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‘Tis the season to dig into the moniker behind one particularly festive Arizona locale – Christmas, an uninhabited mining town in Gila County, where over 55 million pounds of copper (and trace amounts of silver and gold) were mined between 1904-1943.
A post office, which opened in 1905, was especially busy during December when denizens from across the country directed their holiday cards and packages there to receive a literal Christmas postmark.
Festive correspondence continued to arrive (for two decades!) following the post office closure in 1935 – all of which was forwarded to the nearby town of Winkelman.
Season’s greetings, indeed.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Arizona 100