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Canyon, Texas

Everything Canyon is known for

9 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Canyon. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

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Music in Canyon

Songs About Canyon

Canyon Song
Tim Heintz
80%
"Song about Canyon"
Canyon Song
Scott Wilkie
80%
"Song about Canyon"
Canyon Song
Oregon
80%
"Song about Canyon"
Canyon Song
Adam Simons
80%
"Song about Canyon"
Canyon Song
Native Spirit
80%
"Song about Canyon"
Red River
Guy Clark
39%
"From Palo Duro Canyon outside Amarillo, Texas"
The Wedding Song (Duet with Natalie Maines)
Charlie Robison
20%
"You went a semester to West Texas State"
Heaven
Kevin Fowler
6%
"Purple sage sunrise over Palo Duro Canyon"
Lay of the Land
Emily Nenni
4%
"Straight into the Palo Duro canyon"

Artists From Canyon

R
Rī Wolf
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Canyon

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Canyon.

Highway I 40 21 songs U.S. Route 66 19 songs Canadian River 7 songs

Musical Heritage

Canyon RoadyGoat

Head due south out of Amarillo and you'll hit Canyon — fifteen thousand people and the front door to Palo Duro Canyon. It's a West Texas A and M town, ninety-six hundred students who mostly clear out come summer, which is exactly when the canyon fills up. The railroad reached here in 1898. A three-story courthouse with a working clock tower still anchors the downtown square, and every Fourth of July a parade of floats rolls down Fourth Avenue and loops around it. But the real reason to come: out in the Palo Duro amphitheater, the outdoor musical Texas plays nightly all summer long, canyon walls for a backdrop. A small town that knows how to put on a show.

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Texas (outdoor musical) RoadyGoat

Six nights a week, June through August, the walls of Palo Duro Canyon turn into a backdrop for a show simply called "Texas." Thirteen hundred seats, open sky, a story set in the 1890s — a cattle baron named McLean, drawn straight from Charles Goodnight, going to war with a farmer over a railroad. There's a love triangle, a hoedown, two fever dreams. But the man to watch rides a white paint horse named Spirit. Benny Tahmahkera plays Quanah Parker, the last Comanche war chief — and Quanah Parker was his own great-great-grandfather. Sixty-two years old, twenty years a United States Marine, retired now to Cache, Oklahoma, and he's summered in Canyon a dozen years to put on that war bonnet. Some roles you don't audition for. They're already in your blood.

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History of Canyon

Georgia O'Keeffe and the Panhandle Sky RoadyGoat

When a 28-year-old Georgia O'Keeffe stepped off the train in Canyon in 1916, she found a landscape that would change her life and the course of American art. Hired to teach at the local college, she was mesmerized by the stark beauty of the Panhandle. She took long, solitary walks, especially into Palo Duro Canyon, which she called 'a burning, seething cauldron'. She filled sketchbooks with the shapes of the cliffs and the jaw-dropping sunrises, and turned out dozens of watercolors in the time she lived here. It was here that she began to move away from realism and toward the powerful abstractions that would define her career. Writing to her friend Anita Pollitzer that year, she gushed, 'Anita you have never seen SKY — it is wonderful.' She loved this hard, open country, and looking back on it years later she put it simply: 'That was my country — terrible winds and a wonderful emptiness.' For two years, this place was her muse, and the spirit of the canyon and the vast Texas sky is forever embedded in her work.

RoadyGoat →

The "TEXAS" Outdoor Musical RoadyGoat

Every summer since 1966, as the sun sets over Palo Duro Canyon, the story of the Texas Panhandle comes to life. You'll find it in the Pioneer Amphitheater, a roughly 1,600-seat venue set into a canyon basin with a 600-foot cliff for a backdrop. Here a company of actors and dancers performs 'TEXAS,' an outdoor musical drama telling a fictionalized story of ranchers and farmers in the 1880s. There's singing, dancing, and a rider carrying a Texas flag along the rim on a galloping horse. The idea belonged to a Canyon woman — teacher and community leader Margaret Pease Harper — who talked the Pulitzer-winning North Carolina playwright Paul Green into writing it for her canyon. By 1966 both the amphitheater and the script were finished, and the show opened on July 1. For generations of Texans, a summer trip to see 'TEXAS' under the stars is a rite of passage, a spectacular tribute to the land and the people who settled it.

