Hayden, Arizona – Small Town of the Week

Hayden, Arizona

Once a boom town, this dusty little desert town is slowly becoming a ghost town.

Hayden was founded in 1909 and owned by the Kennecott Copper Corp. In 1912, the company built a 1,000 ft (300 m) smelter named the “Hayden Smelter”. It was the tallest smelter chimney in Arizona. The mine is now owned by the American Smelting and Refining Company. The town is now in the process of becoming a ghost town.

One of the main reasons the people are abandoning the town is that the crime rate is much higher in Hayden than the Arizona average crime rate. It is also much higher than the national average crime rate in the rest of the United States.

Pollution is another factor which has contributed to the abandonment of the town by its residents. The illegal amounts of lead, arsenic and eight other dangerous compounds released by the smelter were so huge that in 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took action against the smelter.

Hayden’s economy began to decline as the mine veins became depleted. The crime rate rose and residents began to move out. There were also political scandals. Businesses closed, and churches, schools and houses were abandoned or burned. The Valley National Bank abandoned its building, and it now occupied by the Hayden Police Department. According to the mayor, Bob Smith, Hayden has more police cars than police officers.

Hayden is a town in Gila and Pinal counties in Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 662.

Unlike scenic towns in Colorado and Idaho, Hayden, Arizona has been unable to shift its economic focus to tourism. It lacks “charm” and is too polluted to attract visitors.

Hayden started as a company town owned by the Kennecott Copper Corporation for employees extracting high-grade copper ore from nearby hills. Prominent smokestacks visible from Highway 77 remain an optimistic expression of prosperity and jobs following Kennecott’s $40 million expansion. Maybe the town can bounce back so don’t count it out just yet.