Alamogordo () is the
seat of
Otero County,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, United States. A city in the
Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
of the
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...
, it is bordered on the east by the
Sacramento Mountains
The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, ...
and to the west by
Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
. The population was 31,358 as of the
2020 census. Alamogordo is known for its connection with the 1945
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
test, which was the first ever explosion of an
atomic bomb.
Humans have lived in the Alamogordo area for at least 11,000 years. The present settlement, established in 1898 to support the construction of the
El Paso and Northeastern Railroad
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
, is an early example of a
planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
. The city was incorporated in 1912. Tourism became an important economic factor with the creation of
White Sands National Monument in 1933, which is still one of the biggest attractions of the city today. During the 1950s–60s, Alamogordo was an unofficial center for research on pilot safety and the developing United States' space program.
Alamogordo is a
charter city
In the United States, a charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than solely by general law. In states where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its orga ...
with a
council-manager form of government. City government provides a large number of recreational and leisure facilities for its citizens, including a large park in the center of the city, many smaller parks scattered through the city, a golf course,
Alameda Park Zoo
Alameda Park Zoo, located in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was founded in 1898 and claims to be the oldest zoo in the Southwestern United States. It participates in the Species Survival Plan for the Mexican wolf.
Features
Notable species at the zoo in ...
, a network of walking paths,
Alamogordo Public Library
Alamogordo Public Library is the public library serving Alamogordo, New Mexico and Otero County, New Mexico. The library has extensive collections of Spanish-language and German-language books and of materials related to the Western writer Eugene ...
, and a senior citizens' center.
Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a nonprofit shared military/civilian facility that is also the hospital for Holloman Air Force Base.
History
Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
has been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. There are signs of previous inhabitants in the area such as the
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 a ...
, the
Folsom culture
The Folsom Complex is a Paleo-Indian archaeological culture that occupied much of central North America from c. 8500 BCE to c. 4000 BCE. The term was first used in 1927 by Jesse Dade Figgins, director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History.
...
, the peoples of the
Archaic period, and the
Formative stage
Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages.
The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Go ...
. The
Mescalero Apache
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache ( apm, Naa'dahéńdé) is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-c ...
were already living in the Tularosa Basin when the Spanish came in 1534, and Mescalero oral history says they have always lived there.
The Spanish built a chapel at
La Luz (about from the future site of Alamogordo) in 1719, although La Luz was not settled until about 1860.
[
][
]
The city of Alamogordo was founded in June 1898, when the
El Paso and Northeastern Railroad
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
, headed by Charles Bishop Eddy, extended the railway to the town.
Eddy influenced the design of the community, which included large wide thoroughfares and tree-lined irrigation canals. Charles Eddy's brother, John Arthur Eddy, named the new city Alamogordo ("large/fat cottonwood" in Spanish) after a grove of fat
cottonwoods he remembered from the
Pecos River area.
When Alamogordo was laid out in 1898, the east–west streets were given numerical designations, while north–south streets were named after states. The present-day White Sands Boulevard was then called Pennsylvania Avenue.
Several government buildings in Alamogordo were constructed by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
, a government program created in 1935 in response to the Great Depression. These include the Otero County Administration 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 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. 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 and was known as the Federal Building. The last Federal agency to occupy it was the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
who used it as the headquarters of the
Lincoln National Forest
Lincoln National Forest is a unit of the U.S. Forest Service located in southern New Mexico. Established by Presidential Proclamation in 1902 as the Lincoln Forest Reserve, the forest begins near the Texas border and contains lands in parts of ...
until October 2008, when that agency moved to a newly constructed building.
Ownership of the building was transferred to
Otero County government and many government offices were moved from the Courthouse to its new Administration Building in February 2009.
In 1983,
Atari, Inc.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Based primarily around the Sunny ...
buried over 700 thousand
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...
video game cartridges, most notably ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', in Alamogordo's landfill. Alamogordo briefly made international news in late 2001 when Christ Community Church held a public
book burning
Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...
of books in the
Harry Potter series, and several other series, on December 30.
