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Clickable Map.  Hackberry is on the longest continuous section of Route 66 in the nation.  That section was bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1978.

The mother lode of mother road memorabilia. Inside and out, the Hackberry General Store is a
museum of old Route 66.  Though no gas is sold, vintage pumps punctuate the storefront.  Mobilgas' Pegasus leaps from the roof, and the Greyhound dog welcomes bus travelers.

Inside, visitors can try on Route 66 clothing, pick up Route 66 trinkets, walk through a vintage diner, and even have a bottle of Route 66 Beer (root beer, not beer beer).  Virtually every trinket bearing the Route 66 theme, from neon to key chains, can be found in the store.

Outside, Berma-Shave signs recreate the era when their terse verse amused passing motorists.  A yellow sign bearing a skull warns of 300 miles of desert ahead and offers life saving water bags and ice.

A reproduction of an old garage is tucked away on the east side of the Hackberry General Store.  Inside an old Ford flatbed tuck sits as if it were awaiting service for journey along the newly designated Route 66 highway.

East of the store, an old garage services a Model T flatbed truck, and cars of more recent vintage line up with still more Berma-Shave signs.  Other buildings appear to be sprouting behind the store for what is likely to become an expanded Route 66 experience.

Red 'Vette!  The pièce de résistance is a red 1956 Chevrolet Corvette parked in front of the store.  The Corvette has been the quintessential Route 66 touring car ever since Tod Stiles (Martin Milner) and Buz Murdock (George Maharis) traveled the highway in search of adventure on the CBS television show, Route 66 (1960-1964).  Although television was only black and white then, viewers just knew that the Corvette had to be red--and issues of TV Guide proved them right.

A beautifully maintained vintage 1956 Chevrolet Corvette sits in its designated parking spot at the Hackberry General Store.  On TV, Route 66 might have been in black and white, but the Corvette was always red.

Under new management!  The Hackberry General Store is clearly not what its originator intended.  It was built to purvey needed goods to the growing community of Hackberry, just across the railroad tracks.  As town industry withered, Route 66 provided store revenues.  But when I-40 bypassed Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman, the store died.

In the early 1990's artist Bob Waldmire parked his Volkswagen van next to an abandoned Hackberry General Store to sell his artwork.  Bob was no stranger to Route 66 enterprises.  His father invented the Cozy Dog and the family still operates another Route 66 institution, the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield.  The mother road beckoned Bob in the late 1960's.  Since then, he's been traveling the road, selling his art in the form of postcards, stickers, posters and maps from the van.  His postcards may be found at many shops long the road--they are the reproductions of detailed pen and ink drawings.

John Pritchard presides over the Hackberry General Store.

In 1992, Bob announced that he would be re-opening the long abandoned store.  This time, it was to be reincarnated as the International-Bioregional Old Route 66 Visitors Center.  He bought the store and began restoring the building.  He repainted signs and Route 66 shields, and cleared the parking lot.

When the center opened, it offered visitors the chance to peruse an impressive collection of maps, books, signs and artifacts relating to the historic road.  One wall was a tribute to his father, the inventor of the corn dog on a stick.

By 1998, Bob had succumbed to wanderlust again.  John and Kerry Pritchard bought the Hackberry General Store from Bob.  The purchase gave them a place to display their lifetime collection of roadside memorabilia and expand the store that Bob reopened.

The Hackberry Tree
Scientific Name Celtis occidentalis L.
Description A tall, triangular shaped tree, adult trees are generally 50 to 88 feet tall.
Distribution Requires moist to medium dry soil; found near small creaks, streams, ponds, and swamps.
Fruit Produces a small, berry sized fruit, about 1/3" in diameter. The fruit is in the drupe or stone fruit family, and is similar to a cherry having a thin, purplish skin, sweet yellowish flesh and a single seed covered by hard stone.  Also called "sugarberry".  The fruit ripens around September and may stay on the tree most of the winter.

The Hackberry Silver Mine.  Hackberry's origin dates back to 1874 when prospectors set up a mining camp near a spring on the east side of the Peacock Mountains.  The Hackberry Silver Mine was named for a large hackberry tree growing near the spring.

When mining ceased in 1919 as a result of litigation among the owners, $3,000,000 in gold and silver had been produced.  In 2000, the owner of the 750 acres which include the old Hackberry mine was seeking a sales or exploration agreement with an eye toward a leasing or selling the property. 

Along came the railroad.  The railroad reached Hackberry in 1882, and shipments of cattle began.  Hackberry became an very important debarkation point.  At its peak it shipped the third largest number of cattle from Arizona.


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Route 66 Across Arizona
A Comprehensive Two-Way Guide for Touring Route 66
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Route 66 Chronicles
Volume I
Shadows of the Past Over Route 66 Arizona - New Mexico
by Gerald M. Knowles
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Here It Is!
The Route 66 Map Series
A complete set of foldout maps!
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Route 66: Return to the Road with Martin Milner
DVD--156 minutes along the Mother Road!
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Songs of Route 66: All-American Highway
Route 66 TV Theme, Get Your Kicks on Route 66--Bobby Troup, What's Left of 66--Jason Eklund, Don't Haul Bricks on 66--Dusty Chaps ...
Click here for more cool Route 66 stuff!


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Route 66 Sources © Copyright 2003-2006 by aroundaz.com This page was last revised on 08/18/06.