Jerome, AZ

Jerome is a town in Yavapai County, perched on Cleopatra Hill in Arizona’s Black Hills above the Verde Valley. The 2020 census counted 464 residents. State Route 89A runs between Sedona and Prescott, with Jerome about 100 miles north of Phoenix and 45 miles southwest of Flagstaff. The town’s steep streets, mountain views, and mine-scarred slopes all come from the same copper country that made Jerome one of Arizona’s major mining camps.

ATTRBenjamin Cody / CC BY-SA 3.0

Hohokam people farmed in the Verde Valley centuries before the town, and the first mining claims near Jerome date to the 1870s. Copper pushed the population above 10,000 in the 1920s, then the mines and smelters closed in 1953. Residents formed a historical society that year, and the town later turned toward galleries, shops, restaurants, and preservation. Jerome State Historic Park adjoins the town, while Clarkdale-Jerome School and Mingus Union High School serve local students. Jerome is a mining town that survived its boom by keeping the hillside, the history, and the road up Cleopatra Hill in use.