Clifton Townsite Historic District
- Vicinity: Confluence of Chase Creek and the San Francisco River
The Clifton Townsite Historic District is a largely intact area within Clifton, a copper mining town in eastern Arizona which developed between 1870 and 1930. The district is significant ... for its association with the early copper mining and smelting operations in that region and with the town which grew to support those operations; it is additionally significant ... for its intact examples of architecture typical of Arizona's mining towns of the day. Two sites within the district, the smelter ruins and a commercial building ruin, are significant ... as above-ground remnants which reveal important information about significant aspects of the district. The property's industrial significance lies in its status as the site of one of Arizona's earliest copper smelting operations, and the site of the development of copper smelting methods which were to be used worldwide. The district also represents the origins of the town of Clifton; the settlement of the area was directly related to the copper smelter, around which the town grew. Architecturally, the district contains typical examples of commercial, residential, and public architecture of Arizona's early mining towns. The District's period of significance begins with the construction of the earliest remaining structure in 1874 and ends when the copper smelter moved to Morenci in 1937, signaling an end to Clifton's reign as the regional smelting center. - NRHP, 24 January 1990