Jerome, AZ Real Estate — Homes For Sale in Jerome, AZ

Jerome, Arizona, is located in Yavapai County, approximately 100 miles north of Phoenix and 45 miles southwest of Flagstaff on State Highway 89A. The town sits perched on a hillside at an elevation of over 5,000 feet in the Black Hills of Arizona. In 1875, the first mining claims and a mill site were located near the present site of the Town of Jerome at the base of two large cone-shaped hills, later called Cleopatra Hill and Woodchute Mountain. These claims were purchased by the United Verde Copper Company. The camp was named Jerome for Eugene Jerome, a major financier of the United Verde Copper Company. A small blast furnance was hauled in by wagon, and copper was produced in 1883 and 1884, but by 1887, the operation closed and in 1888, William Clark bought a majority of the stock and developed the operations into a profitable business. The small blast furnance produced nearly $1 million in copper and is on display today in Jerome. With new ore bodies being found, the mining operations grew. New smelter and a narrow guage railroad to the main line were built. During the boom years that began in the early 1900s, Jerome was a diverse community, with over 30 different nationalites inhabiting the town of nearly 15,000 people. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, at least five major fires ravaged the hastily constructed frame buildings that made up most of the town. With the lack of an adequate water supply and firefighting equipment, the residents of Jerome petitioned Yavapai County for incorporation, and in 1899, the County Board of Supervisors granted incorporation for Jerome. Jerome prospered until the lack of high grade ores and the Depression signaled its decline. Major mining activites ceased in 1953 and the population dropped to under 100 by the late 1950s. In 1953, some of the few remaining residents formed the Historical Society to preserve what remained of the town. Jerome is a town known for its tenacity in the face of impeding economic, environmental, health and topographic catastrophe. Crashing copper prices, sliding topography, mud, fires and disease are among the natural and manmade disasters that plagued the town throughout the 20th century. The mines, the workers, those who sought its wealth, and those who came later in the 1960s and '70s formed Jerome's history. Today's Jerome, while retaining its mining camp heritage, has undergone a personality change. Jerome is now a bustling artistic community with a population of approximately 444, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. It includes artists, craftspeople, musicians, writers, hermits, business owners, historians and families. Together, they form a peaceful, colorful, thriving community built on a rich foundation of history, art and lore, and the town has become a major attraction for visitors to Arizona. A major attraction for tourists and residents is the fantastic view from Jerome, which, at 5,000 feet, overlooks the Verde Valley and the spectacular red rock cliffs of the Mogollon Rim, capped by the 13,000-foot San Francisco Peaks 50 miles to the north in Flagstaff. less