Jerome, Arizona

Jerome clings to the flank of Cleopatra Hill above one of the richest copper bodies in the West. Claims worked from 1876 passed in 1882 to the United Verde Copper Company, whose tent camp took the name of Eugene Jerome, a New York financier who bankrolled it and never visited. Senator William Clark of Montana bought the mine in 1888 and made a fortune; by the mid-1920s nearly fifteen thousand people crowded the hillside. When the copper played out the town nearly emptied, before artists revived it as a mountainside ghost town come back to life.

What the plaque says

Incorporated March 8, 1899. Jerome is perched on the side of Cleopatra Hill over rich ore deposits. In 1876, mining claims and a mill were located near the town. These claims were purchased in 1882 by the United Verde Company, and the tent camp was named Jerome after Eugene Jerome, a major financier of the company. Senator William Clark of Montana purchased the company in 1883. By the mid 1920s the population had grown to almost 15,000 before it began to decline. Although it survived numerous fires, many of the buildings you see today are the same that existed when the town was in its heyday. Remnants of the red-light district, Company Hill, old hotels, and saloons still exist. Today the population is close to 500.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Jerome — 0.4 mi
  The billion-dollar copper camp clinging to Cleopatra Hill — now the largest ghost town in America
• Tuzigoot — 4.8 mi
  A hilltop Sinagua pueblo over the Verde, dug out of the ground in the Depression
• Montezuma Castle — 18 mi
  A five-story Sinagua cliff dwelling, misnamed for an emperor who was never here
• Sedona — 21 mi
  Red-rock skyline, Little Hollywood, and the town Sedona Schnebly gave her name to

More markers nearby

• The Audrey Shaft and UVX Operations — 0.4 mi
• Jerome's Famous Sliding Jail — 0.4 mi
• Bartlett Hotel — 0.5 mi
• Jerome Blast Furnace — 0.5 mi