Glenrio Texas/New Mexico Ghost Town on Route 66

Situated on the border of two states – Texas and New Mexico – Glenrio was a small town that popped up due to the nearby railroad depot, and grew further in popularity as a good stopping point for weary travelers along old Route 66.

UPDATE: I stumbled upon a Youtube video of someone exploring this town more recently than I did, and it looks like that as of April 2022, this area is all fenced off and inaccessible. So I did a little research and it looks like two business partners invested in this town and plan to bring it back to life, with a timeline of having the first phase finished by the end of 2022. I visited in May 2021, so these pictures reflect my time here. I will leave the rest of the article as it was originally.

Glenrio was never a booming town – even in its “heyday”, it only had a handful of residents. The town thrived on visitors and tourists; it originally popped up due to its railroad depot for the Rock Island and Pacific Railway. Later on, when Route 66 was built, motorists stopped in Glenrio for its services: auto shop, bar and restaurants, a motel and a post office.

Unfortunately, in 1955, the railroad depot closed, hurting the town, but Route 66 still had enough traffic through the area for the businesses to remain viable. The final death blow to Glenrio came in the late ’70s, when I-40 was built and bypassed the town. Suddenly, no one was dropping by the restaurant for a hearty meal or staying the night at the motel. Traffic completely dried up and the businesses were shuttered, making Glenrio another sad casualty of Route 66.

By the 1980s, only two residents remained in the town. They eventually moved, and Glenrio became a complete ghost town.

Getting to Glenrio, TX/ NM

Glenrio Texas/New Mexico can easily be accessed right off of Interstate 40. Simply take Exit 0 and follow the frontage road (which is old Route 66) and you’ll hit Glenrio within a few minutes.

This ghost town is approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes from Amarillo, Texas and 40 minutes from Tucamcari, New Mexico.

Visiting Glenrio Ghost Town

If you chose to visit Glenrio, you’ll likely be the only one there – which just adds to the eerie ghost town ambiance of the place. You can just park along the side of the road and get out and explore on foot. All of the buildings that are still standing – whether on the Texas side or the New Mexico side – are within easy walking distance.

Keep in mind that not only does Glenrio straddle the border of two states, it also straddles two time zones. Texas is in Central Time and New Mexico is on Mountain Time.

Once you cross over to the New Mexico side, you’ll notice a distinct change in the pavement. The road starts getting worse, you’ll notice more overgrown weeds popping out of the pavement cracks and if you keep going down this road (which is the original historic Route 66), the road turns completely to gravel all the way to San Jon, New Mexico. On my trip, I was traveling from Amarillo, Texas to Tucamcari, New Mexico, but I wasn’t sure of the road’s condition (plus I had already been on the road for a good 7 hours!), that I decided to hop back on the interstate and take the fast way for my final destination for the night.

There are a few interesting structures still remaining in Glenrio, making this an interesting stop on your Route 66 journey. The most famous being the State Line Motel – with its large sign that used to read, “First Motel in Texas” or “Last Motel in Texas” depending on which way you were going. Today, most of the sign is gone.

Some of the buildings are posted “No Trespassing” so if you do come to explore, please be respectful of that.

You’ll also find an old service station, and on the New Mexico side, you’ll see another abandoned motel and the old post office.

Fun Facts: Glenrio’s state line location leads to a few interesting quirks – all of which avoided certain government regulations. Deaf Smith County, Texas (where Glenrio, TX resides) was a dry county, so if you wanted a buzz, you’d have to cross over to New Mexico to enjoy a cold one. Additionally, gas stations were only found on the Texas side, as New Mexico had a much higher gasoline tax. Mail arrived for residents at the train depot, which was on the Texas side, but the post office was actually on the New Mexico side.

Final Thoughts – Glenrio Texas / New Mexico

I love visiting ghost towns – especially modern ghost towns – so Glenrio was definitely a must-see for me on my Route 66 trip. It’s a quick stop off the I-40 and enough structures remain to make this an interesting stop for photographers and ghost town/abandoned building lovers like myself. Plus, there wasn’t much graffiti – the buildings were in poor shape due to weather and neglect. Nor were there any signs of squatters, so I felt perfectly safe poking around, even though I was traveling solo.

Have you visited this interesting ghost town of Glenrio along Route 66? What are your thoughts? Leave me a note in the comments!