Hackberry Arizona "Route 66"

While on a recent road trip along Arizona's Route 66, Roger and I stopped at the Hackberry General Store. Originally known as the Northside Grocery. The store is filled with relics of memorable eras and remains a popular destination for "Mother Road" travelers.

Hackberry is an unincorporated community in Mohave County, Arizona. It is located on State Route 66 (former U.S. Route 66), 28 miles northeast of Kingman. As of the 2020 census, Hackberry had a population of 103.

Hackberry started as a silver mining town in 1874. It takes its name from the Hackberry Mine, which was named for a hackberry tree in a nearby spring.

Prospector Jim Music helped develop the Hackberry Silver Mine in 1875. Mining of various metals developed the town, sending it from boom to bust based on fluctuating commodity prices. By 1919, internal strife between the mine's owners had led to a lawsuit, and the ore was beginning to be depleted. The mine closed; Hackberry almost became a ghost town.

Various service stations in town served U.S. Route 66 travelers. In 1926, all were shut down when Interstate 40 bypassed the town, leaving Hackberry stranded 16 miles from the new highway. Hackberry Road would not even be given an off-ramp.

In 1992, itinerant artist Bob Waldmire reopened the Hackberry General Store as a Route 66 tourism information post and souvenir shop on the former Northside Grocery site.

Waldmire sold the store to John and Kerry Pritchard (now retired) in 1998 due to local disputes regarding the environmental and visual impact of quarries, which by that time were establishing themselves in the area to remove local stone for use in landscaping.

The Hackberry General Store remains in operation with a collection of vintage cars from the heyday of U.S. Route 66 in Arizona, along with other historic buildings on the site.

Inside the store is a must-see! Including the store kitty named Charlie, who was not interested in us only wanting to take his nap.

Below is an older photo of the store. This is exactly the way I remember the Hackberry General Store when passing by years ago. The red Corvette is now retired with its owner, John Prichard, who still lives in Hackberry with his wife Kerry.

Roger and I enjoyed a self-guided tour and highly recommend this site to anyone interested in Route 66 history and memorabilia.