Gallup began in 1880 when Atlantic and Pacific Railroad paymaster David L. Gallup established headquarters along the construction right-of-way of the southern transcontinental route, and railroad workers started “going to Gallup” to receive their pay, giving rise to a town that was named in 1881. In 1926, former Gallup mayor and then New Mexico Governor A.T. Hannett laid a ruler across a New Mexico map, helping place Route 66 from Santa Rosa directly west through Gallup. In 1981, another kind of transportation made history when the Red Rock Balloon Rally began drawing visitors to Gallup. For more than thirty years, balloonists each December have soared above the canyons near the historic Route 66 town, with nearly two hundred colorful hot air balloons moving across the red rock formations, dipping into the canyons, and landing near Pyramid Rock and Church Rock. Many balloonists regard Gallup’s Red Rock Park as one of the world’s most beautiful places to fly, with the rally led by its Koshare special shape balloon.
