Love you, Arizona

While we were having a grand time celebrating Valentine’s Day at your Community Center, we let the 105^th birthday of Arizona slip by without singing Happy Birthday. But, it’s never too late to observe this great State of ours! Here are interesting and unusual facts about this beloved land—

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.
Our official state flower, the saguaro cactus blossom, grows on the largest American cactus, the saguaro.
Copper is the most abundant mineral in our State. Arizona leads the nation in copper production and the amount of copper on our Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
In 1971, we led the way in being the first State to have “official State neckwear” –the Bolo Tie. New Mexico thought that was such a great idea that they also adopted the Bolo Tie as their State neckwear. Copy cats!
The battleship USS Arizona was commissioned in 1913 and launched in 1915 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The Castilian and Burgundian flags of Spain, the Mexican flag, the Confederate flag, and the flag of the United States have all flown over the land area that has become Arizona.
The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles (89 kilometers) southeast of Prescott.
During its mining history, Bisbee was the largest city between Saint Louis and San Francisco.
We have some impressive, popular natural wonders, such as the Grand Canyon, Havasu Canyon, Grand Canyon Caves, Lake Powell/Rainbow Bridge, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Sunset Crater, Meteor Crater, Sedona Oak Creek Canyon, Salt River Canyon, Superstition Mountains, Picacho Peak State Park, Saguaro National Park, Chiricahua National Monument, and the Colorado River.
The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City. There are claims that it is haunted!
Arizona is one of the Four Corners States—noted as the only spot in the United States where a person can stand in four States at the same time.
Arizona, among all states, has the largest percentage of its land set aside and designated as Native American tribal lands.
Oraibi, founded by the Hopi Tribe, is the oldest Native American settlement in the United States.
The world’s largest solar telescope is located at Kitts Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells.
At one time camels were used to transport goods across Arizona.
Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply Camp McDowell.
The famous labor leader, Ceasar Estrada Chavez, was born in Yuma.
The legendary 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory town of Tombstone is considered the most famous shootout in the American Old West, and lasted only 30 seconds.
Women in Arizona were granted the right to vote eight years before national suffrage.
The country’s first barrel of tequila came out of Nogales, Arizona in 1936.
Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh with an astrograph telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff on February 18, 1930.
Each year, Arizona sees over 17 different species of humming birds flitting through the state
The best preserved meteor crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona.
Arizona has 13 species of rattlesnakes, more than any other state. About 150 people are bitten by these little rascals each year.
Jerome Grand Hotel, once a hospital for the town’s miners, is believed to be one of the most haunted places in Arizona.
Possibly Arizona’s most famous criminal, Ernesto Miranda, is the man responsible for mandated Miranda laws.
The world’s tallest Kachina doll stands in Carefree, Arizona at 39 feet tall
The Arizona Cardinals are the longest running continuous franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1898.
Our State has almost double the amount of wilderness area as the entire Midwest.
We boast both the world’s oldest rodeo in Prescott and the oldest continuous rodeo in Payson.
The last volcanic eruption in Arizona was around A.D. 1064, and created Sunset Crater near Flagstaff.
The FAA was created in 1958 as a result of two planes that crashed directly over the Grand Canyon’s airspace.
Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs advertises a hotel room 22 stories underground.
The sun shines in Phoenix and Tucson 85 percent of the year, more than Florida and Hawaii.
Although Arizona is the sixth largest state in area, only about 17 percent of it is privately owned.

Arizona surely has something for everyone. At the Sedona Community Center we do our best to emulate that hospitality in our services and activities. We would love to have you join us!