Twin Arrows Trading Post, Historic US 66, Winona, AZ
Winona, AZ (Coconino County)
William Lovell Savory (1916 - 1991) was born in Ohio. His family moved to California in the 1930s, where he married Sudie Foster in 1944.
In 1945 they began building a Trading Post on a plot of 10 acres of land they leased from the state of Arizona, they were going to call it "Twin Arrows Trading Post". They were beset by financial difficulties and the post remained unfinished.
They sold it to F.R. 'Ted' Griffiths who ran it with his wife Jewel and named it "Canyon Padre Trading Post" (transposing the words of the canyon's name - Padre Canyon). They sold Mobile gasoline and also had a Valentine Diner. But Ted, while weeding beside US 66 outside of the post was hit by a car. Due to his injuries he sold out to the Troxells in 1955.
Jean and William Troxell renamed it the Twin Arrows Trading Post and ran it between 1955 and 1985. Jean's parents Levi 'Max' and Edna Maxwell lived on the premises and managed the trading post. Jean commuted daily from Flagstaff. Despite the fact that I-40 bypassed it, the nearby Exit ensured a constant flow of visitors.
The classic "Twin Arrows" sign made from two telephone poles. Teddy Grooms, great grandson of Lovel Savory (original owner of the place) wrote that "My grandfather and great grandfather built and installed them from what I understand. They were built at his welding school / fabrication shop in Tucson". The shafts were made from telephone poles, and the arrow heads and fletching were made from wood.
Unable to buy the land from the state, and not making enough money despite the sign proclaiming Twin Arrows as "the Best Little Stop on I-40", the store closed in 1990, reopened shortly in 1995 but later shut for good. The Hopi tribe now owns the buildings and the arrows but not the land. Togethter with Route 66 volunteers, the Hopi restored the arrows and the building in 2009, but the site is still closed and slowly falling apart, covered with graffiti.
The "invention of the smiley face" scene in Forrest Gump (1994) was filmed at Twin Arrows. (1)
References (1) The Route-66 www.theroute-66.com/twin-arrows.html#twin
Twin Arrows Trading Post, Historic US 66, Winona, AZ
Winona, AZ (Coconino County)
William Lovell Savory (1916 - 1991) was born in Ohio. His family moved to California in the 1930s, where he married Sudie Foster in 1944.
In 1945 they began building a Trading Post on a plot of 10 acres of land they leased from the state of Arizona, they were going to call it "Twin Arrows Trading Post". They were beset by financial difficulties and the post remained unfinished.
They sold it to F.R. 'Ted' Griffiths who ran it with his wife Jewel and named it "Canyon Padre Trading Post" (transposing the words of the canyon's name - Padre Canyon). They sold Mobile gasoline and also had a Valentine Diner. But Ted, while weeding beside US 66 outside of the post was hit by a car. Due to his injuries he sold out to the Troxells in 1955.
Jean and William Troxell renamed it the Twin Arrows Trading Post and ran it between 1955 and 1985. Jean's parents Levi 'Max' and Edna Maxwell lived on the premises and managed the trading post. Jean commuted daily from Flagstaff. Despite the fact that I-40 bypassed it, the nearby Exit ensured a constant flow of visitors.
The classic "Twin Arrows" sign made from two telephone poles. Teddy Grooms, great grandson of Lovel Savory (original owner of the place) wrote that "My grandfather and great grandfather built and installed them from what I understand. They were built at his welding school / fabrication shop in Tucson". The shafts were made from telephone poles, and the arrow heads and fletching were made from wood.
Unable to buy the land from the state, and not making enough money despite the sign proclaiming Twin Arrows as "the Best Little Stop on I-40", the store closed in 1990, reopened shortly in 1995 but later shut for good. The Hopi tribe now owns the buildings and the arrows but not the land. Togethter with Route 66 volunteers, the Hopi restored the arrows and the building in 2009, but the site is still closed and slowly falling apart, covered with graffiti.
The "invention of the smiley face" scene in Forrest Gump (1994) was filmed at Twin Arrows. (1)
References (1) The Route-66 www.theroute-66.com/twin-arrows.html#twin