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The Hidden Ocean and the Great Green Circles RoadyGoat

As you drive through the Panhandle, you might notice the landscape is dotted with giant, perfectly green circles of crops. These aren't natural; they're feats of engineering fed by a hidden ocean. Beneath your wheels lies the Ogallala Aquifer, a massive underground reservoir of fresh water stretching across eight states. For decades, this region was limited to dryland farming, dependent on scarce rainfall. But in the mid-20th century, the invention of center-pivot irrigation changed everything. This technology allowed farmers to drill deep wells into the aquifer and use long, wheeled sprinkler systems to water hundreds of acres at a time, creating the green circles you see today. It transformed the Texas Panhandle into one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. But this miracle has a cost: the water is being pumped out far faster than nature can replenish it, posing a profound challenge for the future of farming in Canyon and beyond.

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Goodnight, The Charles Memorial Trail

1876

The highway from this museum to the Palo Duro State Park (12 miles east) approximates course used by Charles Goodnight, outstanding Texas cowman and trail blazer, when he trailed 1600 cattle from Colorado to found first ranch on the staked plains of Texas in 1876. He entered precipitous Palo Duro Canyon by way of old Comanche Indian trail; drove thousands of buffalo from what is now park area; established his home ranch a few miles farther down canyon. Goodnight was born in Illinois, March 5, 1836. At age of 9 he rode bareback to Texas behind covered wagon driven by his parents; he hunted with Caddo Indians beyond the frontier at 14; guided Texas Rangers fighting Comanche and Kiowas at 25; blazed cattle trails about 2,000 miles long with Oliver Loving at 30. In partnership with John G. Adair, he expanded his original Palo Duro ranch into the giant JA and other holdings of more than a million acres and 100,000 cattle. He preserved the buffalo, founded a college, encouraged the settlement of the plains and led in a long fight for law and order. This foremost plainsman died March 12, 1929; and is buried at Goodnight, Texas. (1968)

Historical Marker →

Palo Duro Canyon

1874

Palo Duro Canyon is the most spectacular and scenic landscape feature in the Panhandle of Texas. The Spanish name Palo Duro means "hardwood" and refers to the hardwood shrubs and trees found in the canyon. Palo Duro Canyon was carved into the eastern Caprock escarpment of the High Plains during the past ninety million years by the headwaters of the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River and by attendant weathering. The head of the canyon lies fifteen miles southeast of Amarillo in Randall County, and the canyon extends sixty miles southeast through Armstrong County and into Briscoe County. It reaches depths of 800 feet from rim to floor (approximately 3,500 feet to 2,400 feet above sea level) and average widths of more than six miles. The steep sides of Palo Duro Canyon consist of bright, banded layers of orange, red, brown, yellow, grey, maroon, and white rocks that represent four different geologic periods and a time span of more than 240 million years. Fossils of long-extinct animals and plants have been found embedded in the rock layers. Adding to the canyon's scenic grandeur are numerous pinnacles, buttes, and mesas, each protected by a cap of erosion-resistant sandstone or other rock. The natural vegetation of the canyon consists of a variety of grasses and other xerophytic vegetation such as prickly pear, yucca, mesquite, and juniper. Cottonwood, willow, and salt cedar grow along the banks of Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. Because of the availability of wood, water, game, edible wild plants, raw materials for weapons and tools, and shelter from harsh winter winds, Palo Duro Canyon was a favorite camp site for both prehistoric peoples and later Indian tribes. The first known inhabitants, who date from the period between 10,000 and 5,000 B.C. were big-game hunters of now-extinct giant bison and mammoths. Archeologists have found projectile points, stone tools, mortar holes, paintings, carvings, and other artifacts of these and later prehistoric people at numerous sites throughout the canyon. The first Europeans to see Palo Duro Canyon were probably the members of the Coronado expedition , who may have camped and rested there in the late spring of 1541 while searching for Quivira and the treasures it reputedly contained. The region was occupied at that time by bands of pre-horse-culture Apache Indians who depended heavily on buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter. In the eighteenth century, after the Plains Indians had acquired horses, the canyon became a major campground of the Comanches and Kiowas. Traders from New Mexico called Comancheros frequently came to Palo Duro to trade with the Indians. The first Anglo-Americans to explore Palo Duro Canyon were members of Capt. Randolph B. Marcy 's 1852 expedition in search of the sources of the Red River. The Comanches and their allies continued to camp there until 1874, when United States Cavalry troops under Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie made a surprise dawn attack on a large encampment of Comanches, Kiowas, and Cheyennes, forcing them to return to their reservations in Indian Territory. In 1876 a group of army engineers, teamsters, and civilian draftsman was in the area to explore the headwaters of the Red River and conduct a topographic and scientific survey. Their report was the most detailed report compiled up to that time on the central Panhandle region, including Palo Duro Canyon. That same year, Charles Goodnight drove a herd of cattle into Palo Duro Canyon to begin the first commercial ranch in the Panhandle, the JA . Although the canyon remained the domain of the cattlemen for the next half century, it also became a popular picnicking and camping place for residents in the surrounding area. In 1933 the state of Texas purchased land in the upper canyon to establish Palo Duro Canyon State Scenic Park . Initial improvements, including construction of a road to the floor of the canyon, were made by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of the National