Geography
As of 2010, Alamogordo had a total area of , all land. The city is located at an elevation of
on the western flank of the
Sacramento Mountains
The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, ...
and on the eastern edge of the
Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
. It lies within the
Rio Grande rift
The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahu ...
and in the northernmost part of the
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...
.
Tectonic activity is low in the Tularosa Basin.
Plants native to the area are typical of the southern New Mexico foothills and include
creosote bush
''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In S ...
,
mesquite
Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas.
They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...
,
saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to '' Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...
,
cottonwood,
desert willow, and many species of
cactus
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...
and
yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...
.
The
Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
is an
endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
, or closed, basin; that is, no water flows out of it.
Because of this and because of the geology of the region, water in the basin is
hard
Hard may refer to:
* Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture
* Hard water, water with high mineral content
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series
* Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...
: it has very high
total dissolved solids
Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized, or micro-granular ( colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often report ...
concentrations, in excess of 3,000 mg/L.
The Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility, a
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
laboratory doing research and development on
desalination of
brackish water
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
, is located in Alamogordo. The gypsum crystals of
White Sands National Park are formed in
Lake Lucero. Water drains from the mountains carrying dissolved gypsum and collects in Lake Lucero. After the water dries, the winds pick up the gypsum crystals and distribute them over the basin.
Climate
Alamogordo has a
cool arid climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''BWk'') with hot summers and mild winters. Rainfall is low and usually confined to
the monsoon from July to September, when half a typical year's rainfall of will occur – although December 1991 did see . The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with and the driest 1952 with , while the wettest month on record has been September 1941 when fell. September 1941 also saw the largest daily rainfall at Alamogordo with falling on the 22nd of that month.
Temperatures outside of monsoonal storms are very hot during the summer: 94.8 days exceed and temperatures as high as occurred on June 22, 1981, and July 8 of 1951. During the winter, days are very mild and sunny, but nights are cold, with reached on 73.6 mornings during an average winter, although only seven mornings have ever fallen to or below , with the coldest temperature recorded at Alamogordo being during a major cold wave on January 11, 1962. Snow is very rare, with a mean of no more than and a median very close to zero. The most snowfall in one month was in December 1960.
Demographics
As of the census of 2020, there were 31,384 people. During the 2000 census, there were 13,704 households, and 9,728 families residing in the city. There were 15,920 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 75.4%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
; 5.6%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.1%
Native American, 1.5%
Asian, 0.2%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 12.1% from
some other race, and 4.2% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 32.0% of the population.
There were 13,704 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city the population was spread out, with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.1 males.
In 1999, the median income for a household in the city was $30,928, and the median income for a family was $35,673. Males had a median income of $28,163 versus $18,860 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,662. About 13.2% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.9% of those under age 18 and 11.8% of those age 65 or over.
Alamogordo's and Otero County's July 1, 2008, population were estimated at 35,757 and 62,776 respectively by the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
's Population Estimates Program.
German community
![Deutsche Schule Alamogordo (German School)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Deutsche_Schule_Alamogordo_%28German_School%29.jpg)
Previously Alamogordo had a German community due to the presence of the
German Air Force at
Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
; in 1992 that air force made Holloman its main pilot training center in the United States. Holloman was chosen due to its weather conditions.
There was a subdivision called "Little Germany" with houses that had German-style electrical outlets. The
Deutsche Schule Alamogordo educated German children, as did the local schools. Additionally area supermarkets had
German cuisine.
There were to be 1,110 German dependents and 900 German military personnel in Alamogordo by 1999. By 2003 there were about 2,000 Germans in Alamogordo. That year there were tensions between Americans and Germans since Germany chose not to join the U.S. in the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
.
[
The German military withdrew from the base in 2019.
]
Economy
Alamogordo is the economic center of Otero County, with nearly half the Otero County population living within the city limits. Alamogordo today has very little manufacturing and has a primarily service and retail economy, driven by tourism, a large nearby military installation and a concentration of military retirees. In 2006 the per capita income in Otero County was $22,377 versus per capita income in New Mexico of $29,346.
