Paradise, Arizona


Paradise is a ghost town in Cochise County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1901 in what was then the Arizona Territory.

History

In 1901 the Chiricahua Development Company located a vein of ore here. A post office was established on October 23, 1901, and at its peak, the town had saloons, general stores, a jail and a hotel. The town was essentially abandoned when the local mines failed, and the post office closed on September 30, 1943. However, a few residents remained. In June 2011, there were five permanent residents and 29 standing structures when the Horseshoe 2 Fire swept through the area.

Geography

Paradise is located 5.7 miles west from Portal, Arizona, and is surrounded by Coronado National Forest land.

In popular culture

A fictional town named Paradise in Arizona is the main setting of the video game Postal 2. The town is destroyed by a nuclear explosion at the end of the game. However, the town in Postal 2 is actually based on Bisbee, Arizona, as confirmed by one of the developers.