Glenrio, Ghost Town on the State Line

Glenrio straddles the New Mexico and Texas state line, a ghost town that sits exactly where Route Sixty-Six once crossed between the two states. It was founded in nineteen oh three as a Rock Island Railroad section stop, and by the nineteen thirties it was a busy fueling and food stop for Dust Bowl migrants traveling west on the Mother Road. The Texas-New Mexico border ran right down the main street, which created an odd commercial logic: liquor laws and fuel taxes differed by state, so the bar and motel went up on the New Mexico side because the Texas county was dry, while fuel was sold on the Texas side.

When Interstate Forty bypassed Glenrio in nineteen seventy-three, the town emptied almost overnight. Today its abandoned diner, motel, and service station stand on the National Register of Historic Places, a quiet ruin on the high plains.