Jerome- Who You Gonna Call?

JEROME

Founded in 1876, Jerome was once the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. The population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920’s. The Depression of the 1930’s slowed the mining operation and the claim went to Phelps Dodge, who holds the claim today. World War II brought increased demand for copper, but after the war, demand slowed. Dependent on the copper market, Phelps Dodge Mine closed in 1953. The remaining 50 to 100 hardy souls promoted the town as a historic ghost town. In 1967 Jerome was designated a National Historic District by the federal government. Today Jerome is a thriving tourist and artist community with a population of about 450.

Who you gonna call?
Jerome sits above what was the largest copper mine in Arizona and produced an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. Men and women from all over the world made their way to Arizona to find work and maybe a new way of life. Today the mines are silent, and Jerome has become 

The Largest Ghost Town in America.

Set dramatically on the side of Mingus Mountain, the town is propped on a thirty-degree mountainside two thousand feet above the Verde Valley. Fifteen hundred feet separates the upper-level houses from the lowest. 

 Located high on top of Cleopatra Hill, Jerome was once known as the wickedest town in the west, Jerome was a copper mining camp, growing from a settlement of tents to a roaring mining community.

 “America’s Most Vertical City” and 
“Largest Ghost Town in America”

 Jerome is now a bustling tourist magnet and artistic community with a population of about 450. It includes a modicum of artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed and breakfast owners, museum caretakers, gift shop proprietors and fallen-down-building landlords.

For more on Jerome go to:
http://www.azjerome.com/jerome/

http://jeromechamber.com/history-of-jerome-arizona/