"Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is located more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. It is about 100 miles (160 km) north of Phoenix along State route 89A between Sedona to the east and Prescott to the west. It is 45 miles (72 km ) southwest of Flagstaff. The town lies within the Prescott National Forest.
Woodchute Wilderness is about 3 miles (5 km) west of Jerome, and Mingus Mountain, at 7,726 feet (2,355 m) above sea level, is about 4 miles (6 km) south of town. Jerome state Historic Park is in the town itself. Bitter Creek, a tributary of the Verde River, flows intermittently through Jerome. East of Jerome at the base of the hills are the Verde Valley and the communities of Clarkdale and Cottonwood, site of the nearest airport.
View from Jerome looking Clarkdale and Cottonwood. The red rocks of Sedona are far off in the distance.
Cleopatra Hill
Can you guess what the sign actually said?
The road from the floor of the Verde Valley into Jerome, Arizona, twists and turns like a rattlesnake, a ravine on one side and rock faces on the other. Houses cling precariously to the hillside.
Ready to go on a "ghost town tour"?
"The Hohokam were the first people known to have lived and farmed near Jerome from 700 to 1125 CE. Later, long before the arrival of Europeans, it is likely that other native peoples mined the United Verde ore body for the colorful copper-bearing minerals malachite and azurite. The top of the ore body was accessible because it was visible on the surface.
Malachite: Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral. The stone's name derives (via Latin: molochītis, Middle French melochite, and Middle English melochites) "mallow-green stone". The mineral was given this name due to its resemblance to the leaves of the mallow plant.
Malachite was extensively mined at the Great Orme Mines in Britain 3,800 years ago, using stone and bone tools. Archaeological evidence indicates that mining activity ended c. 600 BCE, with up to 1,760 tons of copper being produced from the mined malachite.
Archaeological evidence indicates that the mineral has been mined and smelted to obtain copper at Timna Valley in Israel for more than 3,000 years. Since then, malachite has been used as both an ornamental stone and as a gemstone.
Malachite often results from the weathering of copper ores, and is often found with azurite, goethite and calcite. Except for its vibrant green color, the properties of malachite are similar to those of azurite and aggregates of the two minerals occur frequently. Malachite is more common than azurite and is typically associated with copper deposits around limestones, the source of the carbonate.
Azurite: Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits.
The mineral has been known since ancient times, and was mentioned in Pliny the Elder's Natural History under the Greek name kuanos (κυανός: "deep blue," root of English cyan) and the Latin name caeruleum. Since antiquity, azurite's exceptionally deep and clear blue has been associated with low-humidity desert and winter skies. The modern English name of the mineral reflects this association, since both azurite andazure are derived via Arabic from the Persian lazhward (لاژورد), an area known for its deposits of another deep-blue stone, lapis lazuli ("stone of azure").
Azurite is naturally occurring in Sinai and the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Depending on the degree of fineness to which it was ground, and its basic content of copper carbonate, it gave a wide range of blues. It has been known as mountain blue or Armenian stone, in addition it was formerly known as Azurro Della Magna (from Italian). When mixed with oil it turns slightly green. When mixed with egg yolk it turns green-grey. It is also known by the names blue bice and blue verditer, though verditer usually refers to a pigment made by chemical process. Older examples of azurite pigment may show a more greenish tint due to weathering into malachite. Much azurite was mislabeled lapis lazuli, a term applied to many blue pigments. As chemical analysis of paintings from the Middle Ages improves, azurite is being recognized as a major source of the blues used by medieval painters. Lapis lazuli (the pigment ultramarine) was chiefly supplied from Afghanistan during the Middle Ages, whereas azurite was a common mineral in Europe at the time. Sizable deposits were found near Lyons, France. It was mined since the 12th century in Saxony, in the silver mines located there.
The greenish tint of the Madonna's mantle in Raphael's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints is due to azurite weathering to malachite. The background of Lady with a Squirrel by Hans Holbein the Younger was painted with azurite.
"The first Europeans to arrive in the Jerome area were the Spanish conquistadors. At the time, the area was part of "New Mexico", and the Spaniards often organized silver and gold prospecting expeditions in the area. In 1585, Spanish explorers made note of the ore but did not mine it because their government had sent them to find gold and silver, not copper."
"Supported in its heyday by rich copper mines, Jerome was home to more than 10,000 people in the 1920's. Jerome resides above what was once the largest copper mine in Arizona which was producing an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. As of the 2010, its population was 444. It is now known for its tourist attractions, such as its "ghost town" status and local wineries."