Tsha Handbook →

J. Evetts Haley

1901

(July 5, 1901 - October 9, 1995) A noted historian, writer and public figure in Texas during the early 20th century, J. Evetts Haley was born in Belton (Bell County). He grew up in Midland, working on area ranches and competing in rodeos. Haley attended Midland College and West Texas Normal College in Canyon, where he earned a degree in history. He went on to earn his master's degree at the University of Texas in Austin in 1926, focusing on post-Civil War Texas cattle trails. In 1925, Haley was appointed the first field secretary of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society and Museum in Canyon. During his time at the museum, Haley reveled in interviewing ranchers and farmers regarding old trail drives and the initial development of the cattle industry in west Texas. He began collecting artifacts and documents of early ranches and pioneers which have been installed in numerous museums and collections throughout the region. Haley was also a prolific author, writing articles and numerous acclaimed books chronicling the lives and times of early west Texas, most notably Charles Goodnight and the XIT Ranch. Haley was an original member of the Texas State Historical Survey Committee (now Texas Historical Commission). He received many honors throughout his life, including induction into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center (1990) and the Heritage Hall of Fame at the State Fair of Texas (1994). His library and personal papers became the initial collection of the Haley Memorial Library & History Center in Midland. Haley passed away in Midland and is buried in Moffat Cemetery (Bell County). (2019)

Historical Marker →

Georgia O'Keeffe in Canyon

1916

Renowned artist Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to Francis and Ida (Totto) O'Keeffe. The family moved to Virginia, where O'Keeffe and her siblings attended school. She studied art at various schools before enrolling in the Art Institute of Chicago and later the Art Students League in New York City. She then worked as a commercial artist before attending classes at the University of Virginia. In order to gain teaching experience, she taught art in Amarillo between 1912 and 1914. The Texas Panhandle attracted her as an artist because of "the openness. The dry landscape. The beauty of that wild world." In 1914, O'Keeffe returned to the East, studying at Columbia University in New York, and teaching in Virginia and South Carolina. At Columbia University, she met Arthur Wesley Dow, who greatly altered her vision of art. Influenced by east Asian painters and the British Arts and Crafts movement, he inspired her to approach painting in a more abstract manner. O'Keeffe returned to Texas in 1916 as a faculty member at West Texas State Normal College, now West Texas A&M University, where she held classes in Old Main. Inspired by the landscape, particularly Palo Duro Canyon, she began incorporating themes from nature in her work, moving away from Representationalism. O'Keeffe showed many of her Texas pieces at Alfred Stieglitz's New York City gallery in 1917. The following year, she moved to New York and in 1924 married Stieglitz, a noted photographer. Both artists produced large bodies of acclaimed work. Following Stieglitz's death in 1946, O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico, where she continued to explore her creative vision and unique style, shaped in part by her Canyon years. Today, she remains a major influence in American Art.

