Sunday, August 21, 2016

Mid-Century Copper Town

Today Ed and I went out for a little drive after we ran our errands.  We decided to take a trip up to San Manuel, Arizona, it's not far from where we live and I hadn't been there in over 20 years.  I just thought there might be something to see, something different after all these years.

Nope.  Nothing to see, nothing different.

It was a little prettier than I remembered, a lot greener than where I live.  It's also higher in elevation than where we are, with more hills which provides a pretty vista since the town sits a little higher than the approach highway.  It's about 1,000 feet higher in elevation than the city of Tucson so they even get a a little snow when it gets really cold in the winter.
The town was built in 1953 as a company town to serve the San Manuel Copper Mine.  Arizona was rich in copper and in the early and mid-20th century, there were high production copper mines everywhere.  Unfortunately, the mine and smelter was closed in 1999 and 2,500 people lost their jobs.  
The houses for sale here are cheap, most between $30,000 and $50,000.  From what I could tell through the real estate listings, most are small, two-bedroom, one-bath mid-century modern style homes.  A lot of them are actually really cute, but also very run down.  It would be a great place for a revitalization, especially now that there's civilization nearby.  Over 20 years ago when I first visited the town, the closest major shopping was at least 40 miles away, now it's closer to 20.
Next stop, Oracle.
 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2015:
Signs Of Summer

2014: State-Of-The-Art Movement
2013: Not My Kind Of Gold Mine
2012: Fat Lou Captured In Rare Photo
2011: Oceanfront Property At Lot 61003/94
2010: Monkey Pod Treasure
2009: Eddie Embraces The Rules Friday
2008: They Have A MAGAZINE???
2007: Planting The Sun
2006: Training Day
2005: Cannonball Run

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