The town owes its existence mainly to two ore bodies that formed about 1.75 billion years ago along a ring fault in the caldera of an undersea volcano. Tectonic plate movements, plate collisions, uplift, deposition, erosion, and other geologic processes eventually exposed the tip of one of the ore bodies and pushed the other close to the surface, both near Jerome. In the late 19th century, the United Verde Mine, developed by William A. Clark extracted ore bearing copper, gold, silver, and other metals from the larger of the two. The United Verde Extension UVX Mine, owned by James Douglas Jr., depended on the other huge deposit. In total, the copper deposits discovered in the vicinity of Jerome were among the richest ever found."
"Most of Cleopatra Hill, the rock formation upon which Jerome was built, is 1.75 billion years old. Created by a massive caldera eruption in Precambrian—elsewhere more narrowly identified as Proterozoic—seas south of what later became northern Arizona, the Cleopatra tuff was then part of a small tectonic plate that was moving toward the proto-North American continent. After the eruption, cold sea water entered Earth's crust through cracks caused by the eruption. Heated by rising magma to 660 °F (350 °C) or more, the water was forced upward again, chemically altering the rocks it encountered and becoming rich in dissolved minerals. When the hot solution emerged from a hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the ocean, its dissolved minerals solidified and fell to the sea floor. The accumulating sulfide deposits from two such vents formed the ore bodies, the United Verde and the UVX, most important to Jerome 1.75 billion years later.
These ore bodies formed in different places along a ring fault in the caldera. About 50 million years after they were deposited, the tectonic plate of which they were a part collided with another small plate and then with the proto-North American continent. The collisions, which welded the plates to the continent, folded the Cleopatra tuff in such a way that the two ore bodies ended up on opposite sides of a fold called the Jerome anticline.
No record exists for the next 1.2 billion years of Jerome's geologic history. Evidence from the Grand Canyon, further north in Arizona, suggests that thick layers of sediment may have been laid down atop the ore bodies and later eroded away.The gap in the rock record has been called the Great Unconformity.
About 525 million years ago, when northern Arizona was at the bottom of a shallow sea, a thin layer of sediment called the Tapeats Sandstone was deposited over the Cleopatra tuff. Limestones and other sediments accumulated above the sandstone until about 70 million years ago when the Laramide Orogeny created new mountains and new faults in the region. One of these faults, the Verde Fault, runs directly under Jerome along the Jerome anticline. Crustal stretching beginning about 15 million years ago created Basin and Range topography in central and southern Arizona, caused volcanic activity near Jerome, and induced movement along the Verde Fault. This movement exposed the tip of the United Verde ore body at one place on Cleopatra Hill and moved the UVX ore body to 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface. Basalt, laid down between 15 and 10 million years ago, covers the surface beneath the UVX headframes and Jerome State Historic Park. The basalt, the top layer of the Hickey Formation, caps layers of sedimentary rock.
The natural rock features in and around Jerome were greatly altered by mining. The town is underlain by 88 miles (142 km) of mine shafts. These may have contributed to the subsidence that destroyed some of Jerome's buildings, which slid slowly downhill during the first half of the 20th century. The United Verde open pit, about 300 feet (91 m) deep, is on the edge of town next to Cleopatra Hill. The side of the pit consists of Precambrian gabbro. Mine shafts beneath the pit extend to 4,200 feet (1,300 m) below the surface.
Jerome made news in 1917 when labor unrest involving the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led to the expulsion at gunpoint of about 60 IWW members, who were loaded on a cattle car and shipped west. Production at the mines, always subject to fluctuations, boomed during World War I, fell thereafter, rose again, then fell again during and after the Great Depression. As the ore deposits ran out, the mines closed for good in 1953, and the population dwindled to fewer than 100. Efforts to save the town from oblivion succeeded when residents turned to tourism and retail sales. Jerome became a National Historic Landmark in 1967. By the early 21st century, Jerome had art galleries, coffee houses, restaurants, a state park, and a local museum devoted to mining history.
The U.S. Post Office
Beautiful details for the post office boxes.
Mail bag for the pony express.
Nellie Bly II is a unique gallery of kaleidoscopes and glass art. They are the largest dealer of hand-crafted wood, metal and glass kaleidoscopes in the world and feature over 90 kaleidoscope artists. Most of the scope makers live in the United States.
