Tyrone is a ghost place that looks like a little Spanish
village. Resting in the Burro Mountain foothills, it has been called
the most deluxe mining town in the world. At a cost of a million
dollars, the Phelps Dodge Corporation built Tyrone as a replica
of a town in Spain. Its magnificent architecture with picturesque
arches and flowered patios gave Tyrone a romantic look which
even today delights visitors.
Copper needed in World War I boomed Tyrone into a place
of several thousand people, but it was never a camp of tents and
prospector cabins.
The business section of Tyrone was built around a large tree
shaded plaza. The train from Deming pulled into a beautifully
arched station ornamented with rare tiles from Mexico. The tiles
were also lavished on the post office building, bank and
department store. The general office building still has its marble
stairs and halls. Wrought iron grill work added to the Spanish
effect.
On the ridges among live oak and pinons are the
pastel-tinted houses once filled with company employees. The
canyons, too, held row upon row of company-built houses such
as few miners ever had lived in before.
Below the main plaza an elegant school building followed the
Spanish pattern. It's gone now. But across the road from its site
still stands the tan-pink little chapel with its small bell tower on
one side, In an oak and pine grove nearby are the jail and tiny
courtroom painted a gloomy gray. A writer once used this building
as his studio.
In 1921 demand for copper fell off. Tyrone closed down. The
big exodus began. Only a skeleton crew remained. Years slid by,
often with rumors of Tyrone's reopening. The company began
renting empty houses to writers, artists and vacationers all
attracted by good climate and Southwest appeal. Only company
exploration work goes on now.
Today the highway cuts through what once was a tree-filled
plaza. Vandals have chipped away most of the tile. The big store
is a condemned building. Canyons are almost empty of houses.
Tyrone is the saddest of all ghost towns- -a once- beautiful
woman whose beauty is gone.
To get there, take State Highway 180 out of Silver City for 10
miles. Turn right at the Tyrone sign. Three more miles and you're
there.
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