Economic history
Alamogordo was founded as a company town to support the building of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
, a portion of the transcontinental railway that was being constructed in the late 19th century. Initially its main industry was timbering for railroad ties. The railroad founders were also eager to found a major town that would persist after the railroad was completed; they formed the Alamogordo Improvement Company to develop the area, making Alamogordo an early example of a planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
. The Alamogordo Improvement Company owned all the land, platted the streets, built the first houses and commercial buildings, donated land for a college, and placed a restrictive covenant on each deed prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, or sale of intoxicating liquor.
Tourism became an important part of the local economy from the creation of White Sands National Monument in 1934. Construction began on the Alamogordo Army Air Field (the present-day Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
) in 1942, and the Federal government has been a strong presence in Alamogordo ever since. Education has also been an important part of the local economy. In addition to the local school system, Alamogordo is home to the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, founded in 1903, and a branch of New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...
founded in 1958. The largest non-government employer in the city is the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center with 650 employees in 2008.
Military impact
Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
, located approximately west of the city limits, is the largest employer of Alamogordo residents, and has a major effect on the local economy. According to some estimates, Holloman accounts for half of the Alamogordo economy. According to the 49th Fighter Wing Public Affairs office, as of January 2008 Holloman directly employs 6,111 personnel with a gross payroll of $266 million. It indirectly creates another 2,047 jobs with a payroll of $77 million. The estimated amount spent in the community, including payroll, construction projects, supplies, services, health care, and education, is $482 million.
An estimated 6,700 military retirees live in the area. Counting both USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
and German Air Force personnel there are 1,383 active military and 1,641 military dependents living on base and 2,765 active military and 2,942 military dependents living off base. After 27 years of training at Holloman, the German Air Force left in 2019. They relocated their pilot training to Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Educati ...
in Texas.
Future Combat Systems
Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unpr ...
is a wide-ranging modernization project of the US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
. Much of the work will be done at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
, with some at White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...
and some at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
. Alamogordo is expected to get some economic benefit due to its proximity to these three bases.
Economic development
Otero County Economic Development Council is a nonprofit organization founded in 1984. Its focus has generally been on job creation and recruiting and expanding businesses in Otero County, including helping them satisfy business regulations in New Mexico and lining up funding. Its role expanded in 2000, when Alamogordo passed an Economic Development Gross Receipts Tax
A gross receipts tax or gross excise tax is a tax on the total gross revenues of a company, regardless of their source. A gross receipts tax is often compared to a sales tax; the difference is that a gross receipts tax is levied upon the seller of ...
. OCEDC continues to work to attract businesses, but now it also helps develop the incentive packages that will be paid by the new tax, and a portion of the tax receipts go to fund OCEDC's operating expenses. Formal economic development plans have been adopted by Alamogordo and by Otero County.
OCEDC has recruited several new employers by using financial incentives. A 1-800-Flowers
1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a floral and foods gift retailer and distribution company in the United States. The company's focus, except for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, is on gift baskets. They also use the name ''1-800-Baskets.com''. Thei ...
call center opened in November 2001 and received $1.25 million in city rent abatements, a 50% reduction in property taxes from Otero County, and $940,000 in plant training funds from the State of New Mexico.
A Sunbaked Biscuits cookie factory opened in 2006 and received $800,000 in job-training incentives from the state.[
]
When the company went out of business in 2007, Marietta Baking took over the cookie factory and received interest-free loans, job-training incentives, and partial forgiveness of indebtedness for job creation.
A branch office of PreCheck Inc., a company performing background checks of health-care workers, opened in 2006. PreCheck received $2.4 million in high-wage job creation tax credits, $1.5 million in job-training subsidies, $1.5 million in capital outlay money for roads and infrastructure, a $625,000 allocation from City of Alamogordo for upgrading sewer lines in the area, and 20.8 acres of land from Heritage Group, a developer.
The Otero County Film Office,
an office of Otero County Economic Development Council, promotes film-making in Otero County by publicizing potential locations in the county and New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
'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
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
'' spent $5.5 million in New Mexico and $1 million in Alamogordo.
