Museum dedicated to the history of barbed wire, ranching, and Route 66 travel, featuring thousands of artifacts that illustrate the settlement and development of the American West.
Closed Sunday
How to Get There
From Amarillo (75 mi): Take I-40 East to McLean, exit onto Historic Route 66/Business I-40, then continue to Kingsley Street where the museum is located on the eastern side of town.
Overview
The Devil's Rope Museum is one of the most unusual and fascinating museums on Historic Route 66. Established in 1991, it preserves the history of barbed wire, often called "devil's rope" by cattlemen and settlers who encountered its transformative impact on the American frontier. The museum houses what is considered the world's largest collection of barbed wire varieties, along with fencing tools, ranching equipment, branding irons, photographs, and artifacts that tell the story of how the West was settled. Massive decorative balls of barbed wire at the entrance hint at the distinctive collections awaiting visitors inside.
Connected to the museum is the Texas Route 66 Museum, which expands the visitor experience with vintage signs, memorabilia, recreated roadside scenes, and exhibits celebrating the golden age of travel along America's Mother Road. Together, the collections provide a rich look at both ranching heritage and highway culture, illustrating how transportation and agriculture shaped communities across the Texas Panhandle. For travelers exploring Route 66, the museum offers an unexpectedly engaging stop that combines regional history with one of the most iconic inventions of the American West.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles, Route 66 tourism resources, and official museum pages for the Devil's Rope Museum, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.
