BlockFrom the record
One of 204 National Register listings published here for Pima County · listed in 2008 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Curley School
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The listing
- Address. 201 Esperanza School, Ajo, 85321
- When was it listed? January 2008
- Category. building
- Census division. Ajo
- National Register reference number. 07001464 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
5 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Curley School between 1995 and 2017, burning about 41 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | FINLEY |
| 2 August 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Phoenix District Office | AJO |
| 1 August 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 acres | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | not named |
| 19 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | CORNELIA |
| 29 March 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge | LITTLE TULE |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 27 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Curley School: 11 occurrences, 7 producers, 4 past producers, 3 unknowns. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Copper, Gold, Silver, Silica, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajo District | Gold, Silver, Copper, Molybdenum, Zinc, Gemstone, Titanium, Niobium (Columbium), Iron | Producer | PORPHYRY CU, VEINS | |
| Cardigan Mine | Copper, Silver, Gold | Producer | ||
| Cardigan Mine | Silver, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Copper Giant Prospects | Copper, Iron | Occurrence | Chrysocolla, Malachite, Specularite | |
| New Cornelia Ajo | Copper, Zinc, Silver, Molybdenum, Gold, Semiprecious Gemstone, Iron, Niobium (Columbium), Titanium, Rubidium | Past Producer | 1750, 1917, 1985 | |
| Old Hickles Property | Copper, Silica, Gold, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Old Hickles Property | Copper, Silver, Gold, Silica | Occurrence | ||
| Right On Group | Lead, Copper, Gold, Silver, Quartz | Occurrence | ||
| Right On Group | Copper, Gold, Silica | Unknown | ||
| Bonnie Lee Group | Copper, Silica | Unknown |
Storms near this property
23 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ajo, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 13 thunderstorm wind, 8 flash flood, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $125,000 | Thunderstorm winds in Ajo downed four power poles and blew the roofs of a couple of houses while a number of other residences experienced minor roof damage along with damage to siding, garage doors, sheds and trees. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $75,000 | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Heavy Rain | Ajo | $50,000 | About 2.5 inches of rainfall in less than two hours caused the roof of a historic building to collapse in Ajo. Residents of the building, which used to be the Curley School, were displaced. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $37,000 | A strong (60 mph, 52 knot) thunderstorm wind knocked down five power poles in the Town of Ajo at a sub station causing a widespread power outage. The power was reported to be out in the Towns of Ajo, Whey, and Lukeville. |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $25,000 | Power lines were downed east of Ajo causing a complete power outage across Western Pima County. |
| July 2003 | Flash Flood | Ajo | $25,000 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $20,000 | Power poles blown down near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. |
| September 2012 | Heavy Rain | Ajo | $15,000 | Very heavy rain collapsed ceiling tiles in an Ajo business, damaging some of the goods inside. |
| September 2006 | Flash Flood | Ajo | $15,000 | Law Enforcement reported that two cars were stuck in a wash crossing just north of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument due to fast moving flood waters. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed several power poles in Ajo, causing a power outage for about 100 customers for 2 to 3 hours. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $8,000 | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $5,000 | Law enforcement reported that thunderstorm wind gusts up to 55 knots had downed 5 power poles on Route 85 between mile marker 45 and 47. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $3,000 | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph downed several power poles just north of Ajo. |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | $3,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused roof damage to two buildings and several signs were blown over. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | Heavy rainfall of 2.5 inches caused flash flooding in Ajo with water over 1 foot deep flowing across many streets. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | A storm spotter reported that several streets in Ajo were beginning to flood as of 1:45 pm. Thereafter, at 2:47 pm a report from law enforcement stated that all roads along the Gibson Wash were barricaded due to water over the road crossings. The affected road crossings included Rasmussen Road, 22nd Avenue, and Highway 85. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | - | A trained weather spotter measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 91 mph and law enforcement estimated wind gusts of 70 mph in town, but no damage was reported in Ajo. |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | Heavy rain over far Western Pima County caused flash flooding south of the Town of Ajo. The flooding occurred along State Route 85 from milepost 60 to 80, which had to be closed. |
| August 1998 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | The Ajo sheriff reported several washes crossing highway 85 between Ajo and 10 miles southeast of Why were flooded. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | - | Thunderstorm winds knocked down power lines near Ajo. |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Flash Flood | Ajo | - | no account filed |
| September 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ajo | - | no account filed |
Newspapers printed here
3,531 digitised pages1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 524 issues, 3,531 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
| Newspaper | Published |
|---|---|
| Ajo Copper News | 1916 to 1926 |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
4 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Ajo Townsite Historic District | 0.1 miles | 2001 |
 | John and Isabella Greenway House | 0.4 miles | 1998 |
| George C. Craig House | 6.8 miles | 2017 | |
 | George W. Ferguson House | 6.8 miles | 2018 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 07001464 in Record Group 79. |
| Pima County | All 204 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.