Historical Marker →

Conner, Lincoln Guy

1887

Lincoln Guy Conner, rancher and founder of Canyon, was born on March 4, 1860, near Boonville, Missouri. Earlier, his father had established a flour mill, and the community that grew up around it was known as Conner's Mill. After suffering severe economic losses during the Civil War the family moved to Grayson County, Texas. There Conner met Queenie Victoria Younger, whom he married on January 19, 1884. They made their home on a 600-acre tract in Clay County near Bellevue, east of Henrietta, where Conner had previously built a small herd of cattle. In the summer of 1887 the Conners moved their 350 cattle into the Panhandle , stopping first at Quitaque, near the future site of Plainview. On Christmas Day 1887 Conner surveyed and located section 34, block B5 in Randall County, near the T Anchor Ranch headquarters. He bought this land from the state for three dollars an acre on April 2, 1888, and constructed a half-dugout ( see DUGOUT ) from logs hauled from nearby Palo Duro Canyon . Here he established a general store and post office, and in the spring of 1889 he laid out the townsite of Canyon City. When Randall County was organized on July 27, the Conner dugout served as a voting place. Conner's daughter Mamie, the oldest of three children, was the first White child born in the county. To attract settlers to Canyon City, the Conners began donating town lots to anyone willing to built a home or business building. Conner opened the town's first real estate office and gave thirty acres to the Santa Fe Railroad for a depot and cattle pens. He also donated lots for a county courthouse, schools, and churches. In 1891 he built the two-story Victoria Hotel, which he named for his wife. Conner expanded his ranching and real estate ventures steadily over the next two decades and became one of Canyon City's most prosperous citizens. As a charter member of Canyon's First Baptist Church and Masonic lodge, Conner contributed generously to the improvement of his community's civic and educational institutions and sought to have Palo Duro Canyon made a national park ( see PALO DURO CANYON STATE PARK ). His crowning achievement was the donation of forty acres near his residence and $2,000 for the establishment of West Texas State Normal College (now West Texas A&M University) in 1910. He died on December 30, 1920, and was buried in Dreamland Cemetery, Canyon. Victoria Conner continued her husband's philanthropic works and was the undisputed leader of the local Pioneer Club until her death on March 27, 1946. Conner Park, Canyon's first city park, is named for the Conners. In 1967 a historical marker was placed on the site of the original Conner dugout in Canyon.

Tsha Handbook →

Canyon, TX (Randall County)

