Alamogordo, New Mexico Totally Explained

Everything about Alamogordo New Mexico totally explained

Alamogordo is a city in Otero County, New Mexico, United States of America. The population was 35,582 at the 2000 census. The city name is a Spanish word meaning "fat cottonwood". It is the county seat of Otero County. Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range are two major military bases located near Alamogordo. The town has had its share of notability as the first test site for the atomic bomb and home to The White Sands International Film Festival.

History

Alamogordo was founded in June, 1898, when the El Paso and Northwestern Railroad, owned by Charles B. Eddy, extended the railway to the town. Eddy influenced the design of the community, which included large wide thoroughfares and tree-lines irrigation canals. The name of the city was derived from the cottonwood tree. "Alamo Gordo" in Spanish translates to "fat cottonwood".
   Alamogordo's original city plan calls for east-west streets to be given numerical designations, while north-south streets have names that fall into related themes (states, presidents and universities). US 54 becomes "White Sands Blvd." in Alamogordo, however, it was originally named "Pennsylvania Ave".
   Several buildings in Alamogordo were constructed by the Works Progress Administration. These include the Federal Building at 1101 New York Avenue, a Pueblo style building originally constructed as the main U.S. Post Office in 1938. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The main entrance portico features frescoes by Peter Hurd completed in 1942. The Post Office moved out in 1961, and the building was used by a succession of Federal agencies. It is currently occupied by the United States Forest Service as the headquarters of the Lincoln National Forest.
   The Forest Service plans to move to a larger building, and ownership of the Federal Building will be transferred to Otero County government and the building will be used for county government offices.

Atomic research

The first atomic bomb in history was detonated at the Alamogordo Test Range on July 16, 1945. The site of the explosion, called Trinity Site, is located on property owned by the present-day White Sands Missile Range. This was the only nuclear test that took place at this location. Trinity Site is located approximately 60 miles from Alamogordo. The site is open to visitors on the first Saturday in April and first Saturday in October.

Aeronautics and space exploration

On December 10, 1954 Colonel John Paul Stapp rode a rocket sled at Holloman AFB just outside Alamogordo that decelerated from 632 to 0 miles per hour in one and one-quarter seconds. His body experienced 46.2 times the force of gravity, in essence making him weigh 6,800 pounds for that brief time. At the time he was leading an Air Force team investigating the effects on the body of high altitude ejection seats. Ham was the world's first astrochimp, trumpeted by the United States as "the first free creature in outer space". He blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 31, 1961, and traveled 155 miles in 16.5 minutes before splashing down safely in the Atlantic. After Ham died in 1983 at age 27, his body was shipped west and was buried in the front lawn of the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, under the first slab of natural-tone concrete poured in Otero County.
In March 1982, Space Shuttle Columbia ended the third Shuttle mission, STS-3, by making the only landing to ever occur outside of California or Florida. The orbiter touched down at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo.

Book Burnings

Alamogordo briefly made international news in late 2001 when Christ Community Church held a public book burning on December 30.

Items burned included books in the Harry Potter series,
   After the event Brock wrote, "At our holy bonfire, some burned books they felt to be a personal hindrance to them spiritually, not only 'Potter' materials but also pornographic magazines, an Ouija board, and some burned other books." Several hundred people protested the event.
   an office of Otero County Economic Development Council,
   promotes filmmaking in Otero County by publicizing film locations in the county and New Mexico's film financial incentive programs and by recruiting extras for film productions. It sponsors the Desert Light Film Competition for middle and high school students to encourage learning about the film industry.
   The 2007 film Transformers spent $5.5 million in New Mexico and $1 million in Alamogordo.

Arts and culture

There are two amateur theatrical groups in Alamgordo. Alamogordo Music Theatre
puts on two musical productions each year at the Flickinger Center for Performing Arts. The NMSU-A Theatre on the Hill usually puts on one performance a year at the Rohovec Fine Arts Center on the New Mexico State University at Alamogordo campus.

