Arizona State Facts

Catch up on your trivia with these Arizona history firsts and fun facts.

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Arizona History Firsts - Arizona State Facts

• 1692 - Between the years 1692 and 1711 Father Eusebio Kino focused on area missionary work. During the time many grain and stock farms began.
• 1866 - Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply Camp McDowell.
• 1876 - The Chiricahua Apache chief Geronimo began ten years of raids against white settlements when the U.S. government attempted to move his tribe from their traditional home in Arizona to a reservation in New Mexico.
• 1911 - Arizona became the home of the first major irrigation project by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt dedicated a dam on the Salt River.
• 1912 -Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.
• 1913 - The battleship USS Arizona was named in honor of the state. It was commissioned in 1913 and launched in 1915 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• 1926 - The Southern Pacific Railroad connected Arizona with the eastern states.
• 1939 - Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's studio, Taliesin West, was built near Phoenix.
• 1953 - Once a rowdy copper mining town, Jerome's population dwindled to as few as 50 people after the mines closed.
• 1990 - The hottest recorded day in Phoenix was June 26, 1990, when the temperature hit 122 degrees.

More Arizona History Firsts - Arizona State Facts

• Arizona is a right-to-work state. The law states no person shall be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of non-membership in a labor organization.
• Arizona is roughly the size of Italy.
• The Arizona trout is found only in the Arizona.
• The Apache trout is considered a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
• Bisbee, located in Tombstone Canyon, is known as the Queen of the Copper Mines. During its mining history the town was the largest city between Saint Louis and San Francisco.
• Arizona leads the nation in copper production.
• Arizona's most abundant mineral is copper.
• The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies
• The bola tie is the official state neckwear.
• The cactus wren is the official state bird. It grows seven to eight inches long and likes to build nests in the protection of thorny desert plants like the arms of the giant saguaro cactus.
• Arizona is home of the Grand Canyon National Park.
• The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long, 1 mile deep, and has an average width of 10 miles.
• Navajo Community College in Tsaile, was the first college on an Indian reservation.
• The saguaro cactus blossom is the official state flower. The white flower blooms on the tips of the saguaro cactus during May and June. The saguaro is the largest American cactus.
• Petrified wood is the official state fossil. Most petrified wood comes from the Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona.
• The Palo verde is the official state tree. Its name means green stick and it blooms a brilliant yellow-gold in April or May.
• Turquoise is the official state gemstone. The blue-green stone has a somewhat waxy surface and can be found throughout the state.
• The ringtail is the official state mammal. The ringtail is a small fox-like animal about two and one-half feet long and is a shy, nocturnal creature.
• Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis. The one exception is the Navajo Nation, located in the northeast corner of the state, which observes the daylight savings time change.
• World War II brought many military personnel to train at Luke and Thunderbird fields in Glendale.
• 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.
• The state's most popular natural wonders include 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 Arizona tree frog is the state official amphibian. The frog is actually between three-quarter to two inches long.
• The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
• The capital of the Navajo Reservation is Window Rock.
• The state's precipitation varies. At Flagstaff the annual average is 18.31 inches; Phoenix averages 7.64 inches; and Yuma's annual average is 3.27 inches.
• Crops include 2%; pastureland 57%; forests 24%; and other uses are 17% in land-use designation.
• The Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake is perhaps the most beautiful of all eleven species of rattlesnakes found in Arizona.
• The colors blue and gold are the official state colors.
• Located in Fountain Hills is a fountain believed to be the tallest in the world.
• Four Corners is noted as the spot in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time.
• The age of a saguaro cactus is determined by its height.
• Arizona, among all the states, has the largest percentage of its land set aside and designated as Indian lands.
• Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state's highest mountain.
• The Hopi Indians of Arizona are noted for growing their multicolored corn.
• Barry Goldwater, a famous public official, senator, and presidential candidate was born in Phoenix.
• Oraibi is the oldest Indian settlement in the United States. The Hopis Indians founded it.
• Grand Canyon's Flaming Gorge got its name for its blazing red and orange colored, twelve-hundred-foot-high walls.
• Grand Canyon's Disaster Falls was named to commemorate the site of a previous explorer's wreck.
• Grand Canyon's Marble Canyon got its name from its thousand-foot-thick seam of marble and for its walls eroded to a polished glass finish.
• 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.
• A person from Arizona is called an Arizonan.
• The famous labor leader, Ceasar Estrada Chavez, was born in Yuma.
• Tombstone, Ruby, Gillette, and Gunsight are among the ghost towns scattered throughout the state.
• Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis, never observing daylight savings time.
• Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland.
• The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
• In World War II, many Navajos enlisted as secret agents. Our enemies could never understand the Navajo language to learn our military secrets.
• The sun shines in southern Arizona 85% of the time, which is considerably more sunshine than Florida or Hawaii. Arizona also frequently has the hottest and coldest temperatures on the same day. The temperature could be 75 degrees in the desert to 45 degrees in the high country.
• Camels were used at one time to transport goods across Arizona.
• Four Corners is the spot in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time.
• Historically, Arizona’s strongest economic support came from the Four C’s – cotton, copper, cattle, and citrus. In recent years, a fifth – climate – has been added.
• Arizona has the largest percentage of its land set aside and designated as Indian lands.
• The Anasazi Indians made waterproof baskets that they cooked in. They put hot rocks in with the food to cook it.
• The world’s largest solar telescope is located at Kitts Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells.
• The Navajo Reservation, the nation's largest reservation, lies primarily in Arizona and extends into Utah and New Mexico.