The history of the design (Upper Left) goes back to 1982 when a piece of artwork for the cover
of a locally generated in-house Fiscal Year 83 statistics brochure titled "WSMR
Community" was needed. Mr. Don Montoya of the Public Affairs Office came up with
a stylized art deco logo incorporating the Organ Mountains, a glass beaker and a
surrealistic rocket. The initial design represented White Sands Missile Range as
the outdoor lab (a term the missile range was often referred to back in late 1970s)
signified by the laboratory beaker. The Organ Mountains represented the location of
the main post. And the projectile coming out the beaker signified the launching of
the first rocket or missile from the newly formed White Sands Proving Ground back
in 1945. This simple black and white design appeared on the front cover of the
30-page brochure. Mr. Montoya later resurrected this design in early 1986 when
he took his original artwork and modified its art deco flavor by adding desert
colors and a twilight sky. This new version incorporated the dawn or birth of
the space age at White Sands and was used for the cover art of the "White Sands
Missile Range 1986 Post Guide" and the 1987 edition. When Brig. Gen. Wade Wharton
assumed command he had the range's AudioVisual Division incorporate this new
version of the design into a logo for the White Sands Missile Range Army Community
of Excellence program in 1993. This time the design was surrounded by the words
'White Sands Missile Range * A Community Of Excellence.' It even ended up as a floor
design in the post's ACOE Lodge. After the ACOE competitions in the Mid 90s the
design was used by a number of post organizations such as logistics and most recently
found it's way onto the roadblock warning signs put up by NEWTEC in January 1998 just
outside of Las Cruces and Alamogordo N.M. on U.S. Highway 70.
