Glenrio was the site for the "First Motel in Texas" / "Last Motel in Texas" and an old post office that straddled the state line along with other businesses along U.S. Route 66 for many years until Interstate 40 bypassed the community in 1973, rendering it a ghost town. The ghost town consists of the remains of the courtyard motel and related Texas Longhorn Cafe and Phillips 66 service station, the post office, a few other buildings including an old diner and adjacent Texaco service station, the old Route 66 roadbed and the former roadbed of the Rock Island Railroad whose tracks were removed in the 1980s. A few homes still exist here. It sits just a few yards to the south of Interstate 40 at Texas Exit 0 on Business I-40, a road which turns into a local gravel road at the state line. Mail was formerly served by a post office on the New Mexico side of the town.
On June 25, 2008, the State of New Mexico opened the Glenrio Welcome Center on Interstate 40 at the Texas state line. The center includes such things as a pet walk, a livestock corral, wireless Internet-access, a movie theater, and information kiosks. Built to accommodate one million visitors per year, it includes green features such as recycling of greywater for grounds irrigation, and a wind turbine that will generate 20 percent of the center’s energy.2
