Happy birthday New Mexico

Alamogordo kicks off centennial celebrations Jan. 6

Alamogordo Daily News
By Elva K. Osterreich, Associate News Editor

Click photo to enlarge

Some political cartoonists portrayed the strengths of the territories seeking statehood. In this 1901 cartoon, Oklahoma is a farmer and Arizona a rancher, while New Mexico's mining promise is emphasized in the hard-working miner.

After a year of planning, Otero County is ready to embrace New Mexico's centennial year.

With a different local organization taking the lead every week, Alamogordo is in for a year-long party. To kick off events, the Tularosa Basin Historical Society will raise a replica of the 47-star flag at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

At 1:35 p.m. Jan. 6, 1912, President William Howard Taft signed New Mexico's statehood bill. In Alamogordo, the birthday celebration takes place in front of the Alamogordo Museum of History beside the Chamber of Commerce at 1301 White Sands Blvd.

Secretary of State Dianna Duran will be at the event and present the keynote address focusing on her family's legacy in the Tularosa Basin. Jean Lee and her daughter, Linda, will present a short history of ranching and the railroad in the area. Music will be provided by Don Thorp and Randy Burroughs will serve as the master of ceremonies.

The flag, raised at 10:30 a.m. by the Alamogordo High School JROTC, is a copy of the real thing one of the few 47-star flags ever made that is inside the museum.

TBHS began in 1964 and has a history of collecting and displaying many important artifacts from this area.

Found in California on the wall of a bar, where it had been ignored by patrons sipping spirits between 1876 and 1982, the 47-star flag was returned to New Mexico by the tavern's owner, Ward Topping.

In September 1998, Topping returned the flag to his hometown of Alamogordo and donated it to the museum.

New Mexico's introduction into statehood had a time frame almost missed by the blink of an eye. On Jan. 6, New Mexico entered the Union as the 47th state. Arizona quickly followed as the 48th state on Feb. 14. Manufacturers had a little more than one month to mass produce New Mexico flags.

But some started early.

"It seems to me a few manufacturers jumped the gun," said Diana de Santis, a curator at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. That quick jump also resulted in New Mexico's flag never being official, she said in a 1998 interview with the Daily News.

A 47-star flag, donated by a Wisconsin woman in the late 1980s, is stored at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe but can be seen only upon request. The one in Santa Fe is another one of the very few known to be in existence. A flag does not actually become "official" until July 4, so the 47-star version was never officially recognized by the United States.

Volunteers at the Alamogordo History Museum will be on hand at Friday's event to sell commemorative calenders and T-shirts, and there will also be free items for those who participate. Refreshments will also be served and the centennial quilt will be on display.

For more information, call THBS at 434-4438. For more information about upcoming events for the year, visit Alamogordo2012.Weebly.com.

Contact Elva K. Osterreich at eosterreich@alamogordonews.com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/echoofthedesert.

Source: http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_19654944?source=rss_viewed

lsu football miguel cotto vs antonio margarito terminator salvation terminator salvation rockefeller center art basel 2011 art basel 2011