the Colorado River near the borders of Arizona and Nevada. It is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95 and had a population of 4,931 at the 2020 census.
The area was originally inhabited by the Mojave people. Needles was founded in 1883 during the construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was named after nearby rock pinnacles called “The Needles.” Early on, it grew rapidly as a tent town for railroad workers and became a key river port above Yuma, Arizona. The El Garces Hotel and Santa Fe Station, built in 1908, became local landmarks.Needles was also an important stop on historic U.S. Route 66, serving as an entry point for Dust Bowl migrants in the 1930s. The city has several motels and shops from that era. In 1949, the Colorado River was dredged to address silt problems caused by the Hoover Dam. Today, Needles serves as a tourism and recreation hub and is the eastern gateway to the Mojave National Preserve.









