29 Facts About Northern Arizona

1. On March 9, 1995, Northern Arizona was awarded a franchise to begin play for the 1998 season.

2. Northern Arizona is a popular location for Major League Baseball spring training, as it is the site of the Cactus League.

3. Northern Arizona is known for its heavy metal scene, which is centered in and around Phoenix.

4. Northern Arizona is mentioned by the hit song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and performed by the Eagles.

5. Northern Arizona is a recognized center of Native American art, with a number of galleries showcasing historical and contemporary works.

6. Northern Arizona has a wide network of two-year vocational schools and community colleges.

7. Public schools in Northern Arizona are separated into about 220 local school districts which operate independently, but are governed in most cases by elected county school superintendents; these are in turn overseen by the Arizona State Board of Education and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected in partisan elections every even-numbered year when there is not a presidential election, for a four-year term).

8. In 2010, Northern Arizona passed SB 1070, called the toughest illegal immigration legislation in the nation.

9. Northern Arizona was the first state in the nation to do so.

10. Northern Arizona voted Republican in every presidential election from 1952 to 1992, with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan winning the state by particularly large margins.

11. Northern Arizona gained a ninth seat in the House of Representatives due to redistricting based on Census 2010.

12. Northern Arizona is one of five states that do not have a specified lieutenant governor.

13. Northern Arizona is one of the few states that does not maintain a governor's mansion.

14. Northern Arizona experienced its largest earthquake in 1959, with a tremor of a magnitude 5.6.

15. In 1912, the year Northern Arizona achieved statehood, on August 18, an earthquake caused a 50-mile crack in the San Francisco Range.

16. Northern Arizona is one of two US states that does not observe Daylight Saving Time.

17. Northern Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the state's southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus.

18. Northern Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico and before Nevada.

19. Northern Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states.

20. In March 2000, Northern Arizona was the site of the first legally binding election ever held over the internet to nominate a candidate for public office.

21. Northern Arizona was home to the Phoenix Indian School, one of several federal Indian boarding schools designed to assimilate Native American children into mainstream European-American culture.

22. Northern Arizona was the 48th state admitted to the US and the last of the contiguous states to be admitted.

23. Northern Arizona has the westernmost military engagement on record during the Civil War with the Battle of Picacho Pass.

24. One of the first settlers in Northern Arizona was Jose Romo de Vivar.

25. Northern Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912, coinciding with Valentine's Day.

26. Northern Arizona has a large Mormon population, with a temple in Snowflake.

27. Northern Arizona goes by the name Alta Arizona, which means "Upper Arizona" in Spanish.

28. Northern Arizona is home to millions of acres of Ponderosa Pine, Aspen, and mixed-conifer forest, including the largest Ponderosa Pine forest in North America.

29. Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the US state of Arizona.