I may be jumping ahead a bit, going straight from Tennessee to New Mexico, but I was thinking about my time living in The Land of Enchantment. Actually a great deal of my life has centered around traveling on or living near Route 66. In the early 70s my family traveled the famed highway at least twice a year traveling from California to Texas to visit family. For thirteen years I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico where the old highway cuts the city down the middle then several years later I would find myself in Victorville, California where again Route 66 was once the life blood of the town.
If you are familiar with the Nat King Cole song Route 66 you know that one of the prominent towns mentioned is none other than Gallup, New Mexico and that is one of the places my wife and I decided to explore in our cross country trip.
Unlike many of the towns of the American Southwest that were left to die when Interstate 40 was constructed to replace Route 66, Gallup has survived and remained a place that tourists still pull off to visit.
The Rex Museum
Explore Gallup’s rich and colorful heritage at the Rex Museum. Get a sense of Gallup’s rich and colorful heritage at the Rex Museum. Once a brothel and later a grocery, the museum building houses exhibits detailing a wide swath of local history, exploring the culture of the area’s earliest inhabitants, mining and railroad activities through to present-day Gallup. Researchers will find a number of important historical resources including an inventory of the graves at Hillcrest Cemetery, photographs, newspapers, artifacts and books about Gallup’s past.
The Rex Museum is located at 300 West Historic U.S. Highway 66 at the intersection of Route 66 and Third Street. Our phone number is (505) 863-1363 or you can contact us via email. We are open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. - Source
Here in America’s Indian capital, you’ll find trading companies such as Richardson, Shush Yaz and Perry Null (formerly Tobe Turpen).
Richardson's was established in 1913, and the trading post is a lot like Cortez’s Notah Dineh. Walking inside is a visceral, museum-like experience. Mercurio and Peschel call this fantastic old post, located on historic Route 66, “one of the centerpieces of trade in Gallup.” - Source
Gallup is located in northwest New Mexico, USA near the Four Corners region. Founded in 1881 as a headquarters for the southern transcontinental rail route, the town draws its name from David L. Gallup, a paymaster for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later part of the Santa Fe Railroad). Gallup is situated midway between Albuquerque, NM and Flagstaff, AZ on Interstate 40 and is bisected by historic U.S. Highway 66. Gallup is the county seat of McKinley County with a population of approximately 21,678.
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