Then & Now: Helvetia, Arizona

Position mouse cursor over image to see a historic 1901 photo. Move mouse cursor off image to see my 1996 photo.

The ghost town of Helvetia is located about 30 miles southeast of Tucson, at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains. The town was founded about 1891 to support the surrounding copper mines. After the post office closed in 1921, the town was abandoned.

At the time of my visit (January 1996), Helvetia was open to the public and easily accessible via a graded dirt road. Two miles before the town site, the road passes a small cemetery. In Helvetia, the only ruins that remained in 1996 were a few crumbling walls (the remnants of the town's largest adobe building), which can be seen in the left center of my photo, just above the jeep. Judging by the walls' state of decay, even they will be gone soon.