Love the kaleidoscope at the entrance to the store. out our Kaleidoscope planter in front of the y wood, e
The owner encourages you to handle and play with everything you see in the store. "If you're not having fun we may have to kick you out...."
keep our hands off them...and neither can our customers! Their story:
"As expected, kaleidoscopes cover every surface of the shop—there are brass, wooden, and rectangular kaleidoscopes, and some are so big you feel as if you could look at the moon through them. The hundreds of kaleidoscopes on display can all be picked up and viewed, despite the hefty price tags on some. People bend to peer into them, turn the tops, turn the bottoms, and hold them up to the light.
The shop is owned by partners—in business and in life—Mary Wills and Sally Dryer. Wills bought her first kaleidoscope in 1969. “I went to New York after graduate school where I had a job at the World Trade Center,” she says. “While I was waiting for the job to start, I went to the Museum of Modern Art, bought an $18 kaleidoscope and it fascinated me.”
Wills opened the store with Diane Geoghegan in 1988; Geoghegan now runs the jewelry store next door to Nellie Bly. Before meeting Wills, Dryer ran a picture-framing shop in the Bay Area for more than 30 years. As a child actor, she was the voice of Lucy in several of the Charlie Brown cartoons. She says a mutual friend brought a few kaleidoscopes into her frame shop in the mid-1980's and asked if she’d consider selling them. “So I started getting familiar with kaleidoscopes, but it didn’t necessarily become a passion,” Dryer says. “Then Mary and I met, also through a mutual friend, and here I am.”
Wills and Dryer bought the building that houses Nellie Bly in 2005. As a 23-year-old in the late 1800's, the real-life Nelly Bly pioneered investigative journalism by going undercover in a New York City insane asylum.
“When we first started the business, we wanted to name it after a woman,” Wills says. “We looked at the historical women of Jerome and none of them struck us as right. Then I saw a map of mining claims around Jerome and came across the name of Nellie Bly. I researched her and we really liked her story so we named it after her.”
People have been captivated by the reflective powers of mirrors and other shiny surfaces since ancient times. The ancient Egyptians used reflective surfaces to shine light along the corridors of darkened pyramids. Magicians have long used mirrors to create optical illusions.
But Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster is considered to be the first person who put mirrors into a tube with colorful items that could be rotated to provide mesmerizing and beautiful changing patterns. He called it a kaleidoscope, from three Greek words meaning “looking at beautiful shapes.” He intended it not merely as a child’s toy but as a tool to be used by designers and artists for inspiration.
Brewster took out a patent for the first kaleidoscope model in 1817. The world subsequently went kaleidoscope crazy; people bought them by the hundreds of thousands—but due to a problem with the way patents worked at the time, Brewster never made a penny off of his invention.
More than 200 years later, people are still charmed by Brewster’s invention. The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society sends out a quarterly magazine to its members and organizes an annual convention.
Kaleidoscopes still charm people. Dryer says she and Wills source their inventory from about 90 artists all over the world. “We buy from about 15 different Japanese artists,” she says. “Kaleidoscope artists are revered in Japan and have a much higher status than they do here.”
Kaleidoscopes like these in the store are not kids’ toys, though Nellie Bly does sell the simpler kind too. Prices range from $4 to $20,000, but the majority of their collector items run from about $65 to $500. Despite Wills’ background in international marketing, she does no marketing at all for the shop. “People come in, see a ‘scope, they like it, they buy it,” Wills says. “Some people come in every year and buy a new ‘scope.”
Every scope is a unique treat for the senses, offering gajillons of beautiful and optical patterns that change with the flick of your wrist or turn of your fingers. They are often privileged to offer unique kaleidoscopes that were previously owned by a private party and are now available exclusively at Nellie Bly."
In addition, the store also has a large selection of hand-made marbles and dichroic jewelry.
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She was a pioneer in her field and launched a new kind of iinvestigative journalism.
"Built in 1898 by David Connor, the Connor Hotel of Jerome has a colorful past, ranging from the heights of luxury to the depths of squalor and back again. Originally designed with 20 rooms upstairs, this first-class lodging establishment also offered a barroom, card rooms, and billiard tables on the first floor. Rooms were rented on the “European plan” for the princely sum of $1.00 per night. The Connor’s telephone number was 8. The stone foundations were quarried from the hills around Jerome, and the brick was fired in nearby Cottonwood, in the yard of Messrs. Britton and Sharp.
