A Town Built on Cleopatra Hill

It's very rare for a town's city streets and buildings to remain unchanged for over 100 years.  Time transforms a town. But on a remote mountainside within the Verde Valley region of central Arizona, an old copper mining town named Jerome  has withstood decades of weathered time for over a century.   

Jerome was founded in the 1870s when miners traveling west in search of gold discovered copper on an Arizona mountain called Cleopatra Hill.  They settled on the mountainside and named the town after Eugene Jerome, a wealthy New Yorker who helped finance the copper mines through the United Verde Copper Company. The mining was very successful and profitable and the town quickly evolved from a settlement of miners to a thriving community with paved roads, beautiful homes, ornate brick buildings, shops, a church, school, and a hospital. By the 1920s, Jerome was one of the largest towns in Arizona with a population of 15,000. 

But the riches of the copper mines attracted not only miners, but others who also seeked to prosper form the town's wealth.  Other businesses developed, such as hotels, saloons, gambling halls, and bordellos, and Jerome earned the notorious reputation of "the wickedest town in the west".   

Mining declined during the Great Depression, but increased during World War II when the price of copper rose.  However, copper production was low since most of the mineral had been excavated. When the mines closed in the 1950s,  the town's primary source of revenue vanished and the population declined rapidly as people moved away to seek their livelihood elsewhere.  With only a few residents remaining to govern Jerome, the town's buildings and streets began to deteriorate.  The progressive and flourishing town that had generated millions of dollars in copper had declined into a decaying ghost town.

However, during the 1960s Jerome was rediscovered by a new generation.  During the counterculture movement, Jerome's peaceful and remote mountainside became a haven for artists,  hippies, and bohemians who were anti-establishment and disillusioned with society's social, political and economic principles.  Recognizing the unique quality of this picturesque mining town, the new and old residents tenaciously worked together to restore the buildings and streets and preserve the historic and architectural character of the town. In 1967,  Jerome was designated a National Historic Landmark. 

Today, Jerome has a population of about 500 and it is a thriving art community and popular tourist destination.  It attracts visitors for the beautifully preserved historic buildings, enchanting and picturesque mountainside, art shops, restaurants and ghost town folklore.  It will forever be a hauntingly beautiful example of a prosperous mining town that contributed to American industry.