MUSEUMS
The Tucumcari Historical Museum is located at 416 South Adams and housed in a school built in 1903. In addition to the collections displayed on three floors that allows the visitor to feel a sense of discovery, there are also expansive outdoor exhibits set among landscaped grounds that showcase flora native to the area.
TUCUMCARI HISTORICAL MUSEUM
416 South Adams St.
(575) 461-4201
MESALANDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DINOSAUR MUSEUM AND NATURAL SCIENCES LABORATORY
Established in May 2000, the Mesalands Community College Dinosaur Museum and Natural Sciences Laboratory with 10,000 square feet of exhibit space, and large well-equipped paleontology/geology laboratory is just of the college’s surprises.
Displays at the museum in replicated and original fossils. They are as diverse as miniature footprint castings to a huge 40′ long skeleton of a Torvosaurus, a rare relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. Exhibits are from private local dig sites and area fossil beds. An expansive viewing window allows guests to view paleontology students and the curator prepare as well as preserve specimens.
A collection of mineral specimens from throughout the world are also on display in the museum. Mineral specimens are also sold in the gift shop.
222 East Laughlin Ave.
(575) 461-6627
Tucumcari’s cornerstone is the railroad. The city’s colorful and exciting railroad history is preserved at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum in the renovated railroad depot that was built in 1926.
TUCUMCARI RAILROAD MUSEUM
100 West Railroad Ave.
(575) 461-3701
The history of Route 66 in Tucumcari, and in New Mexico, and the Ozark Trails Road is chronicled through diverse, expansive, and fascinating exhibits at the New Mexico Route 66 Museum. Exhibits range from a vintage Rock-Ola juke box and gas pumps to historic porcelain promotional signs, a Loretta Lynn signed Route 66 guitar, and classic automobiles.
The museum located in the convention center also houses Michael Campanelli’s Route 66 Photo Exhibit with over 166 photos of the Route 66 experience from Chicago to Los Angeles. A kiosk in the lobby runs a slide show of historic black and white photos, time capsules from the city’s Route 66 history.
In front of the convention center is the Route 66 Monument commissioned by artist Tom Coffin for the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department’s Cultural Corridors: Public Art on Scenic Byways Program, and the Quay Council for Arts & Humanities. This world-famous photo op captures the glory days of Route 66, an era of I Like Ike buttons, tail fins and Edsels.
The base of the sculpture is a tire, road and tread designed motif on a pyramid, topped off by a larger-than-life chrome tailfin, complete with taillights lit at night. Its design is meant to evoke the golden age of Route 66 and the great American road trip.
NEW MEXICO ROUTE 66 MUSEUM & MONUMENT
1500 West Route 66 Blvd.
(575) 461-3701