On Sunday, January 18, 2026, history-lover Roger Zimmerman explored how Gallup, NM, became a classic Route 66 town where the historic “Mother Road” closely parallels the railroad tracks, creating a distinct downtown layout with motels, diners, and trading posts nestled between the tracks and buildings.
Railroad planning shaped the early layout of Gallup, and when Route 66 was established in 1926 it followed Railroad Avenue, bringing growth but eventually creating major congestion as traffic increased after World War II. Throughout the 1950s the City of Gallup and the Santa Fe Railway worked through difficult right of way and design challenges to widen Route 66 and keep the highway and its vital commerce within the downtown business district.
The program was held at the Albuquerque Museum at 2000 Mountain Rd. NW in Old Town.
Roger Max Zimmerman was born at Rehoboth Mission east of Gallup, New Mexico. His early years were spent at Mariano Lake Trading Post. He graduated from high school at New Mexico Military Institute and enrolled at the University of Colorado where he received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees. He taught Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado from 1959 to 1964 and at New Mexico State University from 1964 to 1979. He was Assistant, Associate, and Acting Dean of Engineering at NMSU from 1967-1975. He was hired by Sandia National Laboratories in 1980 where he worked on projects associated with the storage of nuclear waste, weapons components testing programs, and rocket systems target deployments. He retired in 2000 as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. Roger served as President of the Albuquerque Historical Society from 2013-2019. He has written seven books: Kitchen’s Opera House, Gallup, New Mexico (2012) and A History Lover’s Guide to Albuquerque (2019) and his memoirs in 5 volumes (2021), which are available as Memoirs of Roger Max Zimmerman on Amazon.
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