Jerome Grand Hotel

Jerome Grand Hotel
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Location	Jerome, Jerome, Arizona
Coordinates	34°45′13″N 112°6′41″W / 34.75361°N 112.11139°W / 34.75361; -112.11139Coordinates: 34°45′13″N 112°6′41″W / 34.75361°N 112.11139°W / 34.75361; -112.11139
Governing body	Local
Part of	Jerome Historic District (#66000196[1])
Added to NRHP	November 13, 1966

The Jerome Grand Hotel is a historic hotel that is in use in Jerome, Arizona. The hotel's motto is "Arizona's mile high historic landmark"

History

Founding as the United Verde Hospital

The Jerome Grand Hotel was originally constructed in 1926 under the name of the United Verde Hospital. Opened in 1927, the United Verde Hospital became in 1930 the most modern and well equipped hospital in Arizona and in possibly in all of the western states. The hospital, however was closed in 1950, as the mining operations started to peeter out. The building stood unused for the next 44 years until the rehabilitation plans began in 1994.

As the Jerome Grand Hotel

The former hospital was purchased by the Altherr family from the Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation in 1994, and was renamed the Jerome Grand Hotel. As the rehabilitation program began, no large changes were made to the building except for the enclosure of the roof top deck

Structure

The Jerome Grand Hotel is well noted to be one of the highest buildings 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 a masterpiece of architecture because at the time of mining, the building was fireproof and could withstand the blasts of 260,000 pounds of dynamite. The building is considered an engineering masterpiece because of its five story building, reinforced concrete walls, and 50 degree sloped terrain.

The Otis Elevator and the Kewanee Boiler

The Otis Elevator, which was first self-service elevator, was installed in the Jerome Grand Hotel in 1926. The elevator serviced all five floors of the hotel. The elevator is regularly inspected by officials to be sure there is no faulty equipment and that it is safe for public use. This elevator is different from modern elevators because it travels at 50 feet per minute, rather than the normal 800 feet per minute found on high rise buildings. The Kewanee Boiler, which was installed in the hotel in 1926, provided low pressure steam to all of the rooms in the hotel. The Kewanee boiler is fired up by natural gas, and can produce between 800,000 and 2,500,000 BTUs. The Kewanee Boiler also utilizes a dual pump figure, so if a worker needs to repair one of the pumps, the other one can still function without having to be shut off.

Hauntings

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 5-6 year old child running down the hallway on the 3rd floor of the building, sometimes crying or laughing. The sounds of a newborn baby's cry is common on the 3rd and 4th floors. Housekeepers frequently report bedside table lamps and televisions being unplugged, shampoo bottles being flung across the room and doors opening/closing while the room is otherwise vacant. Front Desk staff members, particularly the graveyard shift, have reported hearing coughing and sneezing from the hotel's laundry room, seeing shadows in the same area around 0230-0300 as well as who they think is Claude Harvey, the hospital's maintenance man who was presumed murdered in the building, roaming the stairwells and the boiler room. One graveyard shift clerk has seen, heard and smelled what she thinks is Claude in the lobby and by the boiler; two areas that he frequented as the building's live in maintenance man, before he was found dead on April 3, 1935. Many guests have reported seeing the apparitions of two ladies, one in a white gown, and another one in a nurses outfit, as well as someone who appears to be a doctor, in a long lab coat carrying a clipboard, roam the halls. Many deaths have been reported at the site, including the death of Claude Harvey, who was found pinned by the back of the neck by the elevator, even though 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. His 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. Two known suicides since the hospital closed down in 1950: one of a live in watchman, hired by Phelps Dodge Mining Company, to be a presence in the vacant building, to help offset the years of vandalism, and then a maintenance man, both by hanging. More than 9000 deaths of patients occurred during the time the building was The United Verde Hospital, from when the doors opened in January of 1927, until the mines no longer needed the hospital and it closed its doors in 1950.^[2] The hotel was featured on TV shows, such as Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Challenge.

References