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GLENRIO 鈥� This town straddling the New Mexico-Texas line can confound some travelers.

鈥淵ou can stand in Glenrio with one foot in the mountain time zone and one foot in the central time zone,鈥� Route 66 author and historian Michael Wallis said in a phone interview. 鈥淚t might make you a little schizophrenic.鈥�

The name of the town is a mix of the Gaelic and Spanish words for 鈥渧alley鈥� and 鈥渞iver.鈥� 

鈥淏ut we don't have either,鈥� said Stephanie Barclay, town historian from Amarillo.

Today, there are empty buildings that once served hungry and tired motorists. But at one time, the community boasted a newspaper, gas stations, a bar and, according to Jack Rittenhouse鈥檚 鈥淎 Guide Book to Highway 66,鈥� 84 residents, including Barclay鈥檚 grandmother, Merlinda Dora Ruiz.

On an early June morning, Barclay was standing outside the former Texas Longhorn Motel and State Line 颁补蹿茅 and Gas Station on the Texas side of Glenrio when she looked at a ring engraved with the initials 鈥淢DH鈥� hanging from her necklace. Ruiz found the ring while playing in the sand near her Glenrio home about 100 years ago. Years later, the ring would be placed on her finger by Donald Hill, whom she met in Tucumcari. 

鈥淗er initials became MDH,鈥� Barclay said. 鈥淪erendipitous, isn鈥檛 it?鈥�

Now, Glenrio Smoke Stop owners Gabi Tuschak and Erik Spain are trying to rebuild the former motel and cafe, and Barclay, who is a sales associate with the dispensary, has a chance to help resurrect her grandmother鈥檚 hometown.

鈥淢y family was there in the beginning and now my children and I are looking forward to being part of such a beautiful place during and after this revitalization,鈥� Barclay said.

鈥楽he just thought it was cool鈥�

In 1903, Glenrio was founded as a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad siding. The town was originally called Rock Island before changing to Glenrio five years later. Mail would be dropped off on the Texas side of the border and then the station master would carry it to the post office on the New Mexico side for delivery, according to the National Park Service.

Locals joked that their mail crossed the border multiple times before leaving, Glenrio Smoke Stop General Manager Harrah Evans said.

From the 1910s until the early 鈥�30s, the Glenrio Tribune was the community newspaper. Perhaps residents read about the creation of the Ozark Trail, a new road to get people to and from both states. The short-lived auto trail would be replaced by Route 66.

Among the motorists who reportedly drove through town on the new road was gangster John Dillinger. 

One night, Barclay said, her great-grandmother, Antonia Ruiz, heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, Barclay said she was told there were a 鈥渂unch of really dapper men in suits and automobiles.鈥�

The men, including Dillinger, stayed the night inside her barn. The next day, Ruiz found a stack of cash between linens the men had folded, Barclay said.

鈥淢onths pass, she goes into town and there鈥檚 a wanted poster for John Dillinger, but he was on his way to Arizona,鈥� she said.

Barclay said while Ruiz didn't say anything about the encounter until 鈥渨ay after鈥� Dillinger died, Ruiz didn鈥檛 fear for her life.

鈥淪he just thought it was cool,鈥� Barclay said.

Around the time Ruiz met Dillinger, Barclay said Ruiz saw Dust Bowl travelers heading west 鈥渨ith all their belongings on the roofs of their cars.鈥� 

鈥淲e would tie damp towels around our heads, mouths and noses and sit on wooden boxes on the roadside,鈥� Ruiz told Barclay in a 2003 interview. 鈥淲e would sell or trade whatever we could spare.鈥�

A couple of decades later, during what some call the heyday of Route 66, the 1950s, the Texas Longhorn Motel and State Line 颁补蹿茅&苍产蝉辫;and Gas Station opened. Customers looking for an after-dinner cocktail could walk over to the State Line Bar in New Mexico.

In the 1960s, Wallis said he remembered hitchhiking into town as a Marine from St. Louis.