Arts and culture
There are two amateur theatrical groups in Alamogordo. Alamogordo Music Theatre[
]
produces two musical productions annually at the Flickinger Center for Performing Arts. The NMSU-A Theatre on the Hill produces an annual spring performance for young audiences at the Rohovec Fine Arts Center on the New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...
at Alamogordo campus,
and an annual Fall performance for general audiences.
Annual cultural events
The Earth Day Fair is held annually on the last Saturday in April at Alameda Park Zoo
Alameda Park Zoo, located in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was founded in 1898 and claims to be the oldest zoo in the Southwestern United States. It participates in the Species Survival Plan for the Mexican wolf.
Features
Notable species at the zoo in ...
. 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 Park and float over the Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
.[
]
Until the German Air Force left in 2019, Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...
was celebrated annually in late September, hosted by the German Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
. The public was invited, and shuttle buses ran between Alamogordo and the base.
Visitor attractions
New Mexico Museum of Space History
The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the Space Age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of Sp ...
is a state museum with the International Space Hall of Fame.
Flickinger Center for Performing Arts, located at 1110 New York Avenue, is a 590-seat theater created in 1988 from a re-purposed movie theater. It hosts concerts and live theatrical performances by touring groups, and is the venue for the local amateur group Alamogordo Music Theater.[
][
]
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 only for one month, until Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
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 had planned to move from its location at 1301 N. White Sands Boulevard to a historic adobe building at the corner of White Sands Boulevard and Tenth Street by the end of 2008,[
]
but as of July 2009 this plan has stalled due to lack of money to renovate the building.
American Armed Forces Museum is a museum on U.S. Route 82 near Florida Avenue that opened in 2011. It collects and displays all kinds of military memorabilia from all wars and military engagements.[
]
The Shroud Exhibit And Museum, located in White Sands Mall, showcases a full-sized back-lit photographic transparency of the Shroud of Turin, a religious relic believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. They also feature a working VP8 Image Analyzer, the only one in the world where one can walk in and interact with this old analog computer. This town was founded the same year (1898) that Secundo Pia took the first photograph of the Shroud which started the modern investigation into the Shroud. This is highlighted in the museum. In 1977 in Albuquerque, they held the conference that resulted in the 1978 study of the Shroud with more scientists from New Mexico than any other state. The displayed photograph was created from the 1978 photographs made by Barrie M. Schwortz as part of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP). The displays include historical background materials, scientific information, kiosks with a variety of information, videos available for viewing and an exhibit of electronic image analysis of the shroud, among other interesting artifacts.[
]
The Alameda Park Zoo, the oldest zoo in the southwestern U.S., is located in the city. Several Union-Apache battles were fought near Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is a state park of New Mexico, United States, whose two tracts preserve a canyon in the Sacramento Mountains and Oliver Lee's historic 19th-century ranch house. The park is located in Otero County at an elevation ...
.
The Toy Train Depot
The Toy Train Depot is a toy store and railway museum, featuring scale models of train locomotives and passenger and freight cars, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The Toy Train Depot is also home to America's Park Ride Train Museum, which runs the Ala ...
, New Mexico's first railroad museum and home of America's Park Ride Train Museum located on the north end of Alameda Park, 1991 N White Sands Blvd, Alamogordo, NM 88310
A sculpture called "The World's Largest Pistachio" is at McGinn's PistachioLand along U.S. 54.
Sports
The Lady of the Mountain Run is held in December at the Griggs Sportsplex. The race consists of a half marathon, 10K, 5K, or corporate cup relay, and raises money for the needs-based Lady of the Mountain Scholarship Fund at NMSU-Alamogordo. 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 walk held each October in Alameda Park Zoo
Alameda Park Zoo, located in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was founded in 1898 and claims to be the oldest zoo in the Southwestern United States. It participates in the Species Survival Plan for the Mexican wolf.
Features
Notable species at the zoo in ...
. It incorporates a health fair
A health fair is an educational and interactive event designed for outreach to provide basic preventive medicine and medical screening to people in the community or employees at work in conjunction with workplace wellness. It can also be a public h ...
