Skip to main content

Route 66 Wednesdays; Jack Rabbit Trading Post

By
The famous Jack Rabbit Trading Post and billboard - Adam Prince, April 2010.

HERE IT IS!!!

On the western outskirts of Joseph City in Navajo County on the north bank of the Little Colorado River is an old US Route 66 stop known as the Jack Rabbit Trading Post.  Finding the Jack Rabbit Trading Post is obvious - given there is a giant billboard denoting the site.

If you have never stopped at Jack Rabbit, what "it is" is a large statue of a jack rabbit out front of Jack Rabbit Trade Post.

The Jack Rabbit statue - Tom Fearer, 2011

In operation since 1949, the Jack Rabbit Trading Post is the creation of Jim Taylor.  Taylor had a small statue of a black rabbit that tourists enjoyed taking photos of.  With a catch yellow and black billboard and a 'tourist attraction', Taylor set up shop in a former AT & SF Railroad Building. 

Jack Rabbit Trading Post - Tom Fearer, 2011.

The Jack Rabbit statue on site today is a fiberglass construction and has been replaced numerous times. Inside the trading post are numerous Route 66 collectibles and memorabilia. 

The Jack Rabbit Trading Post is located south of I-40/US 180 at Exit 239.  

US 66 Through Joseph City:

Old US 66 approaching Joseph City - Adam Prince, April 2010.

Regarding the routing of US 66 in Joseph City, it continued east over Manilla Wash and originally cut over the travel lanes of I-40/US 180 onto Main Street.  East of downtown, Main Street and US 66 crossed back over the travel lanes of I-40/US 180 and ran on the southern frontage road, which is sometimes called "Old Highway 66."  Joseph City was bypassed by I-40 in the late-1970s.

Interestingly Joseph City wasn't settled as a rail siding of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.  Joseph City was settled by a Mormon party in 1876.  Joseph City was one of four settlements that the Mormons founded. The others were; Sunset, Brigham City, and Obed.  Joseph City is the only remaining settlement out of the four.  Brigham City and Sunset were located north of present-day Winslow. Obed was located approximately three miles south of Joseph City.


Site Navigation:

How To Get There:


Update Log:
  • Originally published - August 18, 2018
  • Updated text and photos from Adam Prince - January 8, 2023.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
3 comments
Read more

Hawaii Route 50

By
Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai.  Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom.  The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe.  Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking  here .  Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The highway begins at Rice Str...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more