Before the turn of the century, David Connor’s hotel had burned to the ground twice, along with many other fine buildings in Jerome’s crowded downtown.
David Connor was fortunate in that he was one of the only two business owners in town to carry insurance, in the handsome amount of $14,500. As a result, he was immediately able to rebuild the hotel, unlike many other buildings lost to fire in the conflagrations that swept Jerome before the turn of the century.
After it reopened in August of 1899, it enjoyed a heyday of being one of the finest lodging establishments in the booming mining towns of the West. The hotel had its own bus for delivering guests to the train depot, and was full to capacity much of the time. It was one of the earliest buildings in Jerome to be fully wired for electricity, and each room had a call bell for service.
However, as the fortunes of the mines waned, so waned the fortunes of the Connor Hotel. In 1931, the hotel closed. David Connor’s son and heir continued to rent out the shops downstairs, but the rooms sat idle upstairs. Through the ensuing decades, various merchants renting space in the Connor eked a living out of the dwindling residents remaining in Jerome.
When the mines closed in the 1950's, the town came close to becoming a real and true ghost town. Soon thereafter, the town began to attract some slight notoriety for the dubious distinction of being a ghost town, and the merchants shifted gear to try and make a living from the scant tourist traffic wending its way through the formerly bustling town.
As the town began to attract counter-culture folks and sightseers in the 1960's and 1970s', the hotel entered its second heyday, this time as a low budget flophouse of sorts, which was quite popular, especially with people having a night on the town. In fact, many people still remember those days with a good bit of nostalgia. The rooms were twice their original size (still are, in fact), and not glamorous, but definitely the place to be in Jerome.
Pesky safety concerns dictated that the hotel close its doors again in the 1980's. You know, those unpleasant little issues like sprinkler system, fire escape, and adequate wiring, or the lack thereof. The rooms sat vacant and derelict for the rest of the century, until we bit the bullet and embarked upon the major project of correcting the safety issues and providing the amenities and creature comforts that today’s guests have come to expect. Now, with a new fire escape, fire sprinkler system, and safe new wiring in place, not to mention many other modern conveniences, we invite you to enjoy the most comfortable piece of history that the West has to offer!"
Before the Bartlett Hotel, the Grandview Hotel, a wooden structure built in 1895 stood here as the first two-story building in Jerome. It had rooms for dances, dining and sleeping. In 1898, the structure was destroyed by fire. The Bartlett Hotel was then built of brick in 1901. It had five rooms for stores on the sub-level along First Street. The interior was lavish with each room decorated in a different color. The office of The News, Jerome's longest running newspaper, was in the Bartlett for 20 years. The building also housed a bank, drug store, offices and shops. The building became unstable with the slides in the 1930's and was abandoned in the 1940's. The mining company sold portions of it for salvage in the 1950s removing the entire top floor.
The hotel was damaged during the landslides of the 1930's and later parts of the building were sold for scrap.
The remains of the famous Bartlett Hotel on Main Street brings in as much as $6,500 a year for the Jerome Historical Society. Tourists stop to toss their coins between the bars hoping to hit the old outhouse and pieces of rusted mining artifacts below.
You get to see the red rocks of Sedona off in the distance. Yes, it is a million dollar view.
You can never guess what you might see in Jerome.
My grandfather worked at Indian Motorcycle in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Saguaros have a relatively long lifespan, often exceeding 150 years. They may grow their first side arm around 75–100 years of age, but some never grow any arms. Arms are developed to increase the plant's reproductive capacity, as more apices lead to more flowers and fruit.
Inside the saguaro, many "ribs" of wood form something like a skeleton, with the individual ribs being as long as the cactus itself and up to a few centimeters in diameter. The rib wood itself is also relatively dense, with dry ribs having a solid density around 430 kg/m3 (27 lb/cu ft), which made the ribs useful to indigenous peoples as a building material. While the ribs of dead plants are not protected by the Arizona native plant law, the Arizona Department of Agriculture has released a memo discussing when written permission is needed before harvesting them because of the importance the decomposition of cactus remains in maintaining desert soil fertility.
The composition of the ribs is similar to that of hardwoods.
Liberty Theatre
"The 480 seat Liberty Theatre, created to be a silent movie theatre, originally opened in 1918. It cost $80,000 to erect, but paid for itself in one year. At the time, Jerome was a boom town.
The opening was delayed about a year due to the great flu epidemic. It ceased theatre operations around 1929 or 1930 because the owner did not want to spend money for sound equipment. It was listed as closed in the 1932 edition of Film Daily Yearbook.
