Twin Arrows Trading Post

I-40, exit 219, Twin Arrows, AZ
Phone:

East < GO > West

The Twin Arrows Trading Post comples includes a Valentine diner, the main trading post, the gas station attendant building and the famous arrows. There were also living quarters, complete with a fireplace, in the back of trading post building.

It is located on the southwest frontage road at I-40, exit 219.
GPS: 35.161304, -111.279339

The trademark arrows here arrived with the second owner, Frank Griffith, when he changed the name from the Canyon Padre Indian Trading Post to the Twin Arrows Trading Post. A few owners later the trading post closed for good in 1998 and now belongs to the Hopi Indians. By 2009 the arrows were little more than a couple of poles sticking out of the ground at an angle. That same year they were restored by a group of volunteers, but since this photo was snapped in 2012 they have beginning to deteriorate again.

The trading post dates back to the late 1940s when it was built by E. V. Wesson sometime between mid-1946 and February of 1949 when he sold it to Frank Griffith. Jack Rittenhouse didn't mention it in his 1946 book "A Travel Guide to Highway 66", but he did mention both the Toonerville Trading Post and the Winona Trading Post, so it's safe to bet Twin Arrows wasn't here in March of 1946 when he went by. In 1954 Jean and "Trox" Troxell purchased the trading post from Frank Griffith. The Troxell family owned and ran the trading post for 30 years or so.

The Twin Arrows Trading Post lettering on the front of the building looks pretty much like it did in 1993 compared to the rest of the building. The Indian style decorations that were between some of the windows on this building are long gone.

It also had a Valentine Diner where you see , "BREAKFAST", "HAMBURGERS" "CAFE", MALTS lettering appear on the parapet. A prefabricated Valentine Diner would have been a sort of "Plug-n-Play" solution to adding a lunch counter to the trading post. This appears to be a 1951 10 stool Master style. The small section on the far right in this photo where "Breakfast" makes a second appearance is not part of the diner itself, but it does connect the diner to the main building.

This building stands behind the main trading post building and contains what appear to be two one room efficiency apartments, a one car garage and another small room. It was probably employee housing which some help wanted ads mentioned over the years. The silo style tank behind it matches the description of the water tank that stored water for the trading post. I've read that the water came from from the ranch behind the trading post and wasn't free so it was carefully conserved.

Photo(s): 2012 - 2013