Pearce - Historic Mining Town

The town of Pearce was discovered by and named after Cornishman, James Pearce, miner and cattleman, in 1894. Pearce and his wife had originally been in Tombstone where Pearce was a hard rock miner and Mrs. Pearce managed a boarding house for miners.

The Pearce family started the Commonwealth mine.....said to be one of the richest mines ever found in Arizona, producing over fifteen million dollars in gold.

Seemingly overnight, the town of Pearce sprang up.  The General Store was built in 1896 and the Post office was established on March 6, 1896.  The railroad station opened in 1903. The community that grew up around the mine rapidly became a fair-sized city with some of the families and businesses moving their homes and businesses (literally) from Tombstone to the "new" boom town.

The mine was operated until 1904 when a cave-in caused it to shut down.  In the late 1890's, besides its mining activities, Pearce became a rip-roaring cowboy town.

By 1919, Pearce had a population of 1,500, a school, restaurants, boarding houses, saloons, hotels, a motion picture theater, and other businesses.

People began drifting away in the 1930s as the Great Depression took its toll and the railroad pulled up its tracks. Today only a store or two remains.

Information taken from the Arizona Ghost Town Trails website. Linking up with Nancy and Lisa for Rural Thursday.