The auditorium part became a virtual time capsule for years. The lobby and front part of the building was remodeled and leased out serving as a cafe, bar, and I believe chamber of commerce until recent years when it was remodeled again into an antique store. The Robert Morton pipe organ was not removed from the auditorium until about 1965 when it was removed and reinstalled in a Lutheran church in Phoenix.
The auditorium was apparently still usable as a theatre in the 1970’s because famed silent theatre organist Gaylord Carter brought in a electronic organ and played for silent films several times during the historic home tour days.
The current owner bought the building about two years ago and is also operating an antique store but has restored the balcony part and shows films on a sporadic basis. I am told the theatre has a extremely unique architectural design. Jerome is built on the side of a steep mountain. Patrons purchased tickets at a street level box office (balcony level) and then had to walk down a walkway to the main auditorium. I believe the main auditorium floor has been leveled and used as a store. Only the balcony has been reopened for film purposes."
There’s a debate around which movie as the first one made in Arizona, but it was a story film made in 1898 on the Navajo Reservation of the Navajo by the Berton-Holmes Travelogue Company.
More movies followed, including ones by the Luben Company in 1912 and 1915.
In fact, 27 Academy Award winning films were shot, at least in part, in Arizona, including the musical Oklahoma!.
Jerome Historic State Park
"Jerome State Historic Park features the Douglas Mansion, built in 1916 by a family of influential mining entrepreneurs. A museum is located in the old Douglas Mansion. Jerome State Historic Park reopened on October 14, 2010, after being closed since February 27, 2009, because of budget cuts and the need to repair the historic mansion. Renovation and stabilization were funded by a state heritage grant and donations from the Douglas family. The park is open on a seven-day schedule thanks to additional funding raised by Yavapai County, the city of Jerome, and the Jerome Historical Society.
The Douglas Mansion has been a landmark in Jerome since 1916, when Jimmy Douglas built it on the hill just above his Little Daisy Mine.
Douglas designed the house as a hotel for mining officials and investors as well as for his own family. It featured a wine cellar, billiard room, marble shower, steam heat, and, much ahead of its time, a central vacuum system. Douglas was most proud of the fact that the house was constructed of adobe bricks that were made on the site. The house is the largest adobe structure in Arizona.
He also built the Little Daisy Hotel near the mine as a dormitory for the miners. The concrete structure still stands. It was recently remodeled into a private residence.
The old mansion is now a museum devoted to history of the Jerome area and the Douglas family. The museum features exhibits of photographs, mining artifacts, and minerals in addition to a video presentation and a 3-D model of the town with its underground mines. One room, the Douglas library, is restored as a period room. There are more mining artifacts outside along with a picnic area offering a panoramic view of the Verde Valley and River, and the red rocks of Sedona- Oak Creek Canyon region.
In 1962 the sons of Jimmy Douglas donated the Douglas Mansion to the State of Arizona. The Jerome State Historic Park opened in 1965. It has continued to develop its exhibits and expand its collection of historic artifacts and archival material. The park's mission is to interpret the history of the Douglas family and the history of Jerome in the mining era."
Jerome Grand Hotel
The following is the hotel's description.
"The United Verde Hospital was constructed in 1926, to replace the old hospital constructed in 1917, when a fault shift, due to blasting, damaged the south wing. This is the only photo known showing both hospitals before the removal of the damaged wing. Once patients and equipment were moved to the new hospital in January 1927, the wing was removed and with some major remodeling, became the Clubhouse Building and still stands – minus the south wing. Another building, the original Jerome High School, was damaged by the same fault and had to be torn down. An additional major building, the United Verde Apartments, was missed by one foot from being damaged by the same fault.
The strange location for the 4th and last hospital built (now the Jerome Grand Hotel) was due to the known stability of the ground. The building plans are dated February 1926, and this 30,000 sq. ft. poured in place concrete building was opened in January 1927. It featured patient call lights, balconies, sun porches, emergency backup lighting, Otis self service elevator, ice making room in Arizona, laboratories, X-ray, major and minor surgical facilities, men’s, women’s and children’s wards, private and semi-private rooms, blanket warming closets and housing for some staff. In 1930, it was considered the most modern hospital in Arizona and possibly the Western States. William Clark used this as just another marketing tool to attract the best employees. Good housing, great schools and the top medical care available.
