The Thing?

Dragoon, Arizona, United States

Roadside giants

✓

Current

Listed, not yet checked

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Thing? is a long-running roadside museum and travel stop in Texas Canyon on Interstate 10; the operator's address is 2631 Johnson Road, Benson, Arizona. Lawyer Thomas Binkley Prince moved the attraction from his earlier roadside stop in the California desert to this site in 1965. He died in 1969; his widow, Janet, ran it for a time and later leased it to Bowlin's, which now operates it. Bowlin says it built a new museum in summer 2018. The site also has a store, Shell fuel and a Dairy Queen, and the operator's site lists daily hours (7:00 am to 7:00 pm).

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

No recommended arrival yet

We have not checked a recommended place to arrive or stop here yet.

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

The Thing?

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 32.0117° N, 110.0562° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Hundreds of billboards along Interstate 10, its operator says, advertise a roadside museum and store in Texas Canyon, Arizona, where the museum's star exhibit shares its name with the shop: The Thing.

The operator, Bowlin Travel Centers, calls Texas Canyon a fairly remote stretch of I-10 and lists the address as 2631 Johnson Road, Benson.

Bowlin's page says the attraction was originally owned by lawyer Thomas Binkley Prince. Route magazine reports that he planned it off Highway 91 between Barstow and Baker, California, lost that property to interstate highway expansion in 1965, and moved to Arizona. Wikipedia likewise dates the move to 1965 and says Prince died in 1969. Route reports that his widow later leased the attraction to Bowlin. Citing the widow's account, Route says Prince bought The Thing for fifty dollars from a traveling salesperson, and it quotes Roadside America co-founder Ken Smith as saying papier-mache artist Homer Tate created it in 1950. It adds that no one knows exactly why Prince bought it.

Bowlin says that in summer 2018 it doubled the size of the store and constructed a brand new museum. Bowlin's site lists hours of 7 am to 7 pm, museum admission of $5 a person or $10 a family, and a Dairy Queen and Shell fuel on site, and says the exhibit is being updated.

Add a photo

PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

An operating, purpose-built roadside museum/exhibit building with an attached gift shop, gas station and fast-food outlet, centered on a genuine physical mystery exhibit.

ACCESS

Located at 2631 North Johnson Road, Dragoon, AZ (I-10 exit 322, Texas Canyon), roughly 17 miles east of Benson and 40 miles east of Tucson. Per the operator's own website, open daily 7:00 AM-8:00 PM; admission $5 per person / $10 per family as of the source's publication.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

A 31-foot statue of the Virgin Mary stands at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Sierras near Hereford, Arizona, in the Huachuca Mountains. Arizona Highways (2025) says construction began in 1993 and the statue and a 75-foot Celtic cross were completed in 1997.

Landmarks and monuments

64 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Something not right?

If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.

Suggest an update →Report a problem →