Rt 66 - McCartys, NM
/Visited September 28, 2014
I spun off I-40 at exit 96 to see if I could find the old Whiting Bros. Gas Station. I’d seen some pictures of it and knew it wasn’t too far out of the way. Exit 96 is also the exit to use to get to McCartys, a small town that originated from a farming and trading community on the Acoma Indian reservation. It was later named McCarty after a railroad contractor who had his camp in the area during the 1880s.
Whiting Brothers (there were four of them), was established in 1926. During their peak years of operation there were more than a hundred filling stations, fifteen motels and various truck stops operating along the nation's highways (including at least 40 on Route 66). Everyone who traveled the highways knew their familiar red-on-yellow signs and billboards.
This Whiting Bros Gas Station is rapidly falling apart. The sign has fallen and bushes are beginning to take over the lot on which it sits. This is a lonely corner.
Only the outline foundations remain of the old motel and grocery store. It's just a matter of time before the last two remaining signs here either fall over or are torn down. What was once a thriving complex is now but a lonely spot along the road.
