Transport
A.T. & S.F. No. 5000 "Madam Queen"
A star of the age of steam transportation. Pride of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which came into Texas in 1886, has its Panhandle and Santa Fe General Offices in Amarillo, and served much of this area. Manufactured at the cost of $133,902.80 by world-famed Baldwin Locomotive Works, according to designs made by Santa Fe engineers.
History
Amarillo
County Seat, Potter County; founded in 1887. Incorporated 1892. Named for Arroyo Amarillo, Spanish name of nearby creek. Transportation, financial, cultural and medical center. Gateway to: Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument, Lake Meredith, Palo Duro State Park, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Boys Ranch. (1965)
History
Amarillo
County seat, Potter County; founded in 1887. Incorporated 1892. Named for Arroyo Amarillo, Spanish name of nearby creek. Transportation, financial, cultural, and medical center. Gateway to: Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument, Lake Meredith, Palo Duro State Park, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Boys Ranch. (1965).
History
Amarillo
Named for Arroyo Amarillo, nearby creek given its designation by Spaniards in early days. In 1887, when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad was building through this region, a group represented by J. T. Berry platted the town (1 Mi. W.). The founders were merchants of Colorado City (250 Mi. SE), establishing convenient trade facilities for their South Plains customers. Later (Aug.
Industry & Science
Amarillo Helium Plant
This plant, operated by the United States Bureau of Mines, was the first to produce helium from the extensive helium resources in the Texas Panhandle. From 1929 until 1943, it furnished almost all of the world's supply of helium. Operating around the clock, the plant extracts helium by liquefying the natural gas and separating helium from it at temperatures 300 degrees below zero.
Industry & Science
Amarillo Livestock Auction
Established to serve the first permanent industry in the Texas Panhandle--ranching. Now famed for handling more cattle than any other commission auction company in the United States. The years 1874-1878 saw Indians expelled, buffalo herds exterminated, and ranches established in the region. Longhorns were trailed to Dodge City for shipment.
History
Amarillo Natatorium ("The Nat")
The Natatorium, an open air building surrounding a swimming pool that measured 36' by 101', opened in July 1922. "The Nat" was enclosed in 1923 for year-round use. In 1926 the building was converted into a dance hall with 10,000 square feet of maple flooring covering the pool area. "The Nat" also provided dining and at its peak employed 40 staff members.
Entertainment & Sports
Amarillo Tri-State Fair
A number of organized fairs and horse races occurred in this area beginning in the 1890s. The Panhandle State Fair was organized in 1913, but due to World War I large fairs were suspended from 1917 to 1921, when Amarillo was chosen as a permanent home for a regional fair. In 1923 the Amarillo Tri-State Exposition was chartered with participants from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
History
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, The Amarillo Story
Construction of a railroad across the Panhandle led to the founding of Amarillo as County Seat of Potter County, Aug. 30, 1887. For the ensuing ten years, Amarillo had a monopoly on trade from the South plains, and was the nation's largest rural cattle shipping point, 1892-97.
Architecture
Bivins Home
Prominent area rancher Lee Bivins (1862-1929) built this elegant town home in 1905. The brick and stone structure features classical styling. In addition to his large cattle operation, Bivins pioneered much of the Panhandle's oil and gas development. A philanthropist and community leader, Bivins was serving as mayor of Amarillo at the time of his death.
Architecture
Clarence and Lorraine Eakle House
Noted Amarillo architect Guy Carlander designed and Byron Singleton built this house in 1925 for early Amarillo business and civic leaders Clarence and Lorraine Eakle. The house exhibits elements of the Tudor Revival style and features an arched entry portico, eyebrow dormer, and Carlander's distinctive use of Alibates flint stone quarried near present-day Alibates National Monument.
History
Dr. Charles Newton Gould
Pioneer in Texas Geology and Paleontology Dr. Charles Newton Gould (1868 - 1949) One of early scientists to use geology in search for oil and gas. This region's rapid economic growth in 1920's and 30's was result of Gould's selection of drill site for Hapgood No. 1--Masterson, discovery well of the vast Panhandle-Hugoton Gas Field, the world's largest known source for helium.
Architecture
Eakle-Archer House
Prominent Amarillo architect Guy A. Carlander designed this dramatic craftsman "airplane bungalow" for the Clarence M. Eakle family. Built in 1923, it features a "cockpit-like" upper floor and sweeping multiple gable roofs. Flared oriental and arts and crafts eaves and brackets are enhanced by various facade materials: brick, stucco, river stone, and native Alibates flint.
