Remnant #19, Tom Wicker’s Tire-El Paso, Texas / July 2007
This giant tire is in front of Wicker Tire Company at 701 San Antonio St. in El Paso, Texas. It has been there since the late 1960’s and has become an El Paso landmark. The tire was originally on an earth moving vehicle that worked on the Panama Canal. It was brought to El Paso in the late 1960’s, where it has rested at the corner of Paisano Drive and San Antonio Street. Before Interstate 10 came to El Paso, Paisano Drive was U.S. Alt Route 80, the truck diversion route around El Paso, part of U.S. Route 80 that was the main southern route starting in Savannah, Georgia, and ending in San Diego, California. When Interstate 10, was completed, most cross country traffic was diverted from Paisano Drive, but, the Wicker tire has endured and enriched the landscape for several generations of El Pasoans and other passerby. Highway Art, a commercial mainstay of travel in the United States in the 1930’s through the 60’s, has become true art and and this one endures as a true El Paso landmark. Tom Wicker, son of the founder of Wicker Tire Company, maintains the Giant Tire, repainting it approximately every three years, “Or sooner if it’s graffiti-ed,” says Mr. Wicker .
Additional Notes on US Highway 80
As a member of the inaugural class of US highways commissioned in 1926, US 80 was the first all-weather coast-to-coast route available to auto travelers. For a time known as the “Broadway of America”, its legendary history is second only to Route 66 in American highway folklore, as several significant historical events have occurred on or near Highway 80. Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed approximately four miles south of US80 in Gibsland, Louisiana. Lee Harvey Oswald was captured at the Texas Theatre on Jefferson Street in Oak Cliff, which
at the time was a business spur of Highway 80. A section of U.S. 80 through central Alabama was made famous by its use in the Selma to Montgomery marches.