1887

Canyon is at the junction of U.S. Highway 60 and Interstate Highway 27, near the center of Randall County and southwest of the old T Anchor Ranch headquarters. In December 1887 Lincoln Guy Conner surveyed and settled at the site. He laid out the town in the spring of 1889, his dugout serving as home, general store, and post office. A. L. Hammond established the second business and a blacksmith shop, and suggested the name Canyon City, after nearby Palo Duro Canyon, when Conner refused to have the settlement named after himself. When Randall County was organized in July 1889 Conner's home was the voting place for that precinct, and Canyon City was chosen as the county seat. Lumber for commercial buildings was hauled from Quanah by mule-drawn freight wagons. A temporary, two-room frame building served as a courthouse, where church services and other community gatherings were held. Conner established the town's first real estate office and built the Victoria Hotel. Beginning in August 1890 several newspapers, the Echo , the Keystone , the Headlight , and the Battleship , appeared briefly. In 1896 Mrs. R. W. Morgan began publishing the Stayer ; George A. Brandon renamed this paper the Canyon City News after buying it in 1903. The first telephone line reached Canyon City from Amarillo in 1896. The arrival of the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway in 1898 made Canyon City a major shipping point for cattle and cotton and a receiving center for such necessities as coal and lumber. Acres of cattle pens were built on land donated by Conner; W. C. Kenyon ran a wagonyard and seven saloons. The population reached 530 by 1904. That year L. T. Lester opened the Stockman's National Bank, later the First National Bank of Canyon. A telephone exchange was installed in 1902, and construction boomed in anticipation of further rail service. By 1910 ten real estate firms, including the Texas Land Company and Keiser Brothers and Phillips, were operating in Canyon City. A brick school building and several churches were built, and on September 29, 1906, residents voted to incorporate, with Jasper N. Haney as first mayor. The Commercial Club and other civic and social organizations were begun at that time. In 1907 the completion of the Santa Fe line from Canyon City to Plainview marked the retirement of the mail hack and stage line between the two towns. The following year a volunteer fire department was organized and an electricity and ice plant installed. C. O. Keiser purchased the Canyon City News and began calling it the Randall County News ; R. A. Terrill was editor. In 1909 a waterworks and sewer system were installed, and a brick courthouse replaced the original frame building. Since many of Canyon City's settlers were Confederate veterans, annual reunions of the Stonewall Jackson Camp of United Confederate Veterans were staged there for ten years. In 1910 the Santa Fe's Llano Estacado line connected Canyon City with Floydada. West Texas State Normal College (now West Texas A&M University) opened on a forty-acre site donated by Conner, but classes were held in the courthouse until the completion of the college's first building in 1911. That year the town was renamed Canyon. By 1915 the population was 1,500, and industries included two banks, grain elevators, a tannery, and the twenty-five-room Palace Hotel. The Ford Motor Company established Canyon's first automobile dealership in 1919, and in 1920 Clyde W. Warwick, editor of the Randall County News since 1910, bought the paper; he later renamed it the Canyon News . On December 2, 1921, fire destroyed several buildings on the south side of the town square. Nevertheless, during the 1920s Canyon enjoyed new growth because of above-average rainfall. The first American Legion post in the Southwest completed its headquarters at Canyon in 1921. Streets and highways were paved, streetlights added, and natural gas piped in from the Panhandle oil and gas field north of Amarillo. The Santa Fe Railroad erecte

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Canyon

quirky 14.8 mi away
Cadillac Ranch

Ten Cadillacs buried nose-down in a Texas field since 1974. Bring spray paint.
nature 9.8 mi away
Palo Duro Canyon

Second-largest canyon in the US. The Grand Canyon of Texas with stunning red rock walls.
nature 14.9 mi away
Lighthouse Rock

Lighthouse Rock is the signature hoodoo of Palo Duro Canyon -- a three-hundred-foot pillar of red sandstone with a harder caprock balanced on top. The caprock…
quirky 15.1 mi away
Palo Duro Canyon

The second-largest canyon in the United States cuts straight through the flat Texas Panhandle like somebody took a knife to a pancake. A hundred and twenty…
food 16.6 mi away
The Big Texan Steak Ranch

Home of the free 72-oz steak challenge since 1960. Giant cowboy out front.

Sports in Canyon

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 4A · Girls Basketball · 2017–2021

Canyon — UIL 4A Girls Basketball State Champions — 2 titles

Most recent: 2021 4A

Canyon High School in Canyon, Texas, stands as a proud Class 4A institution with a distinguished record in girls' basketball. The Lady Eagles have captured two UIL state championships, showcasing their consistent excellence on the court. These titles represent significant achievements for the school and its community.

The Canyon High School girls' basketball program has established itself as a force within Texas high school sports. Their state championship victories in 2017 (Class 5A) and 2021 (Class 4A) highlight a sustained period of top-tier performance, bringing pride to the Panhandle region.

