Hello everyone, sorry I haven't written in awhile. Since I had previously been writing about
the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument area, I now want to write about the major town in that area, at least on the American side of the border. That town is Ajo. "Ajo" is the Spanish word for garlic and there is a plant in the surrounding desert that does smell like garlic, but, most likely, "Ajo" is a corruption of o'oho, which is the Tohono O'odham Indian word for paint and the Tohono O'odham had long gathered red pigments from the area around what became Ajo to use in painting pottery and making pictographs.
Even though Ajo is the major town of this area, it only has about 5,000 people. That is testament to how sparsely populated this area is. There is some debate about Ajo's population. In 1960, the population peaked at 7,049, but, in 1990, after the mines closed, it plummeted to 2,919. The 2000 Census had the population at 3,705 and then 3,304 in 2010. The most recent estimates put the population at roughly 3,500. Yet, there are very few abandoned residences in town and the town has seen significant growth since the population reached its nadir of 2,919. Alot of retirees have moved in and the town is now a regional headquarters for the Border Patrol. Quite a few Border Patrol employees and their families have moved in. 5,000 seems to be a more accurate figure. The majority of the houses that were occupied when the town had over 7,000 people are occupied again, but there are now alot of retirees, without children, living in town, in addition to the Border Patrol families, thus significantly changing the demographics of the town.
Ajo was built as a company town, owned by the Phelps-Dodge Company. it was built on the site of two former towns, Gibson and Rowood and, when Ajo was built, it was designed to resemble Tyrone, New Mexico, another Phelps-Dodge owned town that only lasted a few years before being abandoned to the elements. Tyrone was once called "the most beautiful mining town in the world" or "the million dollar mining town ." Ajo was designed to resemble Tyrone. As a result, Ajo has one of the most beautiful downtown plazas I have ever seen!
