Tracing New Mexico’s Route 66 place names

Editor’s note: Curious about how a town, street or building got its name? Email features@abqjournal.com as the Journal continues “What’s in a Name?” 

In the song “Route 66,” only one New Mexico community, Gallup, is mentioned. Wouldn’t it have been neat if Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry or Asleep at the Wheel sang about Six Shooter Siding, Moriarty and Manuelito? 

For this month’s “What’s in a Name?” column, let’s explore some places along the Mother Road, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

Let’s kick off in the eastern plains with Glenrio, a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad community that straddles the Texas and New Mexico border. Glenrio combines the Scottish word “glen” (valley) and the Spanish word “río” (river). Although there are no valleys and rivers, travelers can see remnants of former businesses like the Longhorn Motel & Cafe and Brownless Diner/Little Juarez Cafe.

Continue down a gravel road and enter Endee, founded in the 1880s as a supply center for local ranches. Its name derives from the ND Ranch established by John and George Day in 1882. Nearby is Bard, now a ghost town, which once consisted of one building that served as a post office, Jack Rittenhouse said in “A Guide Book to Highway 66.”

About six miles west is San Jon (pronounced “Hone”), created in 1902. According to “Geology of the San Jon Site, Eastern New Mexico” by Sheldon Judson, San Jon is believed to come from the Spanish word “Zanjón” or “deep ditch.” At one time, San Jon had an airport beacon that served as an emergency strip for airmail pilots flying from New York to Los Angeles.

Motorists continue through the red hills and pass by the former Cedar Hill gas station before entering Tucumcari, which was previously known as “Ragtown” and “Six Shooter Siding.”

According to the Tucumcari Historical Museum, around 1901 or 1902, a Rock Island railroad engineer was working on a report when they asked, “What the H--- can I call this place?” As he completed the question, gunfire could be heard. Someone replied, “Why don’t you call it Six-Shooter’s Siding”? Several years later, in 1908, the town was renamed “Tucumcari” after the nearby mountain.

West of Tucumcari is Montoya. Formerly called Roundtree, Montoya was once home to G.W. Richardson’s store, a popular stop for ranchers, railroad workers and motorists.

Over the next 35 to 40 miles, travelers will go through Newkirk (formerly Conant) and Cuervo (Spanish for “raven” or “crow”) before reaching Santa Rosa, which was named after St. Rose of Lima, a chapel built by Don Kelso to honor his mother. 

About 20 miles west of Santa Rosa, U.S. 66 splits. Heading northwest is the pre-1937 alignment. Towns on that stretch include Dilia (reportedly named after a settler’s daughter), Apache Springs and Romeroville, which pays homage to businessman and territorial congressman Trinidad Romero.

The route continues through Pecos, Canoñcito and Santa Fe before heading south to La Bajada (The Descent), Pueblo of San Felipe, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Pueblo of Sandia, Bernalillo (founded by Don Diego de Vargas), Los Ranchos de Albuquerque and Albuquerque.

The newer alignment — or what became known as the Santa Rosa Cut-Off — continued west through Clines Corners, Moriarty (named for the first permanent family to live in the area), Buford, Edgewood, Tijeras (Scissors) and Carnuel before entering the Duke City, which was once spelled Alburquerque. The city’s original name, New Mexico State Historian Rob Martinez told the Journal in 2019, was La Villa de Alburquerque de San Francisco Xavier del Bosque.

From Albuquerque, the road runs through places like Correo (or Post Office), Mesita (Small Table), Laguna (Small Lake), Encinal (Oak Grove), Paraje (Place), Cubero (Cooper), San Fidel and McCartys. In “The Place Names of New Mexico,” Robert Julyan said McCartys was either named after a railroad contractor who lived in the area or it was derived from a ranch crossed by a rail line. 

About 15 miles past McCartys is Grants, which began as a railroad camp in the 1880s when three Canadian brothers — Angus, John and Lewis Grant — were awarded a contract to build a section of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad through the region. The camp was called Grants Camp before becoming Grants Station and later, Grants.

After Grants is Milan (named after local rancher Salvador Milan), Bluewater, which got its name from a nearby creek, and Prewitt. 

The unincorporated community was first called Baca after a local ranching family. In the 1910s, Bob and Harold Prewitt moved to the area and established a trading post. When a post office opened 18 years later, it took the name of Prewitt, according to the Gallup Museum.

Eleven miles west is Thoreau (pronounced “Thuh-roo” or “Through”), which was called Chaves and Mitchell before becoming Thoreau in 1899. 

Alaina Noland, Gallup Museum exhibitions and public programming curator, said it is a “matter of debate” who Thoreau is named after. She said it was either named for “someone with the railroad” or 19th-century author Henry David Thoreau.

“Today it is just assumed that it is named for Henry David Thoreau,” Noland said, “but no one has been able to tell me why.”

After Thoreau is the unincorporated community of Continental Divide. 

Located at Campbell Pass, a low point along the Continental Divide of the Americas, the town once boasted a number of trading posts. Today, travelers can pick up a souvenir at Ortega’s Indian Market before heading to Jamestown — an unincorporated community that grew around the establishment of an El Paso Natural Gas Company refinery — and Fort Wingate.

Built on the abandoned Fort Fauntleroy as part of an agreement allowing the Diné to return to a portion of their ancestral land, Fort Wingate once protected railroad operations in the area and was the training site for the first batch of Navajo Code Talkers in World War II, Noland said.

Outside of Fort Wingate are Coolidge and Rehoboth. Coolidge, formerly called Crane’s Station, is named after Thomas Coolidge, an Atlantic & Pacific executive, while Rehoboth was founded in 1906 as a Christian Reformed Church mission compound.

Continue west on New Mexico 118 into Gallup, which is named after Atlantic & Pacific paymaster David Gallup. Established in 1881 as a railhead for the A&P, the city is known for its Indigenous arts and El Rancho Hotel.

Past Gallup is Purty Rock, an unincorporated community named for the nearby rock formations. Noland said it was established with the expansion of the railroad and agriculture in the area.

The last Route 66 community in the state is Manuelito. Named in honor of a Diné chief, Manuelito is known for its Ancestral Puebloan ruins that were excavated in the 1960s, she said.

After reaching the state line, take a return trip east on 66 or go on and “Take it Easy” in Winslow, Arizona, or beyond.

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.