Jerome, Arizona, was known as the Wickedest Town in the West, a billion-dollar mining camp on a hilltop. At its peak it held nearly 15,000 people, making it the fourth-largest city in the Arizona Territory. After the mines closed in the 1950s, the population dwindled to a handful of residents. The Jerome Historical Society says the town was virtually a ghost town for more than half a century. It came alive after the Society formed in 1953 and the Mine Museum opened. Its buildings, archives and displays let visitors step back in time and experience Arizona's rough and rugged past.
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