HOLBROOK — Millions of years ago, dinosaurs were common across the flatlands that now encompass this city. But they disappeared. A couple decades ago, several small-scale dinosaurs appeared along Interstate 40 near this city. But they also vanished. Holbrook, however, maintains a strong relationship with the big earth-stompers because some of them are still visible.

Dinosaur statues in Holbrook, Arizona. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

The most noticeable are the seven gathered in front of the Indian Rock Shop on the corner of Navajo Boulevard and Joy Nevins Avenue. They range from 25 feet tall to baby size. Farther up the street, on the north side, a pair of cement monsters glare at those who pass by Rocks on Route 66 on the corner of California Street and Navajo Boulevard.

A lone cementosaur has taken up residence in the backyard of the Chamber of Commerce office at Navajo Boulevard and Buffalo Drive. It once was part of a 14-member group of frightening creatures that were placed along I-40 as advertising for a museum. When the museum closed, the dinosaurs were sold off. Eight of the originals are now located at Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Company on the intersection of Highways 77 and 180, just south of town.