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Welcome to Tonopah (aka 'New Belmont') ...

Tonopah is located in Nye County<1> and is the County Seat for Nye County.

The pronunciation of Tonopah: TONE-ah-pah<2>

Tonopah was established in 1900.

The origin (or the toponymy) of ' . Tonopah . ':

Tonopah was named by Jim Butler; a local rancher and part-time prospector. The story goes that his mule wandered-off and was found standing next to a rock outcrop. He picked-up a rock to throw at the mule and found the rock to be heavier than expected. He had found the second richest silver strike in Nevada history.

Tonopah is either a Paiute ('to-nav') or Shoshone ('to-nuv') word for 'Greasewood' and 'pah' for 'water'.

Tonopah is 6,040 feet [1,841 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Tonopah is about 1¼ mile [or ~1¾ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Tonopah lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Tonopah: 775

The ZIP code for Tonopah: 89049<4>

The community of Tonopah was previously named Butler City.

Communities Also Named Tonopah ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named Tonopah - it's located in Arizona.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Tonopah.

Websites for Tonopah ...

Official Website: www.tonopahnevada.com/

Communities near Tonopah ...

We have created a list of 5 communities that are near Tonopah.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Tonopah. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Tonopah.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Tonopah. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Tonopah.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Tonopah. Our list includes 17 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Tonopah.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Tonopah ...

Looking for more information about Tonopah? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Tonopah, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Tonopah.

Adding Tonopah to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Tonopah in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Tonopah was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Tonopah post office opened in 1905.

We also found Tonopah mentioned on a train schedule titled Southern Pacific Railroad Time Tables (March 1908).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Tonopah.

The official website for Tonopah: www.tonopahnevada.com/

The official website for Nye County: www.co.nye.nv.us/

The official website for State of Nevada: https://nv.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Nevada's counties, including Nye, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The pronunciation we've provided is our attempt to give a phonetic pronunciation for Tonopah. While it might not be exactly right, hopefully it will be close. If we have it wrong or there's a better way to pronounce the name, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Tonopah - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a community (such as Tonopah). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Tonopah or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<7>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025