, live music, and events for children. An offshoot of this is Dance Otero, an informal approach to ballroom dancing
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...
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.
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. The Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament is a national program that holds a tournament in Alamogordo each year in May. Prior to 2008 it was hosted by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce, and since then by the City of Alamogordo. The city receives 72% of the entry fees and 5% of the gross proceeds taken in by vendors. The event is held annually at Washington Park in conjunction with Saturday in the Park and Armed Forces Day.
In 2009 more than 233 teams participated in the tournament. Several golf tournaments are held each year at Desert Lakes Golf Course, including the Robert W. Hamilton Charity Golf Classic.
Alamogordo's sole professional sports team is the White Sands Pupfish
The White Sands pupfish (''Cyprinodon tularosa'') is a species of pupfish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico, in the Western United States
The Western United States (also called the A ...
, a baseball team that played at Jim Griggs Field from 2011 to 2019, in the independent Pecos League Pecos may refer to:
Places
* Pecos River, rises near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
* Pecos, Texas, a city in Reeves County, Texas, United States
* Pecos County, Texas, named for the Pecos River
** Pecos Spring, a spring
* Pecos, New Mexico, ...
, but did not play in a 4 team, abridged 2020 season hosted in Houston due to pandemic concerns.
Parks and recreation
Alamogordo has numerous small parks scattered through the city, and a few larger ones. Some notable parks include:[
]
* 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
Alameda Park Zoo, located in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was founded in 1898 and claims to be the oldest zoo in the Southwestern United States. It participates in the Species Survival Plan for the Mexican wolf.
Features
Notable species at the zoo in ...
and at the north end is The Toy Train Depot
The Toy Train Depot is a toy store and railway museum, featuring scale models of train locomotives and passenger and freight cars, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The Toy Train Depot is also home to America's Park Ride Train Museum, which runs the Ala ...
, 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. City Hall and several other 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, swimming pool (open seasonally), and basketball gym. There are outdoor tennis courts north of the building.
* The Alamogordo Senior Center is a city facility for senior citizen
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
s that provides a social center and an exercise room and serves congregate meals and Meals on Wheels.
* 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 several national and state parks. Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is a state park of New Mexico, United States, whose two tracts preserve a canyon in the Sacramento Mountains and Oliver Lee's historic 19th-century ranch house. The park is located in Otero County at an elevation ...
is about 10 miles south on U.S. Route 54
U.S. Route 54 (US 54) is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific and ...
, offers camping, hiking, and picnicking. White Sands National Park is located about southwest of Alamogordo along U.S. Route 70. The area is in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
valley area and comprises the southern part of a field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
crystals. The Lincoln National Forest
Lincoln National Forest is a unit of the U.S. Forest Service located in southern New Mexico. Established by Presidential Proclamation in 1902 as the Lincoln Forest Reserve, the forest begins near the Texas border and contains lands in parts of ...
, whose headquarters are in Alamogordo, is a mountainous area that starts about northeast of Alamogordo and offers hiking, fishing, and camping. The Sidney Paul Gordon Shooting Range, located about 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
In the United States, a charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than solely by general law. In states where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its orga ...
(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). There are seven city commissioners, each elected from a district within the city, on staggered 4-year terms. The city manager is considered the chief executive officer of the city and is tasked to enforce and implement the City Council's directives and policy. The mayor is a member of the City Council. As of 2018, Richard Boss holds the position of mayor.
Alamogordo's fiscal year ends on June 30 each year; thus Fiscal Year 2008 runs from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. The FY 2008 budget projects income of $61,454,402[
]
and expenditures of $73,655,777. Sources of City government income and their percentages of the whole were: gross receipts tax
A gross receipts tax or gross excise tax is a tax on the total gross revenues of a company, regardless of their source. A gross receipts tax is often compared to a sales tax; the difference is that a gross receipts tax is levied upon the seller of ...
(31%), miscellaneous (23%), grants
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
* Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, ...
(22%), user fees A user fee is a fee, tax, or impost payment paid to a facility owner or operator by a facility user as a necessary condition for using the facility.
