Jerome Historic District
Historic district
Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County, Arizona. It was founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley to take advantage of copper deposits discovered in the 1870s whose extraction was made profitable by the arrival of a railroad spur nearby. The community reached its peak in the early 20th-century, and declined as its principal ore lodes were exhausted after World War II; the mines were closed for good in 1953. The historic district encompasses most of the built area within the town's municipal limits, as well as mining-related resources outside those limits, and the Douglas Mansion, the centerpiece of Jerome State Historic Park. The community retains much of the look and feel of an early 20th-century mining town, with buildings perched along the winding roads of the steeply sloped mountainside. In addition to houses, commercial and civic buildings survive, as does a late 19th-century copper smelter.
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View of Jerome Historic District, looking west up Main Street towards the mine, 2006.
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The Connor hotel in 1899.
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Main Street and Jerome Avenue: the Connor Hotel (left side corner) and the Liberty Theater
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Mining car
Jerome Historical Society
The Jerome Historical Society was founded in 1953 and is located at 407 Clark Street, within the district. In 1956 the society completed negotiations with Phelps Dodge assuring that no more buildings would be torn down in the main part of Jerome. The aim of the society is to "protect, preserve and present the unique physical and natural history of Jerome…for the benefit of residents and current and future generations.” The society maintains a variety of buildings, museums and special projects in and around Jerome.
Historic properties
Numerous properties within the district are historical, though others are not. Structures identified as historical by the Jerome Historical Society Plaque Project have a mounted plaque, placed by the society. The historic properties include:
See also
- Jerome Grand Hotel
- Jerome State Historic Park
- UVX Mining Co.
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Arizona
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Yavapai County, Arizona
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ "Jerome Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2007.
- ^ Charles W. Snell (May 3, 1966) National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings: Jerome (United Verde Mine), National Park Service (text and drawings) and Accompanying 7 photos, exterior, from 1958 and undated.
- ^ Jerome Historical Society
- ^ Museums and buildings
- ^ Jerome Historical Society – Jerome, AZ – Historical Society Headquarters on Waymarking.com
- ^ Jerome and State=Arizona
Further reading
- "Jerome (Images of America: Arizona)"; by: Midge Steuber (Author) and the Jerome Historical Society Archives; Publisher: Arcadia Publishing; ISBN 0738558826; ISBN 978-0738558820
- "Home Sweet Jerome: Death and Rebirth of Arizona's Richest Copper Mining City"; by: Diane Sward Rapaport; Publisher: Johnson Books; ISBN 1555664547; ISBN 978-1555664541
External links
Media related to Jerome Historic District at Wikimedia Commons