Glenrio, Texas/New MexicoStraddling the border between
Texas and
New Mexico is the forgotten
ghost town of
Glenrio. Once a monument along the boom and bust highway of
Route 66, it now remains home to only the critters and the blowing tumble weeds of the vast prairie.
In 1901 the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad came through the area and two years later Glenrio was born. The name
Glenrio, which stems from the English word "valley” and the Spanish word for river, is neither in a valley nor along a river.
By 1920, Glenrio had a hotel, a hardware store, and a land office, as well as several grocery stores, service stations, and cafes. A newspaper, the Glenrio
Tribune, was published from 1910 to 1934. There were no bars on the
Texas side of the community, since Deaf Smith County was dry, and no service stations on the
New Mexico side because of that state's higher gasoline tax.
Today, it has no residents.