People pay user fees for the use of many public services and facilities. At the federal level in ...
(19%), and property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inhe ...
(5%).
Education
New Mexico State University Alamogordo is a two-year community college established in 1958. As of 2016, it has approximately 1,800 students. There are two high schools (including the comprehensive Alamogordo High School), three middle schools, and 11 elementary schools in the Alamogordo Public School District. Prior to 2008 there were two private schools in Alamogordo: Legacy Christian Academy and Father James B. Hay Catholic School (the latter of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces). A third private school, Imago Dei Academy, opened in August 2008 and provides a classical Christian education Classical Christian education is an approach to learning rooted in the long story of Christian engagement with the classical tradition as exemplified first by figures such as the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine and Jerome as well as the fullness of C ...
.
The New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a state school located in Alamogordo.[
] The German government formerly operated the Deutsche Schule Alamogordo (German School) for children of German Air Force personnel stationed at the German tactical training center at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
until the 2019 withdrawal of German forces. Following this, the aforementioned Imago Dei Academy purchased the building.
Alamogordo Public Library
Alamogordo Public Library is the public library serving Alamogordo, New Mexico and Otero County, New Mexico. The library has extensive collections of Spanish-language and German-language books and of materials related to the Western writer Eugene ...
serves Alamogordo and Otero County. The library at New Mexico State University Alamogordo is also open to the public.
Media
The main newspaper in Alamogordo is '' Alamogordo Daily News'' (ADN), owned by MediaNews Group. ''ADN'' is published six days a week; on Monday, when it does not appear, subscribers receive the ''El Paso Times
The ''El Paso Times'' is the newspaper for the US city of El Paso, Texas. The newspaper has an approximate daily circulation of 65,000 and 125,000 on Sundays.
The paper is the only English-language daily in El Paso (when the ''El Paso Herald-Pos ...
''.
''ADN'' also publishes ''Hollogram'', a free weekly newspaper distributed at the nearby Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
and covering happenings on base.
There was no alternative newspapers published in Alamogordo but ''The Ink'', a free Las Cruces monthly newspaper devoted to the arts, is distributed in the city. There is now however a free online paper operated as citizen journalism
Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
produced by 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/ The city government publishes ''City Profile'', a monthly print newsletter that is mailed to all households in the city and is published electronically on the city web site,
and ''Communiqué'', a blog with city news.
One television station, KVBA-LD, broadcasts from Alamogordo. It has a religious format, and a weekly local news magazine broadcast Thursday through Saturday.
Cable television service is provided by Baja Broadband.[
]
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 do not carry advertising but depend on sponsorships and donations. KLAG has a gospel music radio format
A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...
and some live coverage of local events, including many remote broadcast
In broadcast engineering, a remote broadcast (usually just called a remote or a live remote, or in news parlance, a live shot) is broadcasting done from a location away from a formal television studio and is considered an electronic field producti ...
s from civic events.
KALH-LP is a low-power FM station that carries a variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
radio format, network news on the hour, and local news on some hours.
Neither station is an NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
affiliate. The local NPR outlet is KRWG-FM in Las Cruces, which reaches Alamogordo through a local relay transmitter
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
.
Several major motion pictures were filmed in or near Alamogordo. The 2007 film ''Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
'' was shot primarily at White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...
, with additional filming at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
, both in the Alamogordo area.
Its 2009 sequel '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' also prominently featured these two military bases.
The 2009 film '' Year One'' was shot partly at White Sands National Monument, near Alamogordo.
Alamogordo was one of the fourteen cities profiled in the 2005 documentary ''14 Days in America''.
The Otero County Film Office maintains a list of films shot partly or wholly in Alamogordo and Otero County.
In May 2013, Alamogordo's City Commission approved a deal for Canada-based film production company Fuel Industries to excavate the Atari landfill site. Fuel Entertainment partnered with Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox to make a documentary about the 1983 massive game burial of Atari games, said to be one of the gaming culture's greatest urban legends. On April 26, 2014, video game archaeologists began sifting through years of trash from the old Alamogordo landfill. The first batch of E.T. games was discovered after about three hours of digging, and hundreds more were found in the mounds of trash and dirt scooped by a backhoe. In the deal between the City of Alamogordo and Fuel Entertainment regarding the excavation, Fuel Entertainment was to be given 250 games or 10 percent of what was found.