State titles
2 (2017–2021)
Most recent
2021
Class
4A
The moment

The 2021 Class 4A state championship marked a significant moment for Canyon High School girls' basketball.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives

Everything Near Canyon

247 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Canyon, TX · Local history

    Canyon's story is deeply tied to the vastness of the Texas Panhandle. While the text doesn't detail specific pivotal moments like wars or economic booms and busts, it does highlight the establishment of key institutions…

  • Goodnight, The Charles Memorial Trail · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    The highway from this museum to the Palo Duro State Park (12 miles east) approximates course used by Charles Goodnight, outstanding Texas cowman and trail blazer, when he trailed 1600 cattle from Colorado to found first…

  • J. Evetts Haley · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    (July 5, 1901 - October 9, 1995) A noted historian, writer and public figure in Texas during the early 20th century, J. Evetts Haley was born in Belton (Bell County). He grew up in Midland, working on area ranches and…

  • Sam Wood Cabin · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Sam Wood Cabin, built in 1887 near Hog Town. Wood was an Indian Scout and a Union veteran of the Civil War. His cabin here once housed six families during an Indian scare, and it was…

  • Panhandle-Plains Museum · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Panhandle-Plains Museum in Canyon. Back in 1932, the State of Texas put up twenty-five thousand dollars to match private funds, building the museum's first unit. Since then, it's grown way beyond…

  • Georgia O'Keeffe in Canyon · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    Renowned artist Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to Francis and Ida (Totto) O'Keeffe. The family moved to Virginia, where O'Keeffe and her siblings attended school. She studied art…

  • Buffalo Courts · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Buffalo Courts, a unique community project born out of the Great Depression at West Texas State Teachers College. Starting in 1933, students, locals, and government funding came together…

  • Hudspeth, Mary E. House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Mary E. Hudspeth House in Canyon. Built in 1909 by Thomas P. Turk, this house originally stood on Palo Duro Street. When West Texas University opened its doors in 1910, the house was moved to…

  • First Methodist Church of Canyon · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Canyon's first church, organized in October of 1889 by the Rev. B. F. Jackson. He preached in Palo Duro Canyon and held the town's first funeral and wedding in 1891. The original church…

  • Georgia O'Keeffe and the Panhandle Sky · 0.4 mi

    When a 28-year-old Georgia O'Keeffe stepped off the train in Canyon in 1916, she found a landscape that would change her life and the course of American art. Hired to teach at the local college, she was mesmerized by…

  • Canyon · 0.4 mi

    Head due south out of Amarillo and you'll hit Canyon — fifteen thousand people and the front door to Palo Duro Canyon. It's a West Texas A and M town, ninety-six hundred students who mostly clear out come summer, which…

  • Texas (outdoor musical) · 0.4 mi

    Six nights a week, June through August, the walls of Palo Duro Canyon turn into a backdrop for a show simply called "Texas." Thirteen hundred seats, open sky, a story set in the 1890s — a cattle baron named McLean,…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • The "TEXAS" Outdoor Musical · 0.4 mi

    Every summer since 1966, as the sun sets over Palo Duro Canyon, the story of the Texas Panhandle comes to life. You'll find it in the Pioneer Amphitheater, a roughly 1,600-seat venue set into a canyon basin with a…

  • The Hidden Ocean and the Great Green Circles · 0.4 mi

    As you drive through the Panhandle, you might notice the landscape is dotted with giant, perfectly green circles of crops. These aren't natural; they're feats of engineering fed by a hidden ocean. Beneath your wheels…

  • The Museum That Saved Panhandle History · 0.4 mi

    On the campus of West Texas A&M sits the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, and don't let the regional name fool you. It's the largest history museum in the state of Texas. It began in 1921, when professors and local…

  • Wagon Yard, Site of · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the site of the old Ranchman's Wagon Yard, active from about 1890 to 1921. This was the town's go-to spot for cowboys and ranchers. They'd sleep in bedrolls on the ground…

  • Canyon Fire Department · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Canyon's first organized fire department, formed in 1909 with 21 volunteers and a new horse-drawn engine. Their first big test came in 1910, saving downtown buildings from a hotel fire.…

  • The Little House of Fellowship · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Little House of Fellowship in Canyon. Episcopalians started services here in 1910, and by 1928, this building was planned as a student center for West Texas Normal College. Opened in 1929, it…

  • Neblett Hospital and Clinic · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and you might notice the absence of a building that served this community for nearly four decades. In 1937, Dr. Robert Neblett, a specialist in childhood diseases, personally funded and