Happy birthday New Mexico

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. (Photo courtesy U.S. Library of Congress)

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...more 

Go Jean and Linda!