Gallup is a city in
McKinley County, New Mexico,
United States, with a population of 21,678 as of the
2010 census. It is in the middle of the
Navajo Reservation and a substantial percentage of its population is
Native American, with residents from the
Navajo,
Hopi, and
Zuni tribes. Gallup is the
county seat of McKinley County and the most populous city between
Flagstaff and
Albuquerque, along the historic
U.S. Route 66. The city was founded in 1881 as a railhead for the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and named after David Gallup, a paymaster for the railroad. It is on the
Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated
New Mexico Scenic Byways. Because of the nearby rugged terrain, it was a popular location in the 1940s and 1950s for Hollywood
Westerns.