Alamogordo, New Mexico
 | This article needs more citations. (March 2025) |
Alamogordo, New Mexico | |
|---|---|
Downtown Alamogordo Jim Griggs Sports Complex Shops on New York Avenue Water Tower Kids' Kingdom Park View of Alamogordo from Thunder Road | |
 Location in New Mexico | |
  Alamogordo, New Mexico Location in New Mexico  Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo, New Mexico (the United States)  Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo, New Mexico (North America) | |
| Coordinates: 32°51′22″N 105°58′28″W / 32.85611°N 105.97444°W[1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Mexico |
| County | Otero[2][3] |
| Founded | 1898 |
| Incorporated | 1912 |
| Named after | álamo gordo, Spanish for "fat cottonwood" |
| Government | |
| • Type | Commission–manager |
| • Mayor | Susan Payne[4] |
| • Mayor Pro Tem | Al Hernandez[4] |
| • City Manager | Maggie Paluch[5] |
| Area | |
• Total | 21.58 sq mi (55.90 km2) |
| • Land | 21.57 sq mi (55.87 km2) |
| • Water | 0.012 sq mi (0.03 km2) |
| Elevation | 4,330 ft (1,320 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 30,898 |
| • Density | 1,432.3/sq mi (553.02/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−7 (Mountain Standard Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−6 (Mountain Daylight Time) |
| ZIP codes[8] | 88310, 88311 (PO Box) |
| Area code | 575 |
| FIPS code | 35-01780 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2409672[1] |
| Website | ci |
Alamogordo (/ˌæləməˈɡɔːrdoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was 31,384 as of the 2020 census. Alamogordo is widely known for its connection with the 1945 Trinity 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, is an early example of a planned community. The city was incorporated in 1912. Tourism became an important economic factor with the creation of White Sands National Park in 1933, which is still one of the biggest attractions of the city today. During the 1950s and 1960s, Alamogordo was an unofficial center for research on pilot safety and the development of the United States' space program.
Alamogordo is a charter city 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, a network of walking paths, Alamogordo Public Library, 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
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Tularosa Basin has been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. There are signs of previous inhabitants in the area such as the Clovis culture, the Folsom culture, the peoples of the Archaic period, and the Formative stage.[9] The Mescalero Apache were already living in the Tularosa Basin when the Spanish came in 1534, and Mescalero oral history says they have always lived there.[10] In 1719, the Spanish built a chapel at La Luz (about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the future site of Alamogordo), although La Luz was not settled until about 1860.[11][12]: 167
The city of Alamogordo was founded in June 1898, when the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, headed by Charles Bishop Eddy, extended the railway to the town.[13]: 4, 6–7 Eddy influenced the design of the community, which included large, wide thoroughfares and tree-lined irrigation canals.[14] Charles Eddy's brother, John Arthur Eddy, named the new city. He created a neologism adapted from the Spanish words for "large/fat cottonwood"[15] after a grove of stout cottonwoods he remembered from the Pecos River area.[13]: x–1 However, the word "Alamogordo" was not used in the Spanish language.[16] 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.[12]: 42, 44–45
With the creation of White Sands National Monument in 1934, tourism began.[13]: 53
The Works Progress Administration, a government program created in 1935 in response to the Great Depression, was responsible for the construction of several government buildings in Alamogordo. 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 main entrance portico features frescoes by Peter Hurd, which were completed in 1942.[17]
In July 1941, the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range was established.[18]
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.[citation needed] The last federal agency to occupy it was the United States Forest Service who used it as the headquarters of the Lincoln National Forest until October 2008, when that agency moved to a newly constructed building.[19][20] In February 2009, ownership of the building was transferred to Otero County government and many government offices were moved from the Courthouse to its new Administration Building .[21][22]
In 1983, Atari, Inc. buried more than 700,000 unsold Atari 2600 video game cartridges in Alamogordo's landfill.[23] Most notably, Atari discarded many copies of the unpopular E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This event was often believed to be an urban legend, until it was confirmed by Atari and excavations at the landfill.[24]
