DryHeatBlog The abandoned Whiting Bros. Filling Station, Grocery Store and Motel on Route 66 near Grants, New Mexico
I’ve been driving past this Route 66 landmark for years and have stopped to photograph it many times. Unfortunately, most of those images are lost to time and upheaval so I have gone once again to photograph what’s left of the Whiting Bros. Filling Station and Motel that is off of I-40 west of Albuquerque, and about 10 miles east of Grants. Be sure to stop in Budville on the way! These photos were shot on May 26, 2019 and originally published to the old Dry Heat Blog on May 28, 2019.
History of the Whiting Bros. Filling Stations
The Whiting Bros. company was established in 1926, the same year that U.S. Route 66 was designated across the southwestern United States. Whiting Bros. was based in St. Johns and Holbrook, Arizona and, at its peak, operated more than a hundred filling stations and fifteen motels (including at least forty on the former U.S. Route 66 through Arizona and New Mexico).
This particular station had a motel, according to the sign, but that building was apparently torn down. Next to the gas station there is a concrete foundation with nothing on it.
