William Andrews Clark
Senator William Andrews Clark—copper magnate, railroad baron, and one of the richest men of the Gilded Age—bought the United Verde Copper Company mine in Jerome in 1888. When he decided to move his smelter further downhill in 1912, he planned and built Clarkdale to house his workers. Arizona's first company town, it included residences, a business district, a hospital, schools, and a town park. The town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Museum
The Clarkdale Historical Society and Museum is housed in the old clinic building, designed by Los Angeles architect Arthur R. Kelly and constructed during the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. The clinic dispensed medicine and treated minor injuries of the smelter workers and their families on a 24-hour basis. The clinic closed in the early 1950s, and when the town incorporated in 1957, the building became town offices. A jail was constructed in the boiler room while the police department occupied the basement. In the early 1980s, the Clark Memorial Library moved into the building, which later housed the Department of Motor Vehicles. The renovated building was formally opened as the Clarkdale Museum in 2008.
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Clarkdale Museum Now
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Building when it was the Motor Vehicle Division
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Building when it was Town Hall
Museum Hours
Open Fridays and Saturdays 11:00-3:00 and also by appointment; at info@clarkdalemuseum.org
Holiday Hours:
Closed November 29th and December 27th and 28th.
All items are available for study and research. The museum is a great place to donate personal family paper items that people might consider irrelevant but that actually shed a great deal of light on the growth and development of Clarkdale. Archives are permanently valuable records, such as letters, reports, accounts, manuscripts, and other records that provide information about people and places.
- Vesta Northcross photo album of Clark Memorial Clubhouse restoration in 1984
- Historic Resource Survey of Clarkdale, August 1989, completed by AIA Architects, Inc. A study of construction, development, architecture, social history, and historical significance of town
- DVD of presentation on finding the lost William A Clark III airplane crash site
- 1939 cookbook “Our Favorite Recipes” compiled by ladies of Methodist Church of Jerome and Clarkdale and the Ladies of Cottonwood, Prescott, and Flagstaff communities of AZ
- 10 score cards of Verde Valley Country Club
- 1942-1992 Alchemist 50-year reunion book
- Clarkdale HS graduation diplomas from Clarkdale HS, high school programs, report cards
- Clarkdale family histories, some handwritten
- Scrapbook of history of Catholic Churches of Verde Valley
- Scrapbooks/photo albums of Nanita’s (Grandmother’s) Club of Clarkdale, late 1990s to 2002
- 1896 plat map of Peck’s Lake
- School Handbills and theater posters of movies made in Clarkdale
- Personal papers of Clarkdale residents
- Plans of many Clarkdale houses, including a hand-drawn sketch of 2nd floor room layout of the Clark Mansion before it burned
- Old membership cards for Elks Lodge
- Clarkdale building permits from 1920s-40s
- Postcards – views of Clarkdale, Verde Valley, and nearby national monuments
- Oral histories of Clarkdale residents, many with transcripts and videos
- Maps related to operations of United Verde Copper Company
- Poster, playbills, and records related to Jerome Civic Opera Guild
- Newspapers
- Post office records
- Ration books
- Letters
- Diaries
- Clarkdale HS Yearbooks (click to view them online)
- Clarkdale Woman’s Club records
- Items related to Clarkdale Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star
- Personal manuscripts with stories about early Clarkdale life; letters describing everyday life in Clarkdale and the Verde Valley
- Architectural drawings of the original Clarkdale business district
- Leaflets related to local celebrations in Clarkdale
- School papers, poems, schoolwork, etc., related to local families
- Clarkdale telephone books
