Gallup was founded in 1881 during the construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was named after the then cashier of the railroad, David L. Gallup, and the workers who regularly visited his offices to collect their pay, using the expression " going to Gallup ".During the first half of the 20th century, the region's economy was largely supported by coal mining, which brought in a massive influx of foreign workers (Asians, Mexicans, Europeans, etc.), and then, beginning in 1927, by the commercial and tourist boom of Route 66.In the early 1930s, many Hollywood films chose Gallup and its surroundings as a setting. From 1936 on, the El Rancho Hotel, the most beautiful establishment in town, hosted great celebrities such as Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart... However, from 1956 on, the movie industry lost interest in the city, while Route 66 was gradually sidelined by Interstate I-40.Located on the border of several Indian territories (Hopi to the west, Navajo to the north and east - Window Rock, the headquarters of the Navajo Nation, is not far from the Arizona border -, Zuni to the south), Gallup is home to a large Native American population and is strongly influenced by this culture. There are countless arts and crafts stores, worthy successors to the trading postsand pawn shops of the 19th century where Indians exchanged their goods and merchandise for others brought by the railroad. These same stores and their adjoining workshops made Gallup the hub of the West Indian arts and crafts trade.The railroad is also still with us, as evidenced by the endless freight trains that run through town day and night.Christ Church, in nearby Red Rock Park, is where most of the city's and the Indian community's festivities take place.

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Rock window, dans le Red Rock State Park, près de Gallup. DavorLovincic - iStockphoto
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