Annual cultural events

Alamogordo is home to The White Sands International Film Festival. The festival is a week long interactive event in March that showcases narrative and documentary films from around the world. The festival features and actively supports the work of Hispanic and New Mexican Filmmakers. The White Sands International Film Festival was established by filmmaker David William Gibbons, casting director Donn Finn, and writer Sam Smiley.
Earth Day Fair is held annually on the last Saturday in April at Alameda Park Zoo. It features a butterfly release, a science fair, activities for children, and information booths from local health agencies and nonprofits. Otero County Fair is held annually in early August at the County Fairgrounds at the corner of White Sands Boulevard and Fairgrounds Road in Alamogordo. It features a rodeo, animal judging, food and game booths, and carnival rides. Nonprofit and government agencies set up information booths in the exhibit hall. The Cottonwood Arts and Crafts Festival is put on each Labor Day Weekend in Alameda Park by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce. It is primarily a showplace for vendors of handmade items, but also features music, entertainment, and food.
White Sands Balloon Invitational is held annually in late September. Hot air balloons launch from the Riner-Steinhoff Soccerplex on First Street or from White Sands National Monument and float over the Tularosa Basin.

Museums and other points of interest

New Mexico Museum of Space History is a state museum housing artifacts related to space flight. It incorporates the International Space Hall of Fame. Ham the Astrochimp is buried here. Flickinger Center for Performing Arts, located at 1110 New York Avenue, is a 590-seat theater hosting concerts and live theatrical performances. Alamogordo Museum of History (formerly Tularosa Basin Historical Society Museum) collects artifacts related to the history of Alamogordo and the Tularosa Basin. It is a private museum, operated by the Tularosa Basin Historical Society.
   Among notable items in the collection is a 47-star US Flag; New Mexico was the 47th state admitted to the Union, and US Flags were made with 47 stars for one month until Arizona was admitted.
   The Museum shop has a large collection of local history books. The Historical Society also publishes its own series of monographs on local history, Pioneer.
   The Museum is currently located at 1301 N. White Sands Boulevard, but plans to move by the end of 2008 to a historic adobe building at the corner of White Sands Boulevard and Tenth Street. American Armed Forces Museum is a museum under construction on U. S. Route 82 near Florida Avenue. It will collect and display all kinds of military memorabilia from all wars and military engagements. It is expected to open January 2009.

References in popular culture

Cathryn Alpert's 1995 novel Rocket City is set in Alamogordo (the Rocket City of the title) and in Artesia, New Mexico.
Eugene Manlove Rhodes's 1914 novel Bransford in Arcadia is set in Arcadia, a fictionalized Alamogordo.
The 1954 science-fiction film Them! is set near Alamogordo and in Los Angeles, California.
USS Alamogordo (ARDM-2) was a floating dry dock in the US Navy. It was struck from the Naval Register in 1993 and transferred to Ecuador in 2000.

Sports

Alamogordo has no professional athletic teams. The Alamogordo Desert Dawgs are an amateur football team formed in 2008. They are part of the New Mexico Amateur Football League.
   Home games are played at Griggs Field in Alamogordo.
   There are a number of annual sports events. The Tommy Padilla Memorial Basketball Tournament
   is an annual event held in March. It is an adult tournament that raises money for scholarships for Alamogordo High School students. Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament is a national program that holds a tournament in Alamogordo each year in May.
   Several tournaments are held each year at Desert Lakes Golf Course, including the Robert W. Hamilton Charity Golf Classic.
   Many local charitable groups put on benefit tournaments at the course.
   Fun run/walks are popular in Alamogordo, although most are one-shot affairs put on as part of some larger event. One recurring event is Walk Out West, a 1-1/2 mile walk held each October in Alameda Park Zoo. It incorporates a health fair, live music, and fun events for kids.
   An offshoot of this is Dance Otero, an informal approach to ballroom dancing as a form of physical exercise that meets throughout the year.
   Both programs are run through Otero PATH, a local nonprofit that encourages preventive measures for good health.

Parks and recreation

Alamogordo has numerous small parks scattered through the city, and a few larger ones. We mention here some of the more notable parks. A map of all the parks is available. Alameda Park is a city park lying on the west side of White Sands Boulevard between Tenth Street and Indian Wells Road. Most of the park is shaded by cottonwood trees. At the south end of the park is Alameda Park Zoo, the oldest zoo in the Southwest, and at the north end is The Toy Train Depot, a railroad and toy train museum.
   Washington Park is a city park in the center of town, bounded by Washington and Oregon Avenues and running from First Street to Indian Wells Road. Several city buildings are located in the park. At the north end of the park is Kids Kingdom,
   a children's play area with a giant jungle gym.
   There are public athletic fields at the Jim R. Griggs Sports Complex, located at the corner of Florida Avenue and Fairgrounds Road, and the Travis C. Hooser Ballfield Complex (also called Walker Field) located at the corner of U.S. Route 70 and Walker Road.
   The Alamogordo Family Recreation Center, at 1100 Oregon Avenue, is a city-owned facility offering a weight room, a swimming pool (open year round), and a basketball gym. There are outdoor tennis courts north of the building. Desert Lakes Golf Course is a city-owned golf course located at the south end of town on Hamilton Road at Desert Lakes Road. It is an 18-hole course. The clubhouse houses a restaurant and a pro shop. There is a PGA golf pro on duty at the course. Not inside the city but nearby are:

