5 things to know about Arizona as it celebrates 112 years of statehood

PHOENIX — Sharing a birthday with a holiday is always tough on kids. In this case, the kid is Arizona, which turns 112 on Wednesday, which also happens to be Valentine’s Day.

Celebrate this day with five facts about the Grand Canyon State:

If at first you don’t succeed

In 1911, President William Howard Taft vetoed Arizona’s admission to the union citing the territory’s constitution that allowed for the recall of judges, according to documents at the Arizona State Library.

The voters pulled the provision and Taft signed the proclamation.

And then, well, here’s what happened next:

“When the people of Arizona by their votes eliminated the recall of the judiciary, to satisfy the President’s demand, they did so with a mental reservation, and at the very next election, on November 5, 1912… by a vote of 5 to 1 [16,272 for and 3,705 against], they proceeded to reinstate the offensive provision [to include judiciary in the recall provision]–offensive to Mr. Taft,” state library files show.

Oregon was admitted to the union on the same date in 1859. They are the only Valentine’s Day states.

USS Arizona

 

Almost half the casualties suffered during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, were on the USS Arizona. The battleship took four direct hits from Japanese bombers. The last bomb ignited stored gunpower. When it blew, the ship split in two, sank and became the final resting place for 1,777 officers and crewmen.

The USS Arizona was commissioned in 1916 but had been ordered in March 1913, a little over year from when its namesake state had been admitted to the union.

The ship did not see battle in World War I but was eventually sent to Hawaii in April 1940, as war with Japan became a real possibility. It had been in dry dock for repairs before the attack.

Fuel still leaks from the wreckage, spilling into the harbor from the memorial site built over the ship.

That is a BIG rose bush

The largest rose bush/tree in the world sits in Tombstone. What started out as a clipping sent from a woman in Scotland to friends in Arizona grew to 8,000 square feet.

It is so big it was put on a trellis because it was in the way on the ground.

The rose tree, a Lady Banks species, was planted in 1885 near a shed at a boarding house. The boarding house eventually was turned into a hotel that was renamed the Rose Tree Inn in 1936.

Now the site is a museum and the Devere family sell cuttings from the Shady Lady, as the tree is called.

Not exactly ribbit

The official state amphibian is a tree frog. Because who doesn’t think of Arizona and amphibians? Schoolkids came up with that designation in the mid-1980s.

Other facts about these frogs: They’re poisonous; male frogs let loose with a really loud mating call; they mostly live in northern Arizona, starting around Williams and then east into New Mexico.

Save the saguaro

It is against the law in Arizona to purposefully cut down, hack or otherwise ruin a saguaro cactus or other native plants. Folks, you can be fined up to $5,000 a day just for moving a saguaro around town without a permit.

That is right there on the books, Chapter 7.

Do not get arrested over a cactus.

Happy Valentine’s birthday, Arizona!

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