John Greenway in Ajo, Arizona and Coleraine, Minnesota

John Greenway, a former Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt, helped to develop the fabulous Mesabi iron ore range of northern Minnesota in the early 1900s and then did the same for copper in Arizona.

I started doing this site because of some research I started in the early nineties. I live in Arizona and had spent a fair amount of time as a kid visiting my grandmother in Bovey, Minnesota, (population about 500) which is right near Coleraine (population about the same). Here in Phoenix I was seeing the name "Greenway" and also in Coleraine. I wondered if there might be a connection. There is! This is what I found out.

Thanks to everyone who is helping me with this site! Special thanks to Gene Roland and Debbie Bertoldo for the new photo of the plaza in Ajo, Arizona. Comments and corrections are welcomed. Please contact Brad.

Updated February 4, 2010

John Greenway, 1872-1926. Photo from The Ajo Copper News, 1954. Yale graduation photo.
"Greenway was the second man to the top of San Juan Hill and first behind enemy lines...I only envy Greenway. I wanted to be the first there myself, but he outran me!...He was a 200-pounder, slightly over six feet tall, who thrived on embalmed beef and regarded the entire Cuban campaign through intense heat and jungle as nothing more an enjoyable outing..."
— The Rough Riders, 1899, Theodore Roosevelt.

John Greenway and Teddy Roosevelt as Rough Riders. That's John Greenway (in the white shirt) at Teddy's Roosevelt right side (To the left of Teddy as you look at the photo). Read more about the Spanish-American war.

Michael Curley, 1874-1945. Photo from The Ajo Copper News, 1954. He became the Superintent of the Ajo mine. When John Greenway was chosen by The Oliver Mining Company in 1905 to open a new iron ore district of Coleraine on the western Mesabi, he picked Curley to go with him. When Greenway began operations at Ajo, Arizona, in 1912, he brought Mike down from Minnesota with him. The High School in Ajo, Arizona, is named after Michael Curley. It was built in 1919.

Isabella Greenway (John's wife), John Greenway, Martha Ferguson. Martha was Isabella's daughter from a previous marriage to John's friend and fellow Rough Rider Bob Ferguson. Ajo, 1924. This photo is from Tucson's Arizona Inn, The Continuum of Style, by Blake Brophy, reprinted from The Journal of Arizona History, Volume 24, Number 3, 1983. I got this booklet at The Arizona Inn, in Tucson, which was founded by Isabella Greenway. Isabella Greenway in Congress.

Coleraine, Minnesota, 1920. John Greenway named this town after the president of the Oliver Mining Company, Thomas F. Cole. It was to be a "spotless" town for the miners and their families and it's still a gem today 100 years later. The main street, Roosevelt, was named after John's old friend and fellow Rough-Rider, Teddy.

Ajo, Arizona. John Greenway came to Ajo, Arizona to do the same thing for copper in Arizona that he had done for iron ore in Minnesota, that is, take mines that had not been producing much and make them work. He did. Drawing from booklet Ajo, Early history of Ajo, home of New Cornelia Branch, Phelps Dodge Corporation, 1941. This view of the town is still about the same today, the palm trees are much taller, that's about all. The school under the flag is Curley High School. Isabella Greenway was instrumental in beautifying the little town of Ajo. The Greenway mansion was just over the hill, facing the copper mine.

The beautiful plaza in Ajo, Arizona, modern day. Photograph by Gene Roland. This is the view of the town that Isabella created, to be seen as you stepped off of the train.

Location of the Greenway Mansion and John Greenway's former burial site, Ajo, Arizona. Every morning on his way to work, John Greenway would stop his horse on a small hill, look back at the house and wave to Isabella. In 1926 he was buried at that spot, overlooking the Ajo mine in one direction and his home in the other. In 1995, John Greenway was disinterred and moved to the family vault near Burlington, in Boone county, Kentucky.

Greenway mansion, Ajo, Arizona. Isabella Greenway moved to Tucson when her husband John died in 1926 from complications during a minor surgery. He was only 54. There is a giant cross on the hillside nearby that Isabella put up in his memory. The Greenway mansion was used for a time as a convent and was abandoned when I visited it back in the nineties. As of 2010, the Greenway mansion is owned privately and is being restored.

John Greenway's statue given by Arizona in 1930 at the National Statuary Hall Collection, Washington DC. Bronze by Gutzon Borglum. As of summer of 2008 the Arizona State Legislature is making provisions to have the statue of John Greenway replaced by a statue of Barry Goldwater.

The Bisbee Deportation. In 1917, John Greenway supervised the creation of vigilante leagues, falsely implying that the roundup had support of the federal government, which it did not. Read more about the Bisbee Deportation.

John Greenway's life after the mines. In October, 1917, John Greenway resigned his position with the mine and accepted a commission as a major in the army, and was sent to France. He was indicted for kidnapping and conspiracy for his role in the deportation, but the charges were dropped. After the war, he returned to Arizona where he was active in business and was frequently mentioned as a candidate for governor.

Arizona Republic, August 13th, 1984. The mining strike against Phelps-Dodge in Ajo.This is how the ownership of the Ajo mine went: It started as a Spanish mine nicknamed "The Old Bat Hole", which was abandoned and later discovered in 1847 by the first Anglo in Ajo, Tom Childs. This became the Arizona Mining & Trading company, founded by Peter M. Brady. He sold the mine to the Cornelia Minining Company (of St. Louis, Missouri). They were unsuccessful and in turn sold it to the Calumet and Arizona Mining company, which was coordinated by John Greenway. They were very successful! You can visit the Calumet and Arizona guest house here. The Calumet and Arizona sold it to Phelps-Dodge. On March 19th, 2007, Phelps-Dodge was aquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

A.V. Towsend marker, Lake View Cemetery, Coleraine, Minnesota. This marker from 1908 caught my eye. It says "Died Dec. 25 1908, Age 35 yrs, 2 months, 12 days. Member of Roosevelt's Rough Rider Regt. This stone erected in affectionate memory by a comrade". I took this photo in 1995 during a visit to see my Grandmother, who lived in Bovey. My guess is that "comrade" was John Greenway. What do you think?

The Arizona Inn, founded by Isabella Greenway, John's widow. Photo ©2009 Kristen Aliotti. The Arizona Inn was founded by Isabella in 1930, four years after John's death. Isabella built the Inn in for its own sake and also to help disabled World War I veterans preserve their jobs in her philanthropically inspired furniture shop, “The Arizona Hut”. When the shop ran into financial trouble following the stock market crash of 1929, Isabella characteristically rose to the occasion and built the Arizona Inn as a way to create enough demand to keep the shop going. Read more about the Arizona Inn.