Alamogordo briefly made international news in late 2001 when Christ Community Church held a public book burning of books in the Harry Potter series, and several other series, on December 30.[25][26][27]
Geography
[edit]As of 2010, Alamogordo had a total area of 19.3 square miles (50.0 km2), all land.[28] The city is located on the western flank of the Sacramento Mountains and on the eastern edge of the Tularosa Basin. It lies within the Rio Grande rift[29] and in the northernmost part of the Chihuahuan Desert.[30]: 36 Tectonic activity is low in the Tularosa Basin.[31] Plants native to the area are typical of the southern New Mexico foothills and include creosote bush, mesquite, saltbush, cottonwood, desert willow, and many species of cactus and yucca.[32]
The Tularosa Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin; that is, no water flows out of it.[31][33] Because of this and because of the geology of the region, water in the basin is hard: it has very high total dissolved solids concentrations, in excess of 3,000 mg/L.[31][34] The Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility, a Bureau of Reclamation laboratory doing research and development on desalination of brackish water, is located in Alamogordo.[35] 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.[30]: 37
Climate
[edit]Alamogordo has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), bordering a desert climate (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 10.63 in (270.0 mm) will occur – although December 1991 did see 5.45 in (138.4 mm). The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 21.87 in (555.5 mm) and the driest 1952 with 4.85 in (123.2 mm), while the wettest month on record has been September 1941 when 6.94 in (176.3 mm) fell. September 1941 also saw the largest daily rainfall at Alamogordo with 2.60 in (66.0 mm) falling on the 22nd of that month.
Temperatures outside of monsoonal storms are very hot during the summer: 89.1 days exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) and temperatures as high as 110 °F (43.3 °C) occurred on June 22, 1981, and July 8, 1951. During the winter, days are very mild and sunny, but nights are cold, with 32 °F (0 °C) reached on 55.1 mornings during an average winter, although only ten mornings have ever fallen to or below 0 °F (−17.8 °C),[36] with the coldest temperature recorded at Alamogordo being −13 °F (−25.0 °C) during a major cold wave on February 3, 2011. Snow is very rare, with a mean of no more than 4.1 in (10 cm) and a median very close to zero. The most snowfall in one month was 10.0 in (25 cm) in December 1960.
| Climate data for Alamogordo, New Mexico, elevation 4,330 feet (1,320 m) (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1913–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 76 (24) |
82 (28) |
90 (32) |
97 (36) |
104 (40) |
110 (43) |
110 (43) |
108 (42) |
102 (39) |
96 (36) |
88 (31) |
78 (26) |
110 (43) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 68.1 (20.1) |
73.3 (22.9) |
81.3 (27.4) |
87.2 (30.7) |
96.2 (35.7) |
103.0 (39.4) |
102.2 (39.0) |
97.6 (36.4) |
94.6 (34.8) |
87.7 (30.9) |
76.9 (24.9) |
68.7 (20.4) |
104.3 (40.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 54.8 (12.7) |
60.1 (15.6) |
67.6 (19.8) |
75.8 (24.3) |
84.8 (29.3) |
94.0 (34.4) |
92.6 (33.7) |
91.1 (32.8) |
85.5 (29.7) |
75.4 (24.1) |
63.6 (17.6) |
54.1 (12.3) |
75.0 (23.9) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 44.0 (6.7) |
48.7 (9.3) |
55.2 (12.9) |
63.1 (17.3) |
71.7 (22.1) |
81.1 (27.3) |
81.2 (27.3) |
79.4 (26.3) |
74.1 (23.4) |
63.3 (17.4) |
52.1 (11.2) |
43.3 (6.3) |
63.1 (17.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 33.2 (0.7) |
37.3 (2.9) |
42.9 (6.1) |
50.5 (10.3) |
58.6 (14.8) |
68.1 (20.1) |
69.8 (21.0) |
67.8 (19.9) |
62.6 (17.0) |
51.3 (10.7) |
40.6 (4.8) |
32.6 (0.3) |
51.3 (10.7) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 19.3 (−7.1) |
21.7 (−5.7) |
26.4 (−3.1) |
33.9 (1.1) |
42.7 (5.9) |
55.1 (12.8) |
61.2 (16.2) |
59.5 (15.3) |
50.4 (10.2) |
34.3 (1.3) |
23.2 (−4.9) |
17.2 (−8.2) |
14.9 (−9.5) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −4 (−20) |
−13 (−25) |
10 (−12) |
20 (−7) |
32 (0) |
41 (5) |
49 (9) |
48 (9) |
33 (1) |
19 (−7) |
0 (−18) |
−1 (−18) |
−13 (−25) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.68 (17) |
0.59 (15) |
0.33 (8.4) |
0.27 (6.9) |
0.46 (12) |
0.56 (14) |
1.62 (41) |
1.96 (50) |
1.49 (38) |
1.01 (26) |
0.56 (14) |
1.10 (28) |
10.63 (270) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 1.0 (2.5) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.2 (0.51) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.9 (2.3) |