History
First Cemetery in Potter County
On the old _X (LX), first ranch in Potter County, established in 1877 by W.H. Bates and D.T. Beals, Boston (Mass.) industrialists. The earliest burials occurred after the LX was sold, 1884, to American Pastoral Land and Cattle Company, a British syndicate. First grave was dug for the LX bookkeeper's wife, Mrs.
History
First Hospital on the High Plains of Texas_St. Anthony's Hospital_Founded 1901
This marks site of Potter County's first hospital organized by Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word on invitation of Father David H. Dunne, Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Clarendon, Texas, and David Fly, M.D., Amarillo. Land was donated by Wm. H. Bush. Four Sisters opened hospital as St. Anthony's Sanitarium.
Architecture
Fisk Medical Arts & Professional Building
In 1926, Charles A. Fisk, president of the Amarillo Bank and Trust, and other investors commissioned this skyscraper designed by Amarillo architect Guy A. Carlander and built by the Gilsonite Contracting Co. of Dallas. The building formally opened in Dec. 1928, when an Amarillo Daily News article reported its cost as 'dangerously close' to one million dollars.
History
Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail Gregg Route, 1840
Southwest of this marker are dim traces of overland trail to connect river ports of Fort Smith and Van Buren, Ark. with Santa Fe, a trade and travel center since 1609. This road was pioneered by Josiah Gregg, a Santa Fe trader who first passed this point on March 15, 1840. Many goldseekers later used his route--from the summer of 1849, when worldwide "fever" drew them to California.
Transport
Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, First Railroad through the Texas Panhandle
Pioneered transportation in the old buffalo and Indian frontier and the open-range cattle empire. Organized by Fort Worth citizens. Although chartered by the Texas Legislature on May 26, 1873, the actual building was delayed by the money panic of 1873. Under General G.M. Dodge, civil engineer who had built several major lines, grading began in 1881 at Hodge, near Fort Worth.
History
Frying Pan Ranch
First big cattle ranch fenced with barbed wire. Established to demonstrate effectiveness of barbed wire in controlling use of grass, in preserving herd bloodlines and in reducing ranch work forces. Owned by barbed wire inventor Joseph F. Glidden and his Texas sales agent, Henry B. Sanborn.
History
General Ernest O. Thompson
Acknowledged world leader in petroleum conservation. A third generation Texan. Left college for World War I, earning battlefield promotion to Lieutenant Colonel--youngest in the U.S. Army. In 1930 gained national recognition as crusading Amarillo mayor. Appointed in 1932 to Railroad Commission of Texas, won successive elective terms, chairman many years.
History
Great Spanish Road_First Ranch in Potter County_First Store in Potter County
GREAT SPANISH ROAD Near course of the Canadian River, early as days of the American Revolution, men from Santa Fe went past this spot on trips to meet traders from San Augustine, Nacogdoches, and other Spanish towns of East Texas.
Architecture
H. W. and Katie Galbraith House
Constructed in 1912 for lumber merchant H.W. Galbraith (d. 1936) and his wife Kate (d. 1969), this two-story residence reflects the Craftsman style. Exhibiting quality materials in the clapboards, exposed rafters, and shingled roof, the house also features strong geometric lines in its low-pitched hipped roof, second story balcony, and two-bay front porch with paired columns set on brick supports.
Museums & Art
Helium Time Columns Monument and Museum
Erected 1968, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of discovery of helium in the gaseous atmosphere surrounding the sun. (The discovery of traces of helium on earth was first announced in 1895.) The four time columns are filled with books, documents, and various artifacts that will tell future generations about life in 1968.
History
Henry B. Sanborn
In 1875 Henry B. Sanborn (1845-1912) began a long association with the state of Texas when he became the Texas sales agent for Joseph F. Glidden's newly patented invention, barbed wire. A native of New York, Sanborn had become acquainted with Glidden in DeKalb, Illinois, where he had boarded with the Glidden Family and in 1868 had married Glidden's niece, Ellen Wheeler.
History
Henry Bradley Sanborn
(1845-1912) Principal early-day developer of Amarillo. Born in New York state; employed 1875 by barbed wire inventor J.F. Glidden as his Texas sales agent. With Glidden he established the famous 250,000-acre Frying Pan Ranch in 1881 to prove the economic advantages of barbed wire fencing. Building of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway through the region led voters to organize Potter County.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
