Miami: Copper Mining History and Historic Buildings

Explore Miami through several distinct historical themes: copper mining, school history during segregation, bridge construction, and architecture. Bullion Plaza, the Keystone Stairs, bridges, a church, and the YMCA each provide a focal point for these themes. When planning your trip, you can tailor your itinerary to your interests, whether the focus is the community’s history, mining, or historic architectural styles.

School History and Copper Mining

Bullion Plaza opened in 1923 as an elementary school for Mexican and Apache students from the community during segregation. Its former purpose adds a social dimension to local history alongside the history of copper mining. At the Bullion Plaza Museum and Cultural Center, mining exhibits illustrate the various processes the ore undergoes in the extraction of copper. This also draws attention to the processing of the ore: the exhibits cover not only copper mining as a general topic, but its individual process steps. If you are interested in the technical side of mining, this offers a different perspective from the school’s history.

Keystone Stairs and Bridges

The Keystone Stairs were built between 1910 and 1915. Over time, they provided thousands of miners with access to the shafts of the Van Dyke Mine to the west and the Miami Copper Mine to the east of the stairs. The original Keystone staircase consisted of 155 steps and 12 ramps. Today, visitors and tourists can safely use the restored stairs; as they climb, they offer panoramic views of Miami and the surrounding copper mining operations. The site thus brings together its former function as an access route to the mine shafts and its present-day use by visitors seeking the views.

The Keystone Avenue Bridge was the first concrete arch bridge built in Miami. It was constructed in 1918 as a direct route to the Keystone Stairs. Five identical Luten arch bridges are still in use today, connecting Live Oak Street (Highway 60) with Sullivan Street in Miami’s historic downtown. A Luten arch is a patented concrete arch design created by Daniel B. Luten of Indianapolis, Indiana. The term therefore refers to a specific bridge design and its designer. At the bridges, you can look at both the road connections and the construction method.

Church and YMCA

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church was solemnly dedicated on July 1, 1917, at 10 a.m. In 2008, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The two dates mark different milestones: the dedication of the church and its later listing on the historic register.

The Miami YMCA was built in 1917 and completed in February 1918. It is one of only two surviving buildings in Miami constructed in the Neoclassical style. Historically, the YMCA served the growing copper mining community as a place to stay, socialize, and recreate. It can therefore be understood both through its architecture and its role in community life at the time. The church and the YMCA offer different points of interest: for the church, the focus is on its dedication and later listing on the register; for the YMCA, it is on its construction period, style, and community functions.

Discover more destinations: Globe, Tonto Basin, Young, Payson

For the broader travel overview: Gila County.