Truxton, Arizona on Route 66

 

One side of Truxton
At first glance you might think Truxton is another ghost town that no one lives in, but look a bit closer and you'll see that many of the buildings are being maintained, and in some places rehabilitated.  Truxton had a population of 134 in 2010 and 104 in 2020, so it is small, and still shrinking, but it is surprisingly active.

 Pretty much half the town is visible in this photo, open a larger version and follow along. From left to right: Truxton Station, Bell Gas (sign with the "A"), Barker Apartments (unreadable gray sign), Truxton Cafe, then Sudbury's Southland Service Station (with the red canopy). Historic Route 66, Truxton, Arizona.

Bell Gas station
This old gas station is clearly still in use. I didn't see anyone, but the chairs and fire pit are clearly recent additions. It also spent some time as "Frontier Lounge". I saw a photo from 2013 and the gas pumps were missing, but there are pumps there now.  Also in the 2013 photo, the leftmost panel of the sign had a bell on it and the next two panels were "G" and "A", now only the "A" remains. In 2006, all panels were complete.

The current owners bought it in 2022 and now live there. They are restoring it and have a Facebook page, "Frontier station family project". It is another labor of love project by someone who has deep ties to the area. 

Barker Apartments sign

Right next door to the gas station is this faded sign for Barker Apartments.  This used to be the Lazy J Motel (historic photo) then was bought by the Barker's, who also bought the Bell Gas Station and the Frontier Motel.  It is currently owned by the same person who bought the gas station next door.

 Under the top layer of paint you can faintly read the motel sign: Lazy J (with the "J" relaxing at an angle) Motel, Electric Heat, No Vacancy. (old photo).

Truxton Cafe
This building is falling apart and there are holes in the roof. It was the Truxton Cafe and the name is painted on the left side of the building. It was once a Texaco gas station. The small building to the right were the bathrooms. 

Frontier Motel

This motel and cafe held on for a long time, it didn't close until 2011. The owner, Mildred Barker died in 2012. It is quite a nice sign, It looks like the 3 vertical columns are meant to be like a cactus

Orlando Motel (Ben Churchill/Flickr CC-BY 2.0)

 This is another Motel that someone is taking care of. This photo was taken in 2017 and you can see a for sale sign.  Since then someone must have bought it because the fence out front now has lights on the fence posts (that are turned on).

 

 

 

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