The town owes its existence mainly to two ore bodies that formed about 1.75 billion years ago along a ring fault in the caldera of an undersea volcano.

In the late 19th century, the United Verde Mine, developed by William A. Clark, extracted ore bearing copper, gold, silver, and other metals from the larger of the two.

By the early 21st century, it had art galleries, coffeehouses, restaurants, a state park, and a local museum devoted to mining history.

[10] Created by a massive caldera eruption in Precambrian[10]—elsewhere more narrowly identified as Proterozoic[11]—seas south of what later became northern Arizona, the Cleopatra tuff was then part of a small tectonic plate that was moving toward the proto-North American continent.

Heated by rising magma to 660 °F (350 °C) or more, the water was forced upward again, chemically altering the rocks it encountered and becoming rich in dissolved minerals.

When the hot solution emerged from a hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the ocean, its dissolved minerals solidified and fell to the sea floor.

The accumulating sulfide deposits from two such vents formed the ore bodies, the United Verde and the UVX, most important to Jerome 1.75 billion years later.

[10] Evidence from the Grand Canyon, further north in Arizona, suggests that thick layers of sediment may have been laid down atop the ore bodies and later eroded away.

[13] About 525 million years ago, when northern Arizona was at the bottom of a shallow sea, a thin layer of sediment called the Tapeats Sandstone was deposited over the Cleopatra tuff.

Limestones and other sediments accumulated above the sandstone until about 70 million years ago when the Laramide Orogeny created new mountains and new faults in the region.

Crustal stretching beginning about 15 million years ago created Basin and Range topography in central and southern Arizona, caused volcanic activity near Jerome, and induced movement along the Verde Fault.

Basalt, laid down between 15 and 10 million years ago, covers the surface beneath the UVX headframes and Jerome State Historic Park.

[16] Later, long before the arrival of Europeans, it is likely that other native peoples mined the United Verde ore body for the colorful copper-bearing minerals malachite and azurite.

The war's major consequence was the Mexican Cession of the northern territories of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nuevo México to the United States.

In 1883, with the aid of eastern financiers including James A. MacDonald and Eugene Jerome of New York City, they created the United Verde Copper Company.

[20] Four years later, William A. Clark, who had made a fortune in mining and commercial ventures in Montana, bought the United Verde properties and, among other improvements, enlarged the smelter.

[10] Starting in 1914, World War I greatly increased demand for copper, and by 1916 the number of companies involved in mining near Jerome reached 22.

Three days later, about 250 armed vigilantes rounded up at least 60 suspected IWW members, loaded them onto a railroad cattle car, and shipped them out of town in what has been called the Jerome Deportation.

[46] United Verde, seeking stable labor relations, added disability and life insurance benefits for its workers and built a baseball field, tennis courts, swimming pools, and a public park in Jerome.

[d] Contributing causes were geologic faulting in the area, blast vibrations from the mines, and erosion that may have been exacerbated by vegetation-killing smelter smoke.

[57] To encourage tourism, the town's leaders sought National Historic Landmark status for Jerome; it was granted by the federal government in 1967.

[33] By sponsoring music festivals, historic-homes tours, celebrations, and races, the community attracted visitors and new businesses, which in the 21st century include art galleries, craft stores, wineries, coffeehouses, and restaurants.

[60] On average, about 5 inches (13 cm) of snow falls in January and lesser amounts in February, March, April, November, and December.

By the time of World War I, Mexican nationals were arriving in large numbers, and census figures suggest that in 1930 about 60 percent of the town's residents were Latino.

[73] At the state level, Walter Blackman and Bob Thorpe, both Republicans, represent Jerome as part of the Sixth Legislative District of the Arizona Legislature.

[76] The town is patrolled by its own police department[77] and is also served by the Eastern Area Command of the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

[78] About two dozen men and women comprise Jerome's volunteer fire department, which serves an area of more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2) including nearby rural and mountainous terrain as well as the town itself.

Figures published in 2015 showed that over half the labor force worked in arts, entertainment, retail, food and recreation services, while manufacturing and construction employed just over 10 percent.

[84] Annual events include a home tour ("Paso de Casas") in May, a reunion for former mining families in October, and a Festival of Lights in December.

[95] Century Link (DSL), HughesNet (satellite), Speed Connect (fixed wireless), and mobile Web providers offer Internet access.