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. The Spanish built a chapel at La Luz (about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the future site of Alamogordo) in 1719, although La Luz was not settled until about 1860. 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. 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. Tularosa Basin has been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a nonprofit shared military/civilian facility that is also the hospital for Holloman Air Force Base.įor the history of aerospace sites outside of the city, see White Sands Space Harbor, White Sands Missile Range, and Holloman Air Force Base. 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. During the 1950s–60s, Alamogordo was an unofficial center for research on pilot safety and the developing United States' space program.Īlamogordo is a charter city with a council-manager form of government. 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. 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. Humans have lived in the Alamogordo area for at least 11,000 years. Alamogordo is known for its connection with the 1945 Trinity test, which was the first ever explosion of an atomic bomb. The population was 31,384 as of the 2020 census. 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. Alamogordo ( / ˌ æ l ə m ə ˈ ɡ ɔːr d oʊ/) is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States.

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