Road Trip: Glenrio

Glenrio sits on the border between Texas and New Mexico, and was founded in 1903 as a stop along the Rock Island Railroad. Route 66 was routed through the town in the 1930s, resulting in several hotels, gas stations and diners being built. But in the 1970s, Glenrio was bypassed by the interstate. It steadily declined, and turned into a ghost town.

I've made a few stops here over the years. Glenrio was an interesting, and forlorn, little town. I was eager to make another stop as we drove by, but I was incredibly disappointed when we exited the freeway and drove through. Most of the old buildings in Glenrio are gone, either collapsed or torn down. And almost all of the few remaining buildings here were covered with graffiti.

It was a great reminder of why we should take pictures of old buildings. These old places can be lost or destroyed so easily, or ruined by vandalism and graffiti. It was depressing to see how much Glenrio had changed.

One of the most prominent buildings in Glenrio was an old motel, built in the 1950s. Depending on which direction you were traveling, the sign would say it was either the "First Motel in Texas" or the "Last Motel in Texas." The building still stands, but it's a shell of its former self. The roof is gone, and the walls are covered in graffiti. I didn't even bother getting a picture of it this time, the damage was so severe. This is a photo of the motel from 2010:



The ruins of a gas station was just down the road from the motel. But it is gone now. Here it was in 2010:



And then again in 2015:



The gas station was next door to the old post office, which was one of the last places to close in Glenrio. This was the view in 2010 along the divided highway, which was built back in the time when there was traffic in Glenrio. Now both of these buildings are gone. Now a weed dispensary sits here.



There is, luckily, at least one old building that has somehow managed to survive being torn down or covered with spray paint. It is the Little Juarez Cafe, which was built in 1952.





My son Elliott, who just turned four, is obsessed with cars. And also with the movie Cars. We were watching it the other day, as we often do, and I had to quickly pause it. There in the background, in a scene where Lightning McQueen and Mater were talking, was a building that looked awfully familiar. It turns out that Pixar based one of the buildings in Radiator Springs on this old diner in Glenrio. It is actually shown a few times in the movie, originally as the "Glen Rio Motel." In the epilogue here, it turns into a racing museum: