John Sterr, archives manager at the Jerome Historical Society, presented “Jerome at 125: 1899 to 2023” at Yavapai College as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s Brown Bag series on Sept. 19.
The first mining claim was recorded in 1876, but Jerome wasn’t officially incorporated until March 1899. Jerome, at an elevation of approximately 5,200 feet, was once the fourth-largest town in the Arizona Territory with a population of almost 15,000 at its peak.
In 1883, the United Verde Copper Company consolidated claims and started to work the mine, smelting one million pounds of copper in the first year. Jerome’s namesake was Eugene Murray Jerome of New York, who invested in the mine with the stipulation that the mining camp be named after him.
William A. Clark was in the business of supplying dry goods to mines and later purchased the United Verde after seeing copper ore at the Exposition of 1885 in New Orleans.
The United Verde later became the richest privately-owned copper mine in the world. Following increases in the price of copper, UV was able to build a narrow-gauge railroad known as the United Verde and Pacific Railroad to facilitate ore transportation.
Jerome was burnt out three times between 1897 and 1899. Copper sulfide ores had to be roasted before being smelted, and sulfur often ignited inside the mines, causing underground fires. Sterr said that one of the town’s first ordinances prohibited the maimed or deformed from walking on main streets in the daytime, as their appearance was bad advertising for the town.
Jimmy “Rawhide” Douglas later purchased the Little Daisy mine in 1912 and hit a vein of 45% copper, setting off another boom that lasted into the 1930s.
When the land started to cave in beneath the UVCC smelter, it was closed and a new smelter was erected in what would become the town of Clarkdale in 1915. Open pit mining operations at the former smelter site began in 1918.
In 1938, the Little Daisy mine shut down, and in 1953, the UVCC stopped mining due to lack of ore. The same year, the Jerome Historical Society was formed.
After the mines closed, the population dwindled, going from a peak of 15,000 residents to only a few hundred. Jerome has a current population of 445 and a median age of 57.
Sterr showed photographs from the JHS archives that corresponded to the timeline he discussed, including some taken after the 1936 subsidence that caused many buildings to slide down the hill and others captured during one of Jerome’s fires. One of the latter showed a man carrying his belongings away from the fire.
Sterr also displayed a very early image from Jerome’s history that showed the hillside covered with tents and simple wooden structures when the mining operation was more thoroughly developed than the town. Another image showed a group of donkeys packing in wood while another captured cars parked next to horses.
