Alamogordo began as a small hamlet for ranchers and farmers due to the railroad passing through the city. The first nuclear bomb was detonated outside Alamogordo at the Whitesands Missle Range in 1945. It currently exists as the county seat for Otero County and to support Holloman Airforce Base and White Sands Missile Range. http://wikitravel.org/en/Alamogordo