Amarillo was settled in the spring of 1887. The Fort Worth &Denver City Railroad was building diagonally across the Panhandleof Texas southeast to northwest; the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fenortheast to southwest. At their intersection, somewhere south ofthe Canadian River, a great cattle shipping market was inevitable.Trail driving days were over.
It became apparent the shipping center would be southeastof the Fort Worth & Denver City’s Amarillo Creek crossing, asfar north on the Plains as possible and yet keeping clear of theCanadian River. Washburn had a geographical advantage, butpersonal energy centered attention on the Amarillo site.
A Place Called Ragtown
The Amarillo business center, which was originally calledRagtown, was laid out near the present intersection of Bowie andWest 4th. Town-site promoters paid the State of Texas $1,280 for640 acres of school land.
The name Amarillo, which means yellow in Spanish, wasprobably chosen because of the color of the sub-soil in nearbyAmarillo Creek. In the early days most houses were painted yellowin honor of the name.
A county courthouse was built in 1888 of brick made from theAmarillo Creek. The original court house square was boundedby Travis, Bowie, Fourth and Fifth streets in “Old Town.” Therailroad depot was south of the tracks between Ong and Lipscomb.Stockyards and loading chutes were northwest of the presentdowntown area. Amarillo soon sported a post office, hotel, stores,saloon, dwellings and one or two windmills.
In 1889 the town began to move, mostly on wheels, to theGlidden & Sanborn addition a mile to the east. The depot washauled to Polk and First. The Amarillo Hotel, a large woodenstructure, was built at Polk and Third. By 1890 businesses andhouses were strung along Polk and Taylor. The first public utility was a water supply system from a windmill and tanks atthe Sanborn homestead.
The “Old Town” remained officially at the courthouse untilan election in May, 1893 moved it to the Glidden and Sanbornaddition. County offices were rented in the business center andbooks and records were carried back and forth.
From Whistle Stop To City
By 1910 the population of Amarillo had grown to 9,957. In 1913 Amarillo wrote its own charter as authorized that yearby the Texas Legislature. The charter was favored by 657 andopposed by 169 at the election on November 13.Under this charter Amarillo was the first city in the Southwest,and the fifth in the United States, to adopt the Commission-Manager form of government.
The Iron Horse
Industry in Amarillo began with railroads, cattle andmerchandising. The first Fort Worth & Denver City passengertrain arrived in Amarillo in March of 1888 from Clarendon,which was the former terminal. Construction was completedto Texline where the Fort Worth & Denver City connectedwith the Colorado and Southern. The two companies, with asystem reaching from Wyoming to the Gulf of Mexico, werenow consolidated into the Burlington System. In 1928 theFort Worth & Denver City built a network of railroads on theSouth Plains that greatly benefited Amarillo. In 1931 they beganbuilding from Childress to Pampa.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe stopped building when itreached the town of Panhandle in 1887, but brought its trains toAmarillo over the Fort Worth & Denver City tracks by way of a“topline” connecting Panhandle and Washburn.
The Pecos Valley & North Eastern, known locally as the PeaVine, built into Amarillo from Roswell in 1898. That sameyear it came under control of the A.T. &S.F. which started itsthrough-train service from the east to Roswell and westwardin August, 1899. The A.T. &S.F. built connecting linkagefrom Panhandle to Amarillo in 1908, and continued south toSweetwater in 1911, northeast to Borger in 1926, and northtoward Los Animas as far as Boise City in 1931.
The Cheyenne, Oklahoma & Western, nicknamed the “CowTrack,” built into Amarillo from the east in 1902. It soon tookcontrol of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and extendedconstruction to Tucumcari in 1904 and built northeast toLiberal in 1928.
Cattle
From 1888 and into the early 1890’s Amarillo became the world’s greatest cattle shipping market, a position held until the railroadthrough to Roswell intercepted shipments of vast herds formerly driven from the south to Amarillo. At times 50,000 head werewithin sight of town. Herds often were held for two weeks at the water holes and on the prairie waiting for railroad cars to haulthem away.
Hereford cattle breeding was started in 1877 by Col. Charles Goodnight and Judge O.H. Nelson, who brought registered bullsto the Panhandle and mixed them with native Longhorns.
Interbred herds developed a distinctive Panhandle beef, inheriting Longhorn hardiness and Hereford beef quality. From thebeginning, Amarillo was the center of this industry.
Agriculture
No crops were grown in early cattle days. Asteer could be raised on the open range for the costof a chicken. But with the fencing of the rangesand improved cattle grades, the growing of fodder, sorghum and millet began as early as 1890.
Around the turn of the century, following earlyfodder experiments, wheat planting began. The Panhandle area eventually developed into a majorwheat belt of America.Today the region produces grain sorghum, cotton,vegetables and other crops.
Amarillo Firsts
Amarillo’s first newspaper was the AmarilloNorthwestern founded in 1887 by D.F. Rudolph;it was followed by the Amarillo Champion in 1889,founded by H.H. Brooks.
When the printing office was moved from “OldTown” in 1896, the building displayed many bullet holes, mementos of early day “shoot outs.” The thirdnewspaper, and only survivor of the pioneer days, wasthe Amarillo News founded in 1892 by J.L. Caldwell.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1889 near a lakein the vicinity of Van Buren and Eighth. West TexasState University at Canyon was founded in 1909,and Amarillo College in 1929. Scheduled airplanetransportation began on June 19, 1929 and air mailservice on July 1, 1930.
Gas was discovered in September, 1918, twomiles north of Amarillo in the Hapgood well. This has grown to be the world’s second largest gas field;pipelines deliver Panhandle gas as far away as theAtlantic seaboard, creating the world’s largest naturalgas development.
Black Gold (petroleum) was discovered on May2, 1920 by Gulf Production Company on the Burk Burnett 6666 Ranch.
Natural gas and petroleum, found within anhour’s drive of Amarillo, gave rise to many of thecity’s major industries.
