The town of Jerome is known for a lot of things, like being the wickedest town in the West, or, at least, it was.
Now it’s a popular tourist destination. Much of that has to do with its historical sites, which the Jerome Historical Society has helped preserve over the years, but not every building can be saved.
Earlier this month, the historic Cuban Queen Bordello collapsed in a windstorm.
Allen Muma is the president of the Jerome Historical Society. He says his organization tried to buy the building from its current owner, but, "we’re not in the business of buying building that speculators want to make money on. We wanted to save the building. That was our only intention and we couldn’t meet on a price to purchase the building."
So they backed off. Now the Cuban Queen is gone.
"It’s a loss, I love history and to see any buildings especially that have some significant history behind them, but to see any of our historic buildings lost is a shame because that’s what Jerome is," he said.
Muma hopes this will serve as a wake-up call for the town. In the meantime, the historical society is repairing the historic Sliding Jail, which will also add some much needed parking.