2.4 (6.1) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch) | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 55.7 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Source: NOAA[37][38] | |||||||||||||
Demographics
[edit]| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 2,363 | — | |
| 1930 | 3,096 | 31.0% | |
| 1940 | 3,950 | 27.6% | |
| 1950 | 6,783 | 71.7% | |
| 1960 | 21,723 | 220.3% | |
| 1970 | 23,035 | 6.0% | |
| 1980 | 24,024 | 4.3% | |
| 1990 | 27,596 | 14.9% | |
| 2000 | 35,582 | 28.9% | |
| 2010 | 30,403 | −14.6% | |
| 2020 | 30,898 | 1.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[39][7] | |||
2020 census
[edit]As of the 2020 census, Alamogordo had a population of 30,898. The median age was 37.9 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.5 males age 18 and over.[40][41]
98.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.9% lived in rural areas.[42]
There were 13,377 households in Alamogordo, of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 39.8% were married-couple households, 24.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[40]
There were 15,118 housing units, of which 11.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.3%.[40]
| Race | Number | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| White | 19,437 | 62.9% |
| Black or African American | 1,918 | 6.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 520 | 1.7% |
| Asian | 748 | 2.4% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 127 | 0.4% |
| Some other race | 2,905 | 9.4% |
| Two or more races | 5,243 | 17.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) | 10,250 | 33.2% |
2000 census
[edit]As of 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 70.4% White; 5.6% African American, 1.1% Native American, 1.5% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 12.1% from some other race, and 4.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.0% of the population.[43]: 38
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.[43]: 38
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.[43]: 39
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.[44]
German community, 1992–2019
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Previously Alamogordo had a German community due to the presence of the German Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base; in 1992 that air force made Holloman its main pilot training center in the United States.[45] Holloman was chosen due to its weather conditions.[46] 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.[47]
By 1999, there were about 1,110 German dependents and 900 German military personnel in Alamogordo.[48] 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.[46]
In 2019, the German military withdrew from the base.[49]
Until the German Air Force left, Oktoberfest was celebrated annually in late September, hosted by the German Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base. The public was invited, and shuttle buses ran between Alamogordo and the base.[50]
Economy
[edit]Alamogordo is the economic center of Otero County,[51] 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.[52][53] In 2006 the per capita income in Otero County was $22,377 versus per capita income in New Mexico of $29,346.[54]
Economic history
[edit]
Alamogordo was founded as a company town to support the building of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad,[13]: 2 a portion of the transcontinental railway that was being constructed in the late 19th century. Initially its main industry was timbering for railroad ties.[13]: 1 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,[13]: 5 making Alamogordo an early example of a planned community. 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.[13]: 1, 9, 13, 44
Tourism became an important part of the local economy from the creation of White Sands National Monument in 1934.[13]: 53 Construction began on the Alamogordo Army Airfield (the present-day Holloman Air Force Base) in 1942, and the Federal government has been a strong presence in Alamogordo ever since.[13]: 39, 53 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 founded in 1958.[13]: 44, 58 The largest non-government employer in the city is the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center with 650 employees in 2008.[55]
Military impact
[edit]Holloman Air Force Base, located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) 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.[56][57] 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.[58]
An estimated 6,700 military retirees live in the area. Counting both USAF 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.[58] After 27 years of training at Holloman, the German Air Force left in 2019. They relocated their pilot training to