What is now White Sands Missile Range was officially established on July 9, 1945. Because of the Pentagon paperwork, many people think the first flag raising ceremony was conducted on post that day. In line with that, photos of the first ceremony, which was actually on Sept. 29, have been misidentified as July 9 images for decades.
Since the July 9 date was simply a paperwork exercise, there was nothing actually on the ground yet on the other side of the Organ Mountains. In fact, Lt. Col. Harold Turner, who arrived to command White Sands, had no place to stay. While the camp was being built through the summer of 1945, he lived in the Amador Hotel in Las Cruces for some time until he found accommodations at New Mexico State University.
Local newspaper articles at the beginning of July reported several local contracts for the new facility. Hayner and Burn of Las Cruces (a partnership established in 1927) was awarded a contract worth $238,510 for installing a water system for the new camp.
The article doesn’t mention it but that included a sanitary sewer system. It is difficult to have water going into kitchens, bathrooms and other facilities and not do something with it coming out. During those first few weeks of construction the only water available onsite was from one of James Cox’s wells used to water cattle.
Water was essential for the rocket and missile testing business as a major fire response system was needed in case of an accident. The system was built with a 100,000-gallon storage capacity so it could deliver 1,000 gallons a minute for fighting a fire.
Also, a contract for $219,069 was awarded to R.E. McKee of El Paso for the construction of housing and an electrical distribution system. There were no electrical lines feeding the new base. Electricity was initially provided by a huge generator on site.
Most of the first buildings on the post were hand-me-downs. There were old Civilian Conservation Corps buildings from some of the Depression era camps in New Mexico and a hanger from Sandia Air Base in Albuquerque. There were also several dozen hutments erected for the enlisted men who were to be assigned there.
They were each 16 feet by 16 feet, made with plywood floors and walls but with a canvas roof. After the first big windstorm hit the base, troops were out searching for their roofs someplace between the main post and Alamogordo.
During the first month of construction, the Army Corps of Engineers estimated the cost of the post would be $1.5 million. However, the number grew dramatically. In the minds of business and political leaders in Las Cruces and by the end of the month they were talking about $20 million.
By the end of September, the initial post was mostly complete. Offices were furnished with desks and chairs; barracks got cots and lockers; and mess halls were stocked for officers and enlisted men.
To mark the occasion, White Sands invited the public to attend a flag-raising ceremony at noon on Saturday, Sept. 29. The invitation ran in the “Las Cruces Sun-News” on Sept. 24 and Lt. Col. Turner said, “with the official raising of the flag, the camp takes on the regular rules and regulations of Army establishments.”
At the open house, Turner announced the first Highway 70 roadblock would occur on Oct. 9. As with many rocket tests, there was a delay and the first test with a roadblock took place on Oct. 11, 1945.
