Best Little Town in Two States (Anthony, TX & Anthony, NM)

The towns of Anthony, Texas and Anthony, New Mexico go be the slogan “The Best Little Town in Two States.” The town (or towns) about 16 miles north of El Paso reportedly had the slogan on a sign on Interstate 10 by the year 1988. The formation “the best little…” was popularized by the 1978 Broadway musical and 1982 movie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
     
Anthony also bills itself as the Leap Year Capital of the World.
 
 
Wikipedia: Anthony, Texas
Anthony is a town in El Paso County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,850 at the 2000 census.
     
Wikipedia: Anthony, New Mexico
Anthony is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, USA. The population was 7,904 at the 2000 census. It is located south of Las Cruces on the New Mexico-Texas state line in the Upper Mesilla Valley along Interstate 10.
         
Wikipedia: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas.
   
Production history
The original Broadway production was directed by Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune and choreographed by Tune and Thommie Walsh. It opened on June 19, 1978 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 1,584 performances.
 
Dallas (TX) Morning News
TEXAS TOWN HAS FEB. 29 ON ITS MIND
Anthony hopes to be Leap Year Capital
Author: Holden Lewis Associated Press The Dallas Morning News
Publish Date: February 11, 1988
EL PASO—Anthony has billed itself as the Best Little Town in Two States, and now the village straddling the Texas-New Mexico border is proclaiming itself the Leap Year Capital of the World.
   
11 February 1988, Brazosport Facts (Clute, TX), “Small Texas town proclaims itself leap year capital,” pg. 15A, col. 1:
Anthony, a town of 8,000 that straddles the Texas-New Mexico border 16 miles north of El Paso, already bills itself “The Best Little Town in Two States.” The slogan is right there on a sign on Interstate 10.
         
Google Books
The Place Names of New Mexico
by Robert Hixson Julyan
Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press
1996
Pg. 18:
Straddling the NM-Texas boundary, Anthony bills itself as the “Best Little Town in Two States,” and throughout its history the town has had something of a ...
   
Southern New Mexico Travel and Tourism
Anthony, New Mexico/Texas — leap year capital of the world
By Phyllis Eileen Banks
Last updated on Monday, December 30, 2002
(...)
On the eastern end of the Gadsden Purchase, the town of Anthony, that is divided by an invisible state line, has become known by locals as the “best little town in two states.” The early center of commerce developed around a flour mill located about 1/2 mile north of the state line and slightly east of where the railroad now runs. Farmers would visit and conduct business when they brought grain to the mill to be ground. The first post office was established in New Mexico in 1884, and still, in 1999, both sides of town are served by one post office in New Mexico. The post office, as well as other state and county offices, form the service center for small towns between Sunland Park and Mesilla.
 
Anthony, New Mexico was at one time called Halfway House because it is located half-way between Las Cruces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Two stories of how the post office in 1884 became Anthony exist. One says a local lady built a chapel in her home and dedicated it to her patron saint, San Antonio. When a post office was requested under that name, another city in New Mexico had already claimed it, so the English form, Anthony, was chosen. The other story is that it was named by a Catholic priest who had established a church there. At one time it was a stop on the Butterfield Stage route. 
 
El Paso (TX) Times
County West
Article Launched: 01/29/2008 10:23:51 AM MST
The towns of Anthony, Texas, and Anthony, N.M., are microcosms of the entire Upper Valley community: small, close-knit and growing.
 
In two years, tiny Anthony has become not-so-tiny. It has grown by about 20 percent, seen several national businesses pop up along Interstate 10 - such as McDonald’s and Big 8 Food store - and people aren’t as likely to know their neighbors as they once were.
 
“Some people are happy that Anthony is growing; some are not,” said Anthony, Texas, resident Pauline Bernal. “The older people want it to stay quiet, while the younger people like the businesses that are coming.”
 
Anthony is best known for being a city in two states: about 3,000 people live on the Texas side and about 10,000 on the New Mexico side.
 
“We consider ourselves the best little town in two states,” said Anthony, Texas, Mayor Art Franco.