Kachina Country USA

Soon after WWII Salvador Milan, who the town is named for, decided to build a motel on some land he owned on Route 66. He sought advice from Wallace Gunn who managed the Villa de Cubero and motel and who happened to be his brother-in-law. Salvador hired a contractor from Louisiana to construct a log style 12 unit motel and a separate building that served as a home and office. The guest rooms were in several smaller buildings that were arranged in a semicircle looping around the back of the main building.

Once the complex was complete Milan partnered with a man named Al Arvizio who then ran the motel until 1949. After Arvizio left, Salvador's wife and children assumed the responsibility of running the motel which also had a snack shop and gas pumps. That lasted for two years until the kids started to get old enough to leave home. The motel was then leased to other operators until the 1960 when Milan's son and his wife took over the operation and ran the business until 1969. They added the second story to the main building in 1967.

The motel was sold a couple of times in the 1970s before eventually becoming the Kachina Trading Post.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

Motel Milan
Modern * Clean * Comfortable
Individual Cottages with the Finest of Furnishings
12 Units - Tile Baths _ Panelray Heat
On Highway 66
Two Miles West of Grants, New Mexico

NOTE: The front of the card has a caption under the oval that reads " The carrot fields near Grants, N.M. Raising the worlds finest carrots".
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Photo(s): 2013