Sliding Jail - Jerome, AZ - the jail that slid down a hill during blasting

Sliding Jail located in Jerome, Arizona wasn't actually intended to slide. The jail got its name from the general shifting and dynamite blast that caused the jail to slide an entire block past its intended destination. Jerome was a blasting town with a total of eight prostitution houses, twenty-one bars and thirteen hotels being blasted.

The town had a dangerous combination of general shifting causing the town to slide or crack and blasts of dynamite. There are a number of businesses in the town today and the jail is still visible down the hill hundreds of feet from where it originally stood. The sliding jail was surprisingly still intact when it stopped moving.

The town of Jerome was developed on Cleopatra Hill close to the local mining claims. A New York investor Eugene Murray Jerome owned the mineral rights and provided financing for the development so the town is named after him. Even though the town bears his name Mr. Jerome never visited the location.

The areas rich mining history and the slight dislocation of the original buildings give Jerome an interesting air. A visit to the area isn't complete without seeing the sliding jail which is still fully in tact even after all these years.