The building was originally equipped with three boilers. The 50 Horsepower Kewanee low pressure steam boiler for heat and still being used. A high pressure steam boiler for sterilization, which was given away to be used on a steam engine and a hot water boiler, which was next to the now red 1000 gal. hot water tank and had to be replaced due to missing parts. The boilers are all placed in a pit designed to both serve as a place to flush out the boilers and catch water from two weep drains from the building foundation. Water released into the pit flows to a lower tank from which it is pumped out. The vacuum or recovery tank collects condensed steam (water) from the radiators and then pumps it back into the steam boiler. The system is fully automated as it was originally designed. The Kewanee Boiler Co. and Nash Engineering Co. (manufactured vacuum system) were still in business in the 1990’s and provided us with information and some parts. The over 90 year old GE motors still work the vacuum pumps!
Phelps Dodge Mining Corp. acquired the United Verde Jerome Mine holdings in 1935 and continued to operate the United Verde Hospital until it closing in 1950. The hospital was maintained fully furnished for approximately 20 years, after which, Phelps Dodge knew it would never be used as a hospital in the future. Most of the furnishings were removed in the 1970’s and 80’s and Phelps Dodge would over time hire a live-in caretaker or lease it to a family just to keep it occupied and safe from vandals. After the death (suicide) of the last caretaker in the 1980’s, the building was boarded up and watched over by the local police and small staff still at the Phelps Dodge Headquarters in Jerome. While some vandalism did occur over time, this added an incentive, for liability reasons, for Phelps Dodge to sell. In December 1993, an offer to purchase was made to the Phelps Dodge Corp. by Larry Altherr, of Phoenix, Ariz., and possession was taken May 29, 1994. Larry Altherr still owns and operates the Jerome Grand Hotel.
In 2003, an added fixture to the building was, and still is, parked in the Hotel garage. The 1928 Springfield Rolls-Royce Phantom I Lonsdale has been driven to Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott and Sedona and is now only used for parades or shows. The car is in original condition for the most part and sports a Brewster body. It has just under 93,000 miles and was made in America. Rolls-Royce produced cars in Springfield, Mass., for 10 years saving import fees on their cars from England and providing the U.S. with the steering wheel on the correct side. Some features used on the American built cars first were then used on the English models such as bumpers and a chassis lubricating system. Royce, himself, saw no need for bumpers but later decided it was a good idea.
For this to work as a hotel in Arizona, some negatives had to be overcome. To start, Jerome was just not that busy in 1994 and very seasonal on top of that. The beginning of Hill Street leaving Hwy 89A to the Hotel starts out as a two way, single lane road and located one level above the sometimes busy Main Street where 99% of the shops and sometimes opened restaurants were located. The Palace Restaurant, now Haunted Hamburger, was opened in 1994 and is located across from Hill Street. This was the first restaurant serving lunch and dinner to have dependable hours and was the first to start attracting people one level above downtown.
Few people drove in 1926, when the hospital was built and only 12 spaces were provided. Over 1000 dump truck loads were excavated to make the now 70 spaces for the Hotel and Restaurant. Excavation was done during the first two years of renovation and it wasn’t until July 1996, the first rooms were ready and the building opened. In 1997, the Grand View Restaurant and Lounge were opened but it soon became apparent that leasing the Restaurant was a better plan and in 2003, the Asylum Restaurant was opened and still continues.
Fire is a major concern for any hotel, new or old. The United Verde Copper Co. insisted the building to be built fire proof and be able to withstand major blasting from the mines. Each floor has three fire zones and when the stairwell doors close, a 6 hour fire break between floors. This resulted in what is termed as an above ground bomb shelter in the Spanish Mission style. All exterior walls, floors and roof are re-enforced poured in place concrete with the only wood used in construction being doors, windows and built-in cabinets. Walls between rooms are compressed gypsum blocks plastered on both sides and ceilings suspended metal lath and plaster. We added a full sprinkler system and alarm system (inspected yearly) making this the safest building in Jerome for fire safety.
One of the big negatives was the building just looked spooky!! In an effort to complete construction on time, the original colored veneer stucco was applied too soon and lime leached through making the exterior look 100 years old when it was new. Located high up the mountain, set aside by itself with the operating windows facing Hill Street added to the Frankensteinish appearance which, some loved, but not great for a hotel. Original colors for the stucco, windows and doors have been used and the awnings were added in 2006 giving a more inviting appearance.