Infrastructure
Major highways
The major intercity surface routes from Alamogordo are U.S. Highways 54, 70, and 82, all of which are four-lane roads. The major north–south street within the city is White Sands Boulevard. The Charlie T. Lee Memorial Relief Route, which is designated as U.S. Route 54 and 70, is a bypass road constructed to the west of the city in 2001 to relieve congestion on White Sands Boulevard.[
]
U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 54
U.S. Route 54 (US 54) is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific and ...
traverses through the north and south ends of the city. At the south end of the city, White Sands Boulevard is a major named street that merges into U.S. Route 54/Charles T. Lee Memorial Relief Route, running south to El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
. In the south part of the city, U.S. Route 70 splits from U.S. Route 54 in a southwestern direction towards Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
, White Sands National Park, White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...
, and Las Cruces. At the north end of the city, White Sands Boulevard and the Charles T. Lee Memorial Relief Route become a merged U.S. Route 54 and U.S. Route 70 running north to Tularosa. U.S. Route 82 starts at the same point and runs east to Cloudcroft and the mountain communities of Otero County, and then to Artesia. Meanwhile, in Tularosa, U.S. 70 and U.S. 54 both split in which U.S. 70 heads east through the mountains, and towards Ruidoso and Roswell, while U.S. 54 heads north towards Carrizozo and keeps going north until it heads east again starting in Vaughn.
Other transportation
Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport is the municipal airport located in the Alamogordo area. It is primarily used for general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
.
There is no longer scheduled commercial service from New Mexico Airlines
New Mexico Airlines was an American commuter airline brand founded by Pacific Air Holdings to operate flights in New Mexico after the airline was awarded an Essential Air Service contract to serve Hobbs and Carlsbad, New Mexico. The airline st ...
, previously operated under a subsidy from the Essential Air Service
Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...
program.
Greyhound Lines offers intercity bus service to Alamogordo.
There is daily shuttle van service between Alamogordo and El Paso International Airport.
Z-Trans is the mass transit system, providing paratransit
Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...
and scheduled service within the city center and to White Sands Mall, Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
and Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino in Mescalero
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache ( apm, Naa'dahéńdé) is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-cen ...
. Z-Trans is unusual in that it is privately owned (by Zia Therapy Center, a non-profit), although it does get some local and state subsidies.
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
provides railroad freight services. Currently there is no intercity passenger train service.
The Alamogordo city government is building a network of bike routes and walking routes. More information and maps are in the Alamogordo Comprehensive Plan.[
]
The New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association operates a Rails to Trails
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
project to convert old railroad beds to walking trails. Its trail system in Otero County, the Cloud Climbing Rail Trail, is planned to eventually surround Alamogordo.
Utilities
Electric power is supplied within the city by PNM Resources
PNM Resources is an energy holding company based in New Mexico, in the United States. The acronym "PNM" by itself usually refers to the PNM Resources subsidiary Public Service Company of New Mexico.
Headquartered in Albuquerque, PNM Resources ...
. PNM also provides electrical power in the Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
, while Otero County Electric Cooperative, a member cooperative of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and of Touchstone Energy, serves other areas of the county. Natural gas is supplied within the city by New Mexico Gas Company. Severn Trent
Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales.
It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...
operates both the water and sewage treatment
Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding e ...
facilities for the City of Alamogordo. Severn Trent maintains all water storage facilities, booster pump stations, city wells and treats the waste water to be re-used by the city to water the parks, Desert Lakes Golf Course and is sold to construction companies for dust control. Rural houses have individual wells.
Alamogordo has a dark sky ordinance to reduce the amount of light pollution
Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...
in the night skies. The ordinance was passed in 1990 to promote the growth and scientific productivity of Apache Point Observatory
The Apache Point Observatory (APO; obs. code: 705) is an astronomical observatory located in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot, New Mexico, United States, approximately south of Cloudcroft. The observatory is operated by New Mexico State Un ...
