Tall Tower: When entering Shamrock, Texas the tallest thing on the horizon is the massive 161 feet 6 inch tall water tower that welcomes visitors to town. This is the tallest water tower in Texas. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Tower Station: The Tower Station is the other well-known tower in Shamrock, Texas. The beautiful art deco facility included a gas station on the west end, which features two canopies and multiple gas pumps significant when the station opened in 1936. A garage bay completes the station next to the Shamrock Visitor Center. On the east end of the building is the U Drop Inn Café. The tower above the station stands more than 100 feet high. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
When traveling across our magnificent country one of my favorite subjects to photograph is “Americana”. That is a very general word for anything relating to the history, culture, geography, or lifestyle of America’s past.
In relation to travel, Historic Route 66 is about as Americana as it can get. I love traveling and seeing the sites and towns along the “Mother Road” as named by John Steinbeck and still referred to that way today.
Over the past four years we have traveled almost the entire length of old Route 66 or what remains today as Historic Route 66. Many miles of the old road were paved over when the Interstate Highways were built. Another result of the Interstate Highway System is it bypassed many small towns along the route. When the Interstate opened and bypassed the town, a large majority or those towns and businesses began to dry up, become run down, and finally close.
With the newer designation of Historic Route 66, many of those small towns have gained new life. It may be quite different than the days before the Interstates, but many of those towns are springing back to life. When you travel through these towns today, almost everything you see including the town itself falls under the heading of Americana.
On our recent trip to Texas we were traveling north on our way home and I could not resist the opportunity to stop along Historic 66 when we reached Interstate 40. I-40 runs for 177 miles across the Texas panhandle and Historic Route 66 is active over most of the drive. We were about to enter the town of Shamrock, Texas, which is one of those small towns that I-40 bypassed just a few miles to the north of downtown. New businesses are now congregated near the Shamrock exit on I-40 but businesses in town began to decay and die.
One Shamrock business that held on for a few years but finally closed and sat vacant for years is the Tower Station. This was a gas station unlike any other gas station especially when it first opened. However, after closing it sat in disrepair for years until 1997 when the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The structure was purchased in 1999 by the First National Bank of Shamrock and given to the town of Shamrock. A grant of $1.7 million was obtained and the Tower Station renovation was underway. Restoration was completed in 2003.
What made this gas station so different from hundreds of other stations? The Tower Station was designed with Art Deco style architecture features common in larger structures but an art deco gas station was very unique. The station and cafe opened for business in 1936. To make the station more unique, neon lighting ran across the facade and towers, making it a stop no traveler could miss.
The original plans called for three businesses under one roof, a gas station, a cafe and a retail store. The first two were completed but the retail space was used as overflow for the cafe. The cafe became very popular as it was the first restaurant for more than 100 miles when it opened in 1936. The cafe was named “U Drop Inn”, a name that was submitted in a contest to name the cafe by an eight year old boy!
In addition, the design included two towers, a four sided obelisk stands more than 100 feet above the gas station and a shorter three sided tower over the cafe. The neon lights lit up the complete structure just as it did in the past.
After the renovation was completed, the gas station and what was to be the retail space became home to the Shamrock Chamber of Commerce and the Visitor Center. Gas pumps from the 1960s era were included with the remodel but no gas is sold at the station today.
The cafe was decorated like a cafe or diner from the midcentury but did not open until recently. The missing link was removed in 2021 when the space was leased by a local restauranteur. Today visitors can enjoy a soft drink, a float, shake or malt as well as pastries and sandwiches while they sit and relax.
This former gas station is a true work of art. The restoration is beautiful and the site is well maintained and boasts a very helpful and friendly staff.
Thousands of visitors are now driving off of the Interstate every year to visit this iconic gas station on Historic Route 66 in Shamrock, Texas.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Unique Design: The details in the art deco design of the facility is amazing, especially considering this was a gas station built during the great depression and opened in 1936. Shown is the corner station, which shows off the light colored brick and green glazed brick on the exterior of the facility. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
U Drop Inn: The U Drop Inn is the cafe beside the Tower Station. The cafe was so popular when the facility opened in 1936 that the intended retail space was taken over and used as overflow seating for the cafe. Today, the Shamrock Visitor Center occupies that space. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Cafe Interior: The U Drop Inn opened in 2021 for the first time in more than 25 years. The interior of the cafe is tastefully decorated with a 1960s era vibe. The cafe serves visitors a variety of soft drinks, floats, malts and other drinks along with pastries and sandwiches. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com