Yermo, California

Businesses

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south.^{[citation needed]}

The fast-food restaurant chain Del Taco was founded in Yermo in 1964.^[6]

Yermo once had a California agriculture inspection station^[7] for traffic heading south on Interstate 15. It relocated in 2018 to just north of Mountain Pass, between Yates Well Road and Nipton Road.^{[citation needed]}

Tourism

In the mid-20th century, the Yermo Chamber of Commerce styled the community as the "Gateway to the Calicos", referring to its location about 3 miles (4.8 km) 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,^[8] 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,^[9] purchased Calico and restored it. He later deeded it to the San Bernardino County,^[10] which operates the site as a historical county park and a popular tourist attraction of the U.S. Southwest.^{[citation needed]}

Schools

The Silver Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) is the school district covering the Yermo CDP,^[11] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Churches

In 2009 Yermo had three active churches, one Baptist and two non-denominational/fundamentalist.^{[citation needed]}

2020 Census