But by 1997, aliens had put Roswell on tourists' maps. Click to enlarge That year, 50th anniversary festivities marking a purported UFO crash northwest of town in 1947 drew international media attention and thousands of visitors from around the world. Aliens have been very good for business, so some merchants are understandably jumpy about a plan to move the city's No. 1 tourist draw to the outskirts of town. They'll tear the downtown area apart if they move. Everybody's concerned because we all feed off that thing.
Any move is still years away, if it happens.
The museum is considering a 25-acre site south of U.S. 70 in the largely barren plains about 10 miles from downtown. And at least two members of the board of directors, founders Walter Haut and Glenn Dennis, prefer the museum remain downtown, if possible. The news was rescinded a day later and replaced with a story about a recovered weather balloon. Dennis worked at a Roswell funeral home in 1947 when he said Army officials contacted him about embalming techniques and requested child-size caskets. They founded the museum along with fellow longtime resident Max Littell.