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, about 10 miles south on U.S. Route 54, offers camping, hiking, and picnicking.

White Sands National Monument, a U.S. National Monument, is located about 15 miles (25km) southwest of Alamogordo along U.S. Route 70. The area is in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin valley area and comprises the southern part of a 275-square mile (710 square kilometer) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals.

Sidney Paul Gordon Shooting Range, located about 3 miles north of town at 19 Rock Cliff Road in La Luz, is a supervised range with rifle, pistol, and archery ranges. Several competitions are held at the range each month.

Government

Alamogordo was incorporated in 1912. It is a charter city (also called a home rule city
), and the charter is included as Part I of the Code of Ordinances.
It has a Council-manager government form of government (called Commission/Manager in New Mexico). and expenditures of $73,655,777. New Mexico State University has a branch campus at Alamogordo. Alamogordo Public Library is a public library serving Alamogordo and Otero County. The library at New Mexico State University's Alamogordo campus is also open to the public.

Media

The only newpaper in Alamogordo is Alamogordo Daily News, owned by MediaNews Group. ADN is published six days a week; on Monday, when it doesn't appear, subscribers receive El Paso Times. ADN also publishes Hollogram, a free weekly newspaper distributed at nearby Holloman Air Force Base and covering happenings on base. There are no alternative newspapers in Alamogordo. The Ink is a free Las Cruces monthly newspaper devoted to the arts; it's distributed in Alamogordo.
   There is one television station, KVBA-LP. It has a religious format, and a weekly local news magazine broadcast Thursday through Saturday. Cable television service is provided by Baja Broadband. Several Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and El Paso stations have relay transmitters in Alamogordo. Satellite TV systems are sold by Dish Network and DirecTV.
   There are two commercial radio broadcast companies, WP Broadcasting and Burt Broadcasting; each operates several stations in several formats. There are two "listener-supported" radio stations, that don't carry advertising but depend on sponsorships and donations to survive. KUPR-FM has a gospel music format and some live coverage of local events, including many remote broadcasts from civic events. KALH-LP is a low-power FM station that carries a music variety format, network news on the hour, and local news on some hours. Neither station is an NPR affiliate. The local NPR outlet is KRWG-FM in Las Cruces, which reaches Alamogordo through a local relay transmitter.
   Many movies filmed scenes in or near Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument, including: Transformers (2007), The Astronaut Farmer (2006), The Outfitters (1998), Lovest (1997), Mad Love (1995), Tank Girl (1995), New Eden (1993), White Sands (1992), Young Guns II (1990), (1988), Young Guns (1988), Convoy (1978), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Scandalous John (1971).

Infrastructure

Transportation

Airports

Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport

Major highways

Three U.S. highways pass through Alamogordo:

U.S. Route 54

U.S. Route 70

U.S. Route 82 U.S. Route 54 enters Alamogordo from the south and merges with U.S. Route 70 which enters the city from the southwest. The terminus for U.S. Route 82 is in Alamogordo and begins where U.S. Route 54 and U.S. Route 70 merge at the southern end of the city. North of Alamogordo, U.S. Route 82 diverges from the still merged U.S. Route 54 and U.S. Route 70. At this point, U.S. Route 82 turns east into the Sacramento Mountains and the Lincoln National Forest, while U.S. Route 54 and U.S. Route 70 continue north several more miles until they diverge in the neighboring village of Tularosa.

Notable natives and residents

The Western film star Glenn Strange (1899-1973) was born in Weed near Alamogordo.

Edward Condon, Physicist, was born in Alamogordo.

Edwin L. Mechem, Governor of New Mexico, was born in Alamogordo.

Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Western writer, lived briefly in Alamogordo and for many years in the nearby Tularosa and Three Rivers, New Mexico areas.