Glenrio, Odeon added to National Register

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According to an e-mail from the director of the National Park Service, Glenrio’s historic district — which comprises most of the Route 66 community straddling the border between Texas and New Mexico — was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan. 17.

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Glenrio’s location in two states (and two counties) at once meant that the laws varied from one side of town to the other. For instance, Deaf Smith County, Texas, is dry, while Quay County, N.M., is wet — so all the bars in town were built on the west end of town, across the New Mexico state line. Differences in property and income tax rates influenced decisions about where to construct homes and businesses. And because the state line is also the dividing line between the Central and Mountain time zones, everything happens an hour earlier on the west end of town.

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Glenrio is probably best known to Route 66 travelers as the home of the often-photographed First and Last Motel in Texas (visible in the background of the photo above). The motel’s two-sided sign informed eastbound travelers that it was the “First Motel in Texas,” while westbound travelers were given to understand that it was the “Last Motel in Texas.”

Glenrio, like many Route 66 towns, was a casualty of the interstates. Bypassed by I-40, the little town at Exit 0 faded for want of tourist traffic. Today, its population includes a few humans (most of whom live in large, relatively new homes south of 66); free-roaming horses, cattle, and goats that graze in front of abandoned gas stations and motel rooms on Route 66; and a large, brown dog of uncertain pedigree who watches over the old buildings and can occasionally be persuaded to pose for a photograph.

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Tucumcari’s Odeon Theater, an old Art Deco gem located just off the Mother Road at 123 S. Second St., also was added to the National Register on Jan. 17. The theater boasts glass-block windows and a large, pink neon marquee with yellow zia symbols at the top and bottom. We happily forked over $3.50 each to see a movie there a couple of years ago. The film itself — Kangaroo Jack — was quite possibly the worst film we’ve ever seen, but the building’s historic character and reasonably priced concessions more than compensated for the screenwriters’ failings.

An extensive list of recent additions to the National Register can be found here. 

(Photos by the Red Fork Hippie Chick.)

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