While steam heat was used from the beginning, we added evaporative cooling, pressurizing the corridors, with the guests having to open or close a transom to regulate cooling. A very antiquated system but it worked quite well. In 2015/2016, individual climate control was installed in all rooms and the transoms permanently fixed closed.
Is the Hotel haunted? Any good historic building should have some mystery to offer. Most buildings that have been around a long time will have had some rumors and gossip. Well, to be honest, the Jerome Grand Hotel was the perfect storm for rumors and gossip and some strange occurrences have been documented over the years. It was originally a hospital, built on a steep slope looming over the Town. Most kids in town were marched up to the hospital for any inoculations they received and when one in their family was sick, they would have to visit them in the hospital. The hospital was closed in 1950 and over the years gained the patina and feel of having been abandoned and left to the elements. Then, with the official closing of the mining operations in Jerome, in 1953, the entire town took on an ominous look and feel.
The owner moved in and started work in 1994 and said that during the first month, there seemed to be an overcast of uncertainty. It was a feel that your presence was in question – not sure if you were welcomed or not. In the second month, this “feeling” started to relax and then one day during the second month, it totally went away. During the following months, there became a “feeling” of a protective nature. The owner is not into hauntings nor ghost stories but said if the spirits, that be, are happy, I’m happy.
Yes, there have been a couple of TV shows on the “spirit” nature of the Hotel and a number of psychics visiting the property. The owner says that out of the many visiting psychics over the years, three of them seemed to pick up a number of things both past and present. Two in particular said “the Head Nurse” / “the Nurse in charge” was upset with the removal of the desks. Both psychics were in what is now the Restaurant/Lounge area and originally the Dispensary and main entrance for the Hospital. The owner told each psychic the original Dispensary desks were in storage. The psychics did not know each other and visited more than a year apart. Later, upon leasing out the Restaurant/Lounge in 2003, the new tenant somehow saw two cabinets stored at the back of one of the garages in the hotel. He asked the owner what they were and if he could use them in the restaurant area. Given permission, the original Dispensary counter height desks were relocated within a few feet of their original placement. To date, the “Head Nurse” has made no more complaints – – well, at least about the desks.
The Hotel owner will admit that if there are spirits, they must be a lot happier occupying a hotel instead of a hospital. They are dealing with a clientele that are here by choice and not necessity."
Another version about the Jerome Grand Hotel
"The Jerome Grand Hotel was originally constructed in 1926 under the name United Verde Hospital, owned by the United Verde Copper Company (UVCC), later to become Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation. Some knew it as the Phelps Dodge Hospital and United Verde Copper Hospital. It was the 4th and final hospital in Jerome. Opened in January 1927, the United Verde Hospital was a state-of-the-art medical facility; in 1930, listed as the most modern and well equipped hospital in Arizona and possibly in all of the western states. The hospital, however was closed in 1950, as the mining operations began shutting down and medical services were available in the neighboring community of Cottonwood, where many of the staff transferred to. The building stood unused for the next 44 years.
The former hospital was purchased by Larry Altherr from Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation in 1994, and was renamed the Jerome Grand Hotel, opening for business in 1996. Larry Altherr remains the owner.
The Jerome Grand Hotel is well noted to be the highest commercial building in the Verde Valley, being at a height of 5240 feet above sea level. The hotel was built as a Mission Revival Style of architecture and was the last major building to be constructed in Jerome. The building was considered by many a masterpiece of architecture because, not only was it constructed of poured-in-place concrete, but also at a 50 degree slope on solid bedrock, up against the slopes of Mingus Mountain. The 30,000 square foot building was designed to be fireproof-not one piece of wood is in the framework-and also earthquake proof, as it needed to withstand not only the rumblings of Mother Nature but also the blasts of 260,000 pounds of dynamite.
The Otis Elevator, which was Arizona's first self-service elevator, was installed in the United Verde Hospital in 1926 and serves all five floors of the building. The elevator is regularly maintained and inspected, insuring safety for public use. This Otis elevator is different from modern elevators because, designed for hospital use, it travels much more slowly, at a distance of only 50 feet per minute, rather than the normal 800 feet per minute found on high rise buildings.
The caste iron Kewanee Boiler, which was also installed in 1926, provides low pressure steam throughout the building. The Kewanee boiler, designed to not only be portable but also convertible, could operate on wood, coal or oil. When in use during the hospital days, the source was oil and has since been converted to operate using natural gas, producing between 800,000 and 2,500,000 BTUs. The Kewanee Boiler also utilizes a dual pump feature, so it need not be shut off for maintenance nor repair, insuring consistent pressure and warmth throughout the building.
