The town of Glenrio (“Glen Rio”) straddles the Texas/New Mexico border. Nearly all of the matchcovers that I have seen say “New Mexico” on them since the post office that served both parts of Glenrio was in New Mexico. All of the bars were located in New Mexico since Deaf Smith County, Texas, was “dry.” The cheapest gasoline was found in Texas since the state gas tax was lower. So we have made our best guesses when we divided the Glenrio matchcover images between the Texas and New Mexico sections of the database. We have listed several matchcovers here in the New Mexico section of the website as we think the businesses were located here. But within Texas the website visitor will find many different matchcovers from the famous Texas Longhorn complex plus one other gasoline station. The easiest way to see everything together is to simply type “Glenrio” into the “Keyword Search” box.
Route 66 passed through Tucumcari just south of the downtown area on Gaynell Blvd. (the early name) or Tucumcari Blvd. (the present name). Many businesses were located in the older downtown area along First or Second Streets or even Railroad Avenue/Main Street or US Highway 54. Matchcovers that say 66 on them are always included plus traveler-oriented businesses on Gaynell/Tucumcari Blvd. are included too. As per our rules for inclusion, some businesses that were downtown that claimed on their matchcovers to be on 66 are included even though the business was actually not. These include the Hotel Randle, Flagg Ranch and May’s Curio and Gift Shop (First Street). Semi-famous Two Gun Harry’s was on Railroad Avenue and not 66.
Route 66 used several streets in Santa Rosa. Matchcover images that are included in this database either say 66 or are traveler-oriented businesses on Will Rogers Drive or other sources (often postcards) place them on Route 66 (La Loma Lodge, Lettie’s Restaurant, Magnolia Service Station, Motel Shawford, Oasis Motel, Silver Moon, and Tiffin).
The tiny town of Buford was on early Route 66 so all matchcovers with the town name Buford are included since the commercial businesses of Buford would have to be on 66. The town of Moriarty, which was just south of Buford, later reached up and absorbed Buford into its city limits so all traveler-oriented business matchcovers with either a 66 printed on them or no address or an address other than one specifically from the downtown original area of Moriarty are included as well. As expected, the Route 66 matchcovers printed with the town name Buford appear older than the matchcovers listed with the town name Moriarty. Of course, Buford is gone today and can not be found on contemporary maps.
US Highway 66 initially looped north through Glorieta Pass and into Santa Fe then descended the La Bajada Hill to follow the Rio Grande south to Albuquerque. This early alignment passed through Albuquerque in a north-south direction on 4th Street. In 1937 the later alignment from Santa Rosa through Tijeras Canyon opened and it came through Albuquerque in an east-west direction on Central Avenue. Since there were relatively few matchbooks distributed before 1937, nearly all matchcovers from Albuquerque are from Central Avenue. Any matchcover that has 66 printed on it is included as well as traveler-oriented businesses along Central Avenue.
There are just a few matchcovers from Albuquerque from the early 4th Street alignment that say 66 on them. If an early 4th Street matchcover says 66 on it, we also include any later matchcovers from the same business that do not say 66. (The only example of this case is the King’s Rest Auto Court.) We also included a number of matchcovers from the Court Café on 4th Street yet none of them say 66. We decided to include these because an early linen postcard from the Court Café did indicate that the business was on 66. And the location of the Court Café is just one-half block north of Central Avenue anyway.
The Fred Harvey Alvarado Hotel faced the railroad tracks (Fred Harvey referred to the front side of the hotels as the side that faced the railroad tracks) and the rear was on SW 1st Street. But the northern short north side of the hotel was on Central Avenue so the matchcover is included.
One somewhat confusing thing about some of the street addresses in Albuquerque is that changes occurred in the early 1950s. Initially Albuquerque was divided into East and West street addresses. But around 1953 the address numbering system changed into quadrants (NW, NE, SE, SW) with meridians of Central Avenue and Broadway Blvd. Around that time some of the street addresses along Central were adjusted. You can see this among some of the matchcovers displayed here. For example, an early matchcover from the Country Club Court indicated that the business was at 2531 West Central but later matchcovers indicated it was at 2411 W. Central. The Fair Grounds Auto Court was 6452 East Central and then later at 6522 Central SE. The Luna Motel was at 9019 East Central and later 9119 NE Central. I’m only aware of these address discrepancies on the west side of Albuquerque.
Most matchcovers from Gallup say Highway 66 on them. Later this road was called 66th Avenue. For a time West Coal Avenue (but not East Coal) carried Route 66 through the west side of Gallup. Coal (both east and west) merged with US Highway 66/66th Avenue at the “East Y” and the “West Y.” So for inclusion in this database matchcovers that say 66 on them or are located at the East Y or West Y are valid. Also traveler-oriented businesses from West Coal are included.