| Yermo | |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated town Census-designated place |
| Pushpin Map: | USA California#USA |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the state of California |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | California |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | San Bernardino |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 0.654 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 0.649 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.005 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 623 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Pacific (PST) |
| Utc Offset: | -8 |
| Timezone Dst: | PDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Elevation Ft: | 1929 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 92398 |
| Area Code Type: | Area codes |
| Area Code: | 442/760 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 06-86720 |
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info Sec1: | 2805257[3] |
Yermo (Spanish for "wilderness" or "wasteland")[4] is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. It is 13miles east of Barstow on Interstate 15, just south of the Calico Mountains. Its population was estimated at 1,750 in 2009.
Founded in 1902 and originally named Otis, Yermo is situated at a division point of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, later the Union Pacific Railroad line. A post office was established three years later with William J. Flavin serving as Yermo's first postmaster.[4] It later developed around serving motorists traveling the Arrowhead Trail (later U.S. Route 91), which ran through the community.
Today, Yermo is governed by an elected five-member board of directors comprising the Community Services District authorized by the County of San Bernardino. The board, which meets monthly, oversees the community's volunteer fire department, the Yermo/Calico VFD, as well as its street lighting, parks and water system. Yermo's ZIP Code is 92398, and it is in telephone area codes 442 and 760. Its USPS branch provides post office boxes to local residents and businesses; there is no letter-carrier service.
Yermo hosts the 1859adj=onNaNadj=on storage and industrial annex of the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow.
When Interstate 15 opened in 1968, Yermo was immediately bypassed by traffic traveling to and from Las Vegas, Nevada. As a result, 90 percent of its local businesses closed.
During its heyday, Yermo had 27 gas stations with mechanics, seven bars, two grocery stores, a hardware store, a pizza shop, four real estate offices, three motels, a thrift store, several restaurants, roadside camping sites and two parks. In 2009, it had one grocery/general store, one bar, one thrift store, three restaurants, four gas stations, one park, and one motel 3miles to the south.
The fast-food restaurant chain Del Taco was founded in Yermo in 1964.[5]
Yermo once had a California agriculture inspection station[6] for traffic heading south on Interstate 15. It relocated in 2018 to just north of Mountain Pass, between Yates Well Road and Nipton Road.
In the mid-20th century, the Yermo Chamber of Commerce styled the community as the "Gateway to the Calicos", referring to its location about 3miles south of the Calico Mountains and the historic Calico Ghost Town. At the time, Yermo and Barstow were campaigning to establish a state park at Calico,[7] which was an active silver mining town from the early 1880s until the turn of the 20th century. In 1952, former Calico resident and Knotts Berry Farm founder Walter Knott, whose uncle John King was once the town’s sheriff, and who worked at there as a carpenter in 1915,[8] purchased Calico and restored it. He later deeded it to the San Bernardino County,[9] which operates the site as a historical county park and a popular tourist attraction of the U.S. Southwest.
The Silver Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) is the school district covering the Yermo CDP,[10] and in the Yermo area. It operates K-12 schools in the communities of Yermo, Daggett and Newberry Springs, and at the U.S. Army National Training Center at Ft. Irwin.
In 2009 Yermo had three active churches, one Baptist and two non-denominational/fundamentalist.
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Yermo has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps with long, very hot summers, sunny winters with cool nights and dry conditions year round.[11]
Yermo first appeared as a census designated place in the 2020 U.S. Census.[12]
| White alone (NH) | 366 | 58.75% | |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 20 | 3.21% | |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 6 | 0.96% | |
| Asian alone (NH) | 10 | 1.61% | |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 0 | 0.00% | |
| Other race alone (NH) | 0 | 0.00% | |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 38 | 6.10% | |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 183 | 39.37% | |
| Total | 623 | 100.00% |