1. Arizona Territory was organized on May 26, 1864, officially separating it from the New Mexico Territory. This decision laid the foundations for future independence and statehood aspirations.

2. The first Mexican-American War hero from Arizona, Jesus Garcia, was born on May 26, 1880. He became a well-known locomotive engineer in Mexico and died heroically in a train explosion in Nacozari in 1907 while trying to prevent the explosion from destroying the town.

3. The Grand Canyon National Monument was established on May 26, 1924, by President Calvin Coolidge. This decision helped establish the world-famous natural wonder as a protected national treasure and a tourist destination.

4. On May 26, 1961, the United States Air Force launched a missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California that landed in a remote area of Arizona. The test was part of a Cold War-era experiment to develop and test intercontinental ballistic missiles.

5. Queen guitarist Brian May received his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Arizona on May 26, 2007, at the age of 60. May’s research focused on the motion of interplanetary dust and the formation of the solar system, and he dedicated his thesis to his parents, who met in Arizona while his father was stationed there during World War II.