鈥�(At midnight) it looked like Times Square with servicemen lined up at the pay phones calling out, people going in and out of the cafes, the motor courts, buying some liquor in New Mexico and drinking it in Texas,鈥� he said.

Evans said she was told 鈥渢ravelers used to joke that you鈥檇 get your gas in Texas, then walk across the street for a beer in New Mexico, and then check into the same motel that advertised itself as both the 鈥楩irst Motel in Texas鈥� and the 鈥楲ast Motel in Texas,鈥� depending on which direction you were driving.鈥�

But in 1975, Interstate 40 bypassed the town, according to the National Park Service.

鈥淧ractically overnight, the travelers stopped coming, businesses shut their doors, and Glenrio became a ghost town,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭ravelers who pulled off looking for food or fuel found nothing but empty buildings and dust blowing across the road.鈥�

Today, on the Texas side, there are only remnants of the Texas Longhorn Motel and State Line 颁补蹿茅, an empty Brownlee Diner building, a parked 1968 Pontiac Catalina 鈥� belonging to a resident whose husband was killed during a gas station robbery in Adrian, Texas 鈥� and a blue and beige concrete post serving as an unofficial state line marker.

In New Mexico, the bar no longer exists, but there is the Glenrio Smoke Stop, the only business in town, where Tuschak and Spain are attempting to bring the former railroad town back.

Keep the same feel

In 2023, Tuschak said in a phone interview, she and Spain originally wanted to rebuild the motel and cafe in Glenrio.

鈥淲e had some pretty big dreams, but at the end of the day, there were a lot of costs to get everything going,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e realized the only way to really kick-start the economy of Glenrio would be through the dispensary on the New Mexico side. So that was when we first raised money with the intention of taking the profits from the dispensary to rebuild the town, and that鈥檚 the stage we鈥檙e in.鈥�

The cannabis dispensary opened in 2023 and while some people were supportive of the new business, others weren鈥檛 sure about it.

It鈥檚 the Bible Belt, Spain said, 鈥渟o it was pretty polarizing with us putting a shop right there.鈥�

鈥淎nd so, a lot of ranchers in the area didn鈥檛 really know what to think about us,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t took a couple of years of just staying the course, trying to be really friendly, trying to show that we鈥檙e more than just a pot shop.鈥�

Spain said ranchers told him while they originally 鈥渄idn鈥檛 want to have anything to do with y鈥檃ll,鈥� they are excited to see what will happen next.

Every day, locals watch as droves of customers from Texas and other places stop at the dispensary.

In May, the business brought in $402,734, up about 46% from the $275,705 brought in during May 2025, said Matt Kennicott, Cannabis Association of New Mexico executive director.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 very strong to say the least,鈥� he said. 

Marianna Behrends, a resident of nearby Endee, said Tuschak and Spain have used some of the profits to give back to the area. They donated to the Bard-Endee Fire Department, in addition to trying to restore the former Texas Longhorn Motel and State Line 颁补蹿茅.

鈥淭hey care about the community,鈥� Behrends said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about their business. They truly care about the people that live here.鈥�

The dispensary, which is in New Mexico, recently put up new signs by the former Texas motel and cafe that say 鈥淔irst Stop in Texas鈥� and 鈥淟ast Stop in Texas鈥� to honor what was there before. A neon lighting ceremony is scheduled to take place at dusk on July 11. Tuschak said she and Spain will be starting a fundraiser to fix the rest of the property.

The project is still in the beginning stages, she said, but once everything has been solidified 鈥渋n terms of exactly what we鈥檙e trying to do 鈥� it will move pretty fast.鈥�

Tuschak said it is possible they will break ground next year.

鈥淭he intention is to at least keep the same feel, the same building materials so that it still represents Glenrio,鈥� she said.

Behrends said Tuschak and Spain鈥檚 efforts to bring the town back remind her of the movie 鈥淐ars.鈥�

鈥淵ou just need someone with the passion to see it rejuvenated again because it鈥檚 not an easy process,鈥� she said, 鈥渘or does it happen overnight, unfortunately.鈥�

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.