Route 66 - McLean, Texas

 

You could be forgiven for thinking McLean's day has been and gone. Alfred Rowe, an Englishman who perished on the Titanic in 1912, gave land for a cattle loading stop and town in the area in 1901, and that community grew very rapidly. Three years later, it had a newspaper, a bank, three general stores, wagon yards and stables, and a wood yard. Tourism arrived with Route 66 in 1927, and by 1940, there were six churches and some 59 businesses, not to mention around 1,500 people living there - a number that trebled when a prisoner of war camp was built close to the town in 1945 to house 3000 German prisoners.

It has shrunk somewhat since then, with fewer than 900 people living there. It is, however, home to one of the strangest museums on earth - a museum entirely dedicated to barbed wire. Fencing wire in itself might not seem particularly fascinating. Although several patents were issued between 1853 and 1868, only one of them had projections, or 'barbs'. What we recognise as barbed wire was developed by Joseph F. Glidden in 1874, now known as the Father of Barbed Wire. Today, there are more than 2000 types.

The museum was opened in 1991 and took over the premises of a disused factory. It is dedicated to the history of barbed wire, ranching and fencing. The exhibits also include location-relevant artifacts from McLean's Route 66 history.

There's also a gift shop with a difference. Where other museums sell tea towels and tote bags alongside books and postcards, the Devil's Rope Museum sells, you guessed it, different kinds of barbed wire as a memento of your visit.