Hazen was named for William Babcock Hazen, who served under General Sherman in his "march to the sea." The town, established in 1903 to house laborers working on the Newlands Irrigation Project south of here, included hotels, saloons, brothels, churches and schools.

In 1905 the first train came through on the new routing to Tonopah. In 1906 the Southern Pacific Railroad built a large roundhouse here as well as a fine depot.

In 1908 Hazen was nearly destroyed by fire.

As a tough town, it had no peer in the state. Nevada's last lynching occurred in Hazen when "Red" Wood was taken from the wooden jail and hanged on February 28, 1905.

Notes on this marker:

What's not mentioned is that the Reno newspaper missed the lynching, so dug up the body and rehung him to get the shot.