Gallup Cultural Center

Gallup Cultural Center Review

The Gallup Cultural Center, a project of the Southwest Indian Foundation, is inside the restored 1918 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway station. (A quintessential Fred Harvey House—architect Mary Colter's fabulous El Navajo hotel—was added on to the depot in 1923, but has long since been demolished.) Trains still run in and out of the station (this is where riders pick up Amtrak's historic Southwest Chief on its daily run). The cultural center includes a café (where you can lunch or sip coffee out of replicas of the china used on AT&SF trains), a gift shop that sells the work of Native American artisans (many local), and exhibits that reflect the art and history of area native peoples, westward expansion, and the building of the railroads. Stop to appreciate the statue of revered Navajo chief Manuelito, which stands witness as you enter.