While it operated as the United Verde Hospital and later became the Jerome Grand Hotel, many alleged hauntings have occurred. According to ghostlyfavorites.com., "Due to the high level of activity in the hotel, it is a quite popular destination for amateur ghost hunters". Guests that have stayed at the hotel reported to hear coughing, labored breathing, and even voices coming from empty rooms. Guests also reported smells coming from rooms, such as flowers, dust, cigar smoke, and whiskey. Others report light anomalies and the television sets turning themselves on with no explanation.
Many guests and hotel staff have heard and seen what appears to be a 4 or 5 year old child running down the hallway on the 3rd floor, sometimes crying or laughing. This child also likes to appear at the foot of the bed in various rooms, just staring at the bed's occupant. Frequently, the sounds of giggling and running occur on the top floor, as though children are at play. The sounds of a newborn baby's cry is common on the 3rd and 4th floors, as well as the faint smell of baby powder and zinc oxide. The baby's crying has alerted enough guests that they've phoned the front desk out of concern; the location being a vacant room.
Staff as well as guests frequently report bedside table lamps and televisions being unplugged, shampoo bottles rolling across the floor or flying across the room. The sound of doors opening/closing while the room is otherwise vacant are common. Guests have found electronics such as cell phones and camcorders dead center beneath the bed. Front Desk staff, particularly the graveyard shift, have reported hearing coughing and sneezing from the hotel's laundry room, seeing shadows in the same area of whom they believe to be Claude Harvey, the hospital's maintenance man who was found dead on April 3, 1935, pinned beneath the Otis elevator, presumably murdered. They see and hear Claude roaming the stairwells and the boiler room as though still at work. Many guests have reported seeing the apparitions of two ladies, one in a white gown, and another one in a nurse's outfit, as well as someone who appears to be a doctor or nurse in a long lab coat carrying a clipboard, roaming the halls. A Spirit Cat is a frequent visitor to the hotel. Its origin unknown, the cat has been heard meowing, hissing and scratching at doors and walls. Both staff and guests have heard and felt the cat brushing against their legs and snuggling against them while on the bed. Most notable and commonplace is the imprint on the bedding of what is believed to be the cat curled up, that bedding moments earlier, smooth and straight. A photo, provided by a guest staying in Rm 20 in 2008, shows the cat very clearly sitting on a table, looking toward the photographer. This photo is still at the front desk along with numerous photos shared by guests and staff.
During its hospital days, many deaths occurred from illness or injury, but also some rather suspicious in origin, like that of maintenance man Claude Harvey. Claude was found pinned by the back of the neck by the elevator, quite dead. A thorough inspection of the elevator was done, as well as a coroner's inquest, that determined the elevator could not have caused Claude's death. No autopsy was allowed to be performed, nor x-ray taken, as the United Verde Copper Company, who owned the building, did not want suspicion pointing in their direction as accident nor intent. Claude's is the only death in the hospital whose cause has yet to be determined. Speculation is, Mr. Harvey was murdered and his body placed in the elevator room, with his head hanging over the elevator shaft, to look like an accident.
Only one other known death since the hospital closed down in 1950, that of Manoah Hoffpauir, a local man hired by Phelps Dodge Mining Company to be a presence in the vacant building, hoping to offset the years of vandalism. Manoah was found hanging from a steam pipe in the Engineer's Office, where he resided while serving as the caretaker. His death in 1982 was ruled a suicide. During its days as the United Verde Hospital, an estimated 9000 deaths occurred, however no known records are present, so that number has yet to be validated. When purchased in 1994 by Larry Altherr, the hospital records were gone, so any information regarding staff and patients is via word-of-mouth, with little or no verification. The hospital was a general surgical hospital, meeting the needs of all who entered; unlike the name of the resident restaurant, a separate business from the hotel named Asylum, the building was never an insane asylum nor exclusive for tuberculosis patients.
The hotel was investigated by the Ghost Adventures reality paranormal TV show as well as others.
Due to the extreme privacy the hotel wishes to provide its guests, private tours have been discontinued and no one other than registered guests and staff are permitted on the guest floors. The lobby (former emergency room) is open to the public 24/7 and the Asylum Restaurant (admitting and dispensary) is open to the public 11am-9pm daily.
There is "something for everyone" in Jerome!!!