McLean Historic Route 66 District

McLean was founded in 1902 as a railroad townsite on the new Choctaw, Oklahoma & Texas Railroad (later absorbed into the Rock Island system) and grew quickly as a regional agricultural and ranching service center. The arrival of Route 66 in 1926 added a second commercial economy — the gas stations, motor courts, cafes, and tourist services that the new highway demanded — and McLean prospered through the 1930s and 1940s as one of the busier small commercial centers on the Texas Route 66 stretch. World War II brought a German POW camp to the outskirts of town (Camp McLean, 1943-1945), which added wartime economic activity and is itself a small historical curiosity now interpreted at one of the district markers.

The post-war Route 66 era through the 1950s and early 1960s was McLean's commercial peak. The town supported multiple motels, cafes, gas stations, garages, and the full range of services a major U.S. highway brought to a Panhandle small town. The decline began with Interstate 40 construction in the 1960s and continued through the gradual decommissioning of Route 66 — but the I-40 bypass of McLean was the last bypass on the Texas Panhandle stretch, not completed until 1984. That meant nearly two extra decades of Route 66 commercial activity compared to towns like Shamrock and Amarillo, which were bypassed earlier.

The late bypass had the paradoxical effect of preserving McLean's original streetscape better than richer towns'. By the time the bypass arrived, McLean was already economically diminished and there was no urban-renewal pressure to demolish the original Route 66 buildings or modernize the storefronts. Buildings sat instead of being replaced. When historic preservation interest revived in the 1990s, McLean still had a remarkably intact stock of 1920s-1950s architecture, and the surviving structures became the basis for the current historic district designation. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1990s as part of broader Texas Route 66 listings.

A typical walking circuit starts at the Devil's Rope Museum on Kingsley Street, which sits at the eastern edge of the district. From the museum, walk one block west to West First Street (the original Route 66 alignment) and turn west. The first major landmark is the restored 1929 Phillips 66 cottage-style station at 218 West First, marked clearly with the orange-and-black corporate signage and a small Texas Historical Commission interpretive marker. Spend 15-20 minutes on photographs and read the marker, then continue west along First.

Continuing west past the Phillips 66, the next landmark is the Cactus Inn Motel at 101 Pine Street, with its original 1950s neon sign still in working condition (the sign is lit nightly from dusk through approximately midnight). The motel still operates as a working lodging — see the dedicated Cactus Inn entry for full details. Across from the Cactus Inn, the Red River Steakhouse at 101 West Route 66 is the natural lunch or dinner stop and occupies a brick storefront that has held some form of restaurant for decades.

Doubling back via Main Street, the Avalon Theater facade at 110 South Main Street is the district's other distinctive landmark — a small 1930s movie theater that no longer operates as a cinema but whose original signage and marquee have been preserved. The interior is not generally accessible. Beyond these anchors, the district holds dozens of smaller period storefronts, several with original signage or architectural details visible from the sidewalk. The McLean tourist information stop on Main Street is the best source for printed walking-tour maps and the most current information on which storefronts are open.

For Route 66 photographers and serious enthusiasts, McLean's historic district produces some of the better small-town imagery on the Texas Panhandle stretch. The combination of the Phillips 66 station, the Cactus Inn neon, the Avalon Theater facade, and the Devil's Rope Museum's modest exterior gives the district four distinct photographic subjects within a half-mile walking radius. Add the brick storefronts along First and Main Streets, the period interpretive signage, and the unusually intact streetscape, and a thorough photography circuit fills 2-3 hours.

The best photography times are early morning (the low east-pointing sun catches the south-facing facades on First Street nicely) and late afternoon golden hour (the same facades light dramatically as the sun moves west). Midday overhead light tends to flatten the brick and the architectural detail. After dark, the Cactus Inn neon sign is the primary nighttime photographic subject — most other district lighting is utilitarian streetlight rather than period-style neon, so the Cactus Inn sign carries most of the nighttime work.

Photographers planning a longer Texas Panhandle Route 66 trip will typically combine McLean with Shamrock (20 minutes east, where the restored U-Drop Inn is the marquee photographic subject) and with Amarillo (75 minutes west, with the Sixth Avenue historic district and Cadillac Ranch). A two-day photography itinerary covering all three towns produces a thorough Texas Panhandle Route 66 photographic portfolio.