Christmas Party at Heflin's, December 21, 1946
~Courtesy of J. Willard Marriott Digital Library
CONTACT US
Contact us to book a table for any occasion. We accept reservations for up to 10 people.
ABOUT US
Reuben Myer Heflin was born and raised in Farmington, New Mexico. In 1937, Reuben married Mildred Carson whose extended family operated numerous trading posts in the area. Reuben and Mildred, both schoolteachers, operated three trading posts -- the Shonto Trading Post (Arizona), the Oljato Trading Post (Monument Valley, Utah), and the Kayenta Trading Post (sometimes referred to as Heflin's Trading Post) which served the Navajo from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Traders spoke Navajo because the entire Kayenta region, with its non-graded trails and sand dunes, was desolate and isolated from the rest of the world. Indian traders lived their lives harmoniously among the Navajo people. To them, Reuben was known as "Biligaana Tso" (Fat White Man).
With the 1955 uranium boom around Kayenta, Reuben built the 14-room Wetherill Inn which was the second hotel built in Kayenta. He assisted H.T. Donald, a Navajo man, in starting the Tsegi Trading Post, a cribbed-log hogan located on the south side of what is now Highway 60.
Kayenta got its first Public School District in 1959 and Reuben was elected to the School Board. In 1960, paved roads through Kayenta ushered in new stores, pickup trucks, television, and the beginning of modern Navajo life.
Highway 160 was built to connect Tuba City, Arizona with Shiprock, New Mexico with the new highway being only a mile away from Kayenta. Reuben started constructing a new Holiday Inn to serve customers traveling along the new highway between California and Colorado. He helped another Navajo man, Lee Bradley, open a Chevron station.
At that time, Peabody Coal Company started production near Kayenta. Reuben would travel to Flagstaff once a week with cash deposits so that he could cash payroll checks for the Peabody employees.
Reuben actively operated the Holiday Inn until his untimely death in 1967. Today, Nina Heflin, one of his three daughters, carries on the family legacy with members of the Navajo nation. Nina is the co-owner of the Hampton Inn, Trading Post, and this restaurant. She created and designed this restaurant in honor of her father and the Navajo Nation.