Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of Alta California and Nuevo México in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848, where the area became part of the territory of New Mexico. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase.
For the majority of its routing through Arizona, I-40 follows the historic alignment of US 66. The lone exception is a stretch between Kingman and Ash Fork where US 66 took a more northerly, less direct route that is now State Route 66 (SR 66). Construction of I-40 was ongoing in the 1960s and 1970s and reached completion in 1984. With the completion of I-40 in 1984, the entire routing of US 66 had been bypassed by Interstate Highways which led to its decertification a year later in 1985. (Full article...)
... that former Arizona Cardinals kicker Cedric Oglesby, one of the first African-American kickers in NFL history, received his chance to play when the team's previous kicker injured himself celebrating?
... that Phoenix's Chinese Cultural Center was remodeled into an ordinary office building despite the objections of preservationists and community groups?
... that in 1982, a news anchor for Phoenix television station KOOL-TV was held hostage on set for five hours?
... that American football linebackerSegun Olubi grew up in New Jersey, Minnesota, Arizona, England, and California, and attended four different colleges in Idaho, California, and Arkansas?
... that H. B. Wilkinson lost the first special election in Arizona to Isabella Greenway, who became the first woman from Arizona to go to Congress?
... that the first tequila distillery in the United States was opened in 1936 in Nogales, Arizona, by Harry J. Karns, former Arizona state senator and Nogales mayor?
... that half the students of Northern Arizona University left for Christmas early after campus radio station KNAU was pranked?
A petrified log in Petrified Forest National Park, located in northeastern Arizona, US. The pieces of wood found in the park are mostly of the extinct species Araucarioxylon arizonicum. The logs were buried under volcanic ash, which was the source of the silica that helped to permineralize the buried logs, replacing wood with silica, colored with oxides of iron and manganese.
...that the location of the Silver King Mine was first discovered by a soldier building a road during the Apache Wars, who found black rocks that flattened when struck?
...that holiday mail seeking a Christmas postmark continued to be sent to Christmas, Arizona, two decades after the town's post office had closed?
... that Dwight B. Heard is credited with making Arizona's cotton industry more competitive after becoming president of the Arizona Cotton Association?
Image 3This ornate grain basket by Akimel O'odham dates from the early 20th century, showing the Native American dimension to the state's culture (from History of Arizona)
Image 4Signing of Arizona statehood bill in 1912 (from History of Arizona)
Image 7A map showing the extent of the Ancestral Puebloan, Hohokam, and Mogollon cultures within the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, all three of which were based in what is now Arizona and/or New Mexico in around 1350 CE (from History of Arizona)
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