Gleeson, Arizona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gleeson, Arizona is a ghost town located in Cochise County at Latitude 31.73 & Longitude -109.83 on the eastern slopes of the Dragoon Mountains on Arizona Route 191. The town of Gleeson was founded in 1900 when John Gleeson registered a mining claim and opened the Copper Belle Mine. Subsequently the Gleeson post office, established on October 15, 1900, supported a town of about 500 people engaged primarily in copper mining, though veins of lead, silver and zinc were also mined. Other mines in the immediate area followed including the Silver Belle, Brother Jonathan, Pejon, and The Defiance.
In 1912 a fire consumed 28 buildings but the town was rebuilt.
Copper production flourished throughout World War I, however the mines played out by the 1930s and eventually the Gleeson post office was closed on March 31, 1939. Though several families still live on the site, Gleeson is, by all measures, a ghost town. Visitors can find the ruins of a hospital, a saloon, a jail, the foundation of the village school and evidence of the extensive mining in the surrounding hills near town. The Gleeson cemetery is west of the town on the road to Tombstone, Arizona that lies about 30 miles to the southwest of Gleeson.
[edit] External links
- Ghost Town Gallery with images of Gleeson, AZ. as well as other ghost towns throughout the American west.