.
City streetlights are high-pressure sodium vapor lamp
A sodium-vapor lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm.
Two varieties of such lamps exist: low pressure and high pressure. Low-pressure sodium lamps are ...
s.
Healthcare
Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a private not-for-profit 99-bed general hospital that serves the Alamogordo area. The hospital is a shared military/civilian facility that is also the hospital for nearby Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
.
The Otero County Community Health Council prepares a detailed health profile[
]
each year with many facts and figures about health in Otero County. Otero County is ranked in the middle of most health rankings within the state. New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
is near the bottom of most national rankings, for example it was 38th in the United Health Foundation 2007 report, but has been slowly improving (it was 40th in 2005).
When health-promoting features are considered, instead of the healthiness of the population, Alamogordo is ranked as one of the 50 healthiest places to live in the United States, among six in New Mexico.[
]
Civic boosters such as the Chamber of Commerce
publicize this ranking.[
]
Notable people
Among scientists, Edward Condon
Edward Uhler Condon (March 2, 1902 – March 26, 1974) was an American nuclear physicist, a pioneer in quantum mechanics, and a participant during World War II in the development of radar and, very briefly, of nuclear weapons as part of the ...
, a physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and a past director of National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
, was born in Alamogordo.
Alan Hale, an astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
and co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
, grew up in Alamogordo and lives in nearby Cloudcroft.
Among politicians, Edwin L. Mechem, a past governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and United States Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from New Mexico, was born in Alamogordo, as was Cindy Chavez
Cindy Chavez (born April 7, 1964) is an American politician who serves as the Santa Clara County supervisor representing district two, which is home to nearly 400,000 residents in Downtown, East, and South San Jose. Her public service career began ...
, a past member of the city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
of San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
.
Edward Lee Howard
Edward Lee Victor Howard (27 October 1951 – 12 July 2002) was a CIA case officer who defected to the Soviet Union.
Pre-CIA career
Howard served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bucaramanga, Colombia. There he met Mary Cedarleaf in 1973, and they ...
, a former CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
case agent who allegedly gave classified material to the Russians and later defected to the Soviet Union, is an Alamogordo native.
In sports, professional soccer player Adam Frye, jockey Donna Barton Brothers, and former professional American football cornerback Conrad Hamilton were all born in Alamogordo. Professional golf brothers Brad and Bart Bryant are from Alamogordo
Award Winning NCAA Coach
and 2 time Olympic Trials Athlete turned Author/Artist Rene Sepulveda was born in Alamogordo.
Joshua Wheeler, author o
A native of Littlefield, Texas, and raised in Alamogordo.
Alexis Duprey, crowned Miss New Mexico
The Miss New Mexico competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Mexico in the Miss America pageant.
Kaitlin Kerl of Albuquerque was crowned Miss New Mexico 2022 on June 11, 2022 at the Flickinger Center of ...
in 2013 and again in 2015, is from Alamogordo. Mai Shanley
Mai Therese Shanley (born February 17, 1963) is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss New Mexico 1983, Miss New Mexico USA 1984 and Miss USA 1984.
Biography
Her mother is ethnically Chinese and is from Taiwan, while h ...
, who became Miss USA 1984, represented the city as Miss New Mexico USA
The Miss New Mexico USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Mexico in the Miss USA pageant. It is directed by Laura's Productions based in El Paso, Texas.
New Mexico achieved many placements in the ...
.
Lead singer of 2020 GRAMMY Nominee Black Pumas, Eric Burton, grew up in Alamogordo and graduated from Alamogordo High School.
Susan Powell, who disappeared in Utah in 2009 and is believed to have been murdered by her husband Josh Powell, was born in Alamogordo and lived there as a young child.
References
External links
*
Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control
1898 establishments in New Mexico Territory
Tularosa Basin
County seats in New Mexico
Cities in Otero County, New Mexico
Micropolitan areas of New Mexico
Populated places established in 1898
Cities in New Mexico