Clines Corners: The Stop That Put Itself on the Map

Clines Corners has operated at the crossroads of New Mexico highways since nineteen thirty-four, when Roy E. Cline set up a gas station and café at the junction of two state routes. In nineteen thirty-seven, the Route Sixty-Six alignment shifted north, bypassing his original location.

Cline picked up his building and moved it to the new highway. Once established on Route Sixty-Six, he employed one of early roadside marketing's most effective strategies: he reportedly got Clines Corners added to the Rand McNally highway maps. That single act of cartographic placement drove traffic that sustained the stop for generations.

Cline sold the business before the decade was out. Subsequent owners expanded the gift shop and installed the distinctive neon sign that became a landmark. The travel center is still operating today, ninety-plus years after Cline poured his first tank of gas in the high desert.