Club Sonorense

In the early 1900s, Mexican and Mexican American workers and their families came to the Arizona region to work for the Ray Consolidated Copper Company. They founded the community of Sonora in 1907 and a post office was established by 1912. The town of Sonora, which at one time numbered 6,000 residents, was located one mile south of Ray. At that time, residential segregation was common: Euro-Americans lived in Ray, Spaniards lived in Barcelona, and Mexican and Mexican Americans lived in Sonora. A dual wage system was also common, meaning that Mexican and Mexican American workers were paid less than Euro-Americans for the same type of work. Mexican and Mexican American workers relied on their union, the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW) and their local #915 to rid themselves of such iniquities.

Sonora prospered as a copper mining community until 1965, when the Kennecott Copper Corporation, Ray Mines Division, destroyed it to develop its open pit operation. Many residents settled in communities nearby, including Kearny, Winkelman, Hayden, and Superior. Former residents of Sonora formed Club Sonorense by 1966 to document and preserve their town's history and to maintain community and familial ties to Sonora, Arizona. The Club became a non-profit organization in 1999 and is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission.

From the guide to the Club Sonorense Records, 1865-2001, (Arizona State University Libraries Chicano Research Collection)