On April 12, 1881 the Carson and Colorado Railroad auctioned lots to establish a terminus for the gold and silver mines at Aurora, Bodie, and Candelaria. The new town was named Hawthorne in honor of Judge W. A. Hawthorne, a pioneer of Nevada and Esmeralda County.

As its mines played ut and Hawthorne was growing.  This lead to the Esmeralda County Seat moving to Hawthorne and the Old Courthouse on C Street being  built.
The Southern Pacific Railroad purchased the Carson and Colorado Railroad in 1900 and realigned the railroad bed for a more direct route from Thorne toward the rich mines at Tonopah and Goldfield, bypassing Hawthorne.
      The economic slump that this action caused in Hawthorne resulted in the county seat being moved to Goldfield in Southern Esmeralda County.  During 1905-1907 mining boons at Lucky Boy, Rawhide and Dutch Creek brought prosperity back to Hawthorne and a demand for the return of the county seat. Senator Fred Balzar, a native of Hawthorne who later became the Governor of Nevada, proposed dividing Esmeralda County because it was too large for people to travel from one end of the county to the county seat.  Esmeralda was divided in 1911 leaving the Esmeralda County seat in Goldfield, Nevada and putting the county seat for the newly formed Mineral County in Hawthorne, Nevada.
Mineral County is appropriately named as gold, silver, copper, mercury, iron, borax, limestone, gypsum, and uranium have been discovered here over the years.
     The population of Hawthorne increased to 680 soon after the federal government established the Naval Ammunition Depot on 400 square miles surrounding Hawthorne, circa 1927-1929.  Hawthorne grew at an astounding rate as the N.A.D. expanded to meet demands of World War II.  Civilians, military personnel and townspeople mushroomed the population to 14,000 by 1944.  There was no housing for this many people, so tent cities reminiscent of the old mining camps appeared over night.  The federal government built the community of Babbitt, to accommodate the civilian civil service workers and  several two-story barracks buildings to hose the 3,000 sailors. Building in both area have since been demolished or relocated.