Tucumcari Tonite! New Mexico’s Gateway to the West

There used to be a certain way to tell you’re approaching the New Mexico-Texas border on Route 66. As you rode on, every few minutes you would pass a sign reading: “Tucumcari Tonite!”

Hundreds of these signs, each promising “2,000 motel rooms,” once enticed travelers on the Mother Road to make a stop at Tucumcari, NM. 

At one point, the city’s business authorities felt it was a time for change, and the slogan became “Gateway to the West.” We can all infer how well that worked, considering that since 2008, “Tucumcari Tonite!” has again graced the I-40 roadsides.

Way back when, however, the signs would’ve sported a different name. The settlement we know today was founded in 1901 as Ragtown.

That unflattering name soon changed to Six Shooter Siding due to rampant gun violence. The town then briefly became Douglas before being renamed to Tucumcari in 1908, in a reference to the nearby Tucumcari Mountain.

Originally a transcontinental railway junction, Route 66 completely altered Tucumcari’s character. Many of the original motels and gas stations from the 1930s onward still stand—and many continue to serve motorcyclists on the Main Street of America.