Twin Arrows - An icon on 66

The Twin Arrows Trading Post is located on the South side of I-40, 23 miles East from Flagstaff, Arizona. This was a location that we had wanted to explore after cruising past on the day after Christmas 2018. While on a recent weekend away in the national parks north of Flagstaff, we decided to explore the trading post before heading back to Phoenix.

The iconic arrows have been featured on the cover of many Route 66 guidebooks and featured in documentaries about the Mother Road since the 1950’s. In a way, Twin Arrows symbolizes the Arizona stretch of Route 66 during its heyday. This is a location where the energy and excitement of those years can still be felt.

*image take from Twin Arrows Trading Post Facebook

Twin Arrows started life as the Canyon Padre Trading Post. Getting its name from one of the nearby canyons. This part of Arizona has many small canyons that all have interesting stories and secrets to tell. The town of Two Guns is only about 16 miles down the road, be sure and read our Two Guns entry for more information, and before long the Canyon Padre Trading Post adopted the name Twin Arrows inspired by the town to the East.

The store and gas station were opened in the late 1940’s, but it would take new owners in 1954 to turn it into the landmark that it would become. The Troxell family purchased the store from Ted Griffith after he was struck by a car and could no longer run the site due to permanent injury. The Troxell’s added a prefabricated diner to the East end of the store. The diner is of the Valentine Diner variety that became very popular during the great depression. These prefabricated diners were about the size of a railroad car and could comfortably fit eight to ten diners and two employees. Arthur Valentine opened the first diner in Hazelton, Kansas and soon began selling his diner style along the highways of America. The Troxell’s also erected the now iconic, twin, 25-foot-tall, wooden arrows.

The store operated all the way until 1998 when it was permanently closed. After the construction of the interstate highway, the location was never the same. Multiple owners tried to restore Twin Arrows to its former glory but what success was accomplished was short lived.

Today the site is in a bad state of decay. The buildings are covered in graffiti and its hard not to step on broken glass. The roof of the main store is on the verge of collapse, so I would not recommend exploring the inside. The diner is boarded up from the front, but the back of the building has a huge hole that lets you see how it looked all those years ago. There are still three standing gas pumps, though they have been stripped down to mainly shells. The above ground fuel storage tanks are still standing at the back of the property, but again, there is quite a bit of broken glass hidden in the overgrowth around them. The arrows are restored from time to time, but the buildings are beyond repair.

Exit 219 will get you either to the Twin Arrow Casino Resort or the ruins of the once popular trading post and diner. It is easy to drive right up to the buildings as the barriers that once stopped cars from getting near have been removed. I highly recommend checking this place out if you can before the buildings are either torn down or fall over.

Looking at it now, it is hard to imagine that this place was once a must stop location on Route 66. However, with just a little imagination and a quiet mind, one can begin to feel the energy and excitement that once gave this famous trading post a life of its own. Twin Arrows Trading Post is a true piece of Americana that will hopefully not be soon forgotten.

*some information found at Atlasobscura.com, roadsideamerica.com, legendsofamerica.com, theeroute-66.com, placesthatwere.com.