Clemenceau

Overview

The smelter town that became a neighborhood

James Douglas Jr. built this town in 1917 to house the workers at the smelter of his United Verde Extension mine in Jerome. It was first called Verde, after the mine. Other Arizona places already used the name, and in 1920 Douglas renamed it for his friend Georges Clemenceau, the French premier of World War I. The company town had a store, a clubhouse with tennis courts, a bank, a boarding house, a drugstore, a gazebo and a school that also took children from nearby Cottonwood, and a station on the Santa Fe's Clarkdale branch. Between 1,000 and 5,000 people lived here while the smelter ran.

Copper mining fell off in the 1930s, and by the end of 1937 the smelter had closed. The town lost its businesses and most of its people. When Cottonwood incorporated in 1960, Clemenceau and its airport were taken into the new city, and the old town is now a residential part of it. Wikipedia lists it among Arizona's ghost towns as a historic site, "now part of Cottonwood."

Little of the company town is left. The museum names the school, the bank and post office and a few of the smelter's support buildings; Wikipedia adds the slag pile. The school taught children until 1986, and since November 1991 the Verde Historical Society has run the Clemenceau Heritage Museum in its classrooms.

Timeline

From Verde to Cottonwood

1. 1917James Douglas Jr. founds Verde as a company town for the smelter of his United Verde Extension mine in Jerome.
2. Jul 16, 1918Former Yavapai County sheriff James R. Lowry, a deputy at the smelter, is shot dead in a clash over the wartime "work or fight" order.
3. 1918The Bank of Clemenceau and post office building goes up.
4. 1920Verde is renamed Clemenceau for Douglas's friend Georges Clemenceau, the French premier.
5. 1923The Clemenceau Public School is built; Wikipedia gives 1924 for its first classes.
6. 1937By the end of the year the smelter has closed, and the town loses its businesses and most of its people.
7. 1960Cottonwood incorporates and takes in Clemenceau and the Clemenceau Airport.
8. 1986The school closes and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
9. Nov 1991The Verde Historical Society opens the Clemenceau Heritage Museum in the old classrooms.
10. 2026The museum is open four days a week, free (museum website, read October 29, 2026).

What is left

The school and the museum

The Clemenceau Heritage Museum fills most of the 1923 school, on the northeast corner of Willard Street and Mingus Avenue, and the 1918 Bank of Clemenceau and post office building. Its exhibits cover mining, ranching and farming in the Verde Valley, with a working model railroad of the nine railroads that once ran in the region. Volunteers of the Verde Historical Society staff it.

Its website, read October 29, 2026, gives the hours as Tuesday and Wednesday 9 a.m. to noon and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is closed Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, on major holidays, Black Friday and Christmas Eve, and on Saturday, December 5, 2026, for the Cottonwood Christmas Parade. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

The rest of Clemenceau is a residential neighborhood, still served by the Clemenceau Water Company, which the town of Cottonwood bought in 2004. Homes are private; see the old town from its streets.

• Clemenceau Public School (1923), now the museum
• Bank of Clemenceau and post office (1918)
• A few smelter support buildings
• The smelter slag pile

Old and new maps

The town on the map

The 1905 Jerome sheet predates the town: Cottonwood is there, but the ground where Verde would rise is empty. The 1944 Mingus Mountain sheet shows Clemenceau as a cluster of buildings southwest of Cottonwood, with the Clemenceau Airport to its west and Smelter City to the east. On the 1973 Cottonwood sheet the name is gone, and tailings lie south of Mingus Avenue.

Historic maps

Clemenceau on USGS maps, 1905–1973

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19051:125,00019441:62,50019731:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

The museum is 1 mile from Old Town Cottonwood by Main Street and East Mingus Avenue. From Phoenix, take I-17 north and AZ 260 into Cottonwood.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Clemenceau in photos

The Clemenceau Public School, now the heritage museum, March 2013The 1923 school at 1 N. Willard Street, February 2018The school's front walk and flagpole, February 2018

Visitor reports

Been to Clemenceau?

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Nearby

Other sites near Clemenceau

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

• Clarkdale1.8 mi W · Yavapai
• Jerome4.7 mi W · Yavapai
• Cherry10.5 mi S · Yavapai
• Perkinsville14.6 mi NW · Yavapai
• Jerome Junction22.9 mi W · Yavapai
• Big Bug24.6 mi SW · Yavapai
• Walker28.0 mi SW · Yavapai
• Cordes31.2 mi S · Yavapai

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Clemenceau, Cottonwood", read October 29, 2026: the 1917 founding by James Douglas Jr., the name Verde and the 1920 renaming, the railroad station, the 1,000-5,000 population, the Lowry shooting of July 16, 1918, the 1937 closing, the 1960 incorporation, the school's 1924-1986 years, the 1918 bank and post office, the slag pile, the water company, the museum's exhibits, the GNIS point.
2. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Arizona", read October 29, 2026: Clemenceau listed as a historic site, "now part of Cottonwood."
3. ghosttowns.com, "Clemenceau", read October 29, 2026: the ghost town listing, 2WD road, climate, best time, the museum as remains.
4. Clemenceau Heritage Museum, history page, read October 29, 2026: Douglas and the company town, the name change, the town's buildings, the closing by the end of 1937, the 1960 annexation, what remains, the November 1991 opening.
5. Clemenceau Heritage Museum, home page, read October 29, 2026: address, hours, closures and free admission.
6. Wikimedia Commons, "Cottonwood-Clemenceau Public School-1923-NRHP": the 1923 building date and the 1986 National Register listing (86002149).
7. USGS topographic maps: Jerome 1:125,000 (1905), Mingus Mountain 1:62,500 (1944), Cottonwood 1:24,000 (1973).
8. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The Clemenceau Public School, now the heritage museum, March 2013: Finetooth, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The 1923 school at 1 N. Willard Street, February 2018: Marine 69-71, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The school's front walk and flagpole, February 2018: Marine 69-71, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Jerome 1905, 1:125,000; Mingus Mountain 1944, 1:62,500; Cottonwood 1973, 1:24,000.