I always feel bad when I miss a birthday but better late than never, right? Happy belated "statehood" birthday to our Southwest neighbors.

New Mexico and Arizona were almost "twinzies" with regard to the years in which they became official states among the 50 United States of America. NM and Az are, almost, the youngest states coming in at #47 and #48, respectively.

Their official "statehood" birthdays ... anniversary is probably the better word but birthday sounds more fun ... were January 6th, 1912 for New Mexico and Arizona became a state on Valentines Day, February 14th, 1912.

The youngest 2 states are Alaska, (#49 as of 1/3/1959) and Hawaii which was named #50 on 8/21 of the same year.

Prior to achieving statehood, both New Mexico and Arizona were "territories". Believe it or not, they're not the only states to come on board after 1900, There was a total of 5 states admitted to the union between 1900 and 1959.

FUN FACT: In the 1993 movie Tombstone, there's a scene where an American flag is shown bearing 50 stars. At that point in time, (1881), there should have been only 38 stars. After 1881, 12 more states would earn their stars; 5 in the 1900's.

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See the statehood anniversary dates for all 50 states here.

As far as statehood goes, Texas has its Southwestern neighbors beat by almost 70 years, having gone from republic to state in 1845. There was a "timeout" called in the relationship between Texas and the USA in 1860 as slavery issues caused a lot of division.

Texas briefly seceded from the United States of America, along with other states, during the Civil War but was reacquired shortly after its end in June, 1865.

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