The Clarkdale Historical Society and Museum hosted a guided tour of the Clark Memorial Clubhouse on Wednesday, Aug. 16. The tour, which takes place monthly on every third Wednesday, was led by the society’s board president, Michael Lindner.
Lindner reminded attendees that Clarkdale exists because of Jerome’s mining operations, pointing out the large open pit that can still be seen in the mountainside beneath Jerome. While locals knew of copper at the site, Spanish explorers passed it by in the 1500s, having more interest in gold.
The first mining claims in Jerome were taken out in the late 1800s when the town still lacked a railroad. Senator William Andrews Clark of Montana and James Douglas were both interested in the United Verde mining operation, which Clark eventually acquired in 1888. Clark decided to upgrade and relocate the smelter, as the richest ore was directly underneath it. He began to buy up land in what is now Clarkdale and erected a new smelter there in 1912 due to the nearby source of water and level terrain.
The following year, Clark began building a model town to house his employees. Clarkdale was the first master-planned company town in Arizona. Both the town and smelter were up and running by 1915, and Clark died ten years later. By 1930, the town was completely built out.
The smelter processed copper ore from 1915 to 1953, producing about two billion pounds of pure copper. The original smelter complex was later dismantled and few portions of it remain.
Clark left the town $100,000 in his will to build a clubhouse in his name. The Clark Memorial Clubhouse opened in 1926 and has remained an important community asset ever since. A plaque outside the building states that Clark built the clubhouse to show his appreciation for the loyalty of his employees.
While the building remains intact, it has undergone several modernizations, such as the installation of geothermal heating and cooling equipment. The museum still preserves the original blueprints.
The clubhouse auditorium also served as the high school’s gymnasium. A balcony with seating housed a motion picture booth that projected films onto the stage. During the tour, Lindner pointed out Clark’s initials on the stage curtains, which are original, as is the auditorium’s piano.
Next on the tour was the ladies’ lounge, with a small attached kitchen and pantry space. Once lavishly furnished, some of the original furnishings are now housed in the museum. The reading room, filled with solid wood furniture and leather chairs, followed. Only home to a few books and periodicals at first, the room became Clarkdale’s library in the 1930s and continued to fulfill that function until 1979. Now otherwise off limits, the room is used for the town council’s executive sessions. The original cork floor leads into the men’s lounge.
The men’s lounge was also furnished lavishly. Lindner stated that it was “remarkably intact,” retaining the original floor, light fixtures and piano. The doors have since been replaced and an ADA-compliant ramp was installed.
The billiard room was used until the 1980s and now serves as the council chambers. Some of the original furnishings have been brought back and repurposed. The space contains a cigar counter and soda fountain, which served no alcohol because Prohibition was in full effect by the time the town opened.
A door to the left of the cigar counter leads to the basement, which used to house a four-lane bowling alley. Teenage boys would be paid 25 cents a game to set the pins manually. The bowling alley was dismantled in the late 1970s and the space was taken over by the police department.
The back of the men’s lounge opens onto a balcony overlooking what once was the community pool. Lindner said that it was the only pool in the Verde Valley for quite some time and was always packed in the summertime. The pool was shut down in 2008 and filled in nine years later.
The next clubhouse tour will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. The Clarkdale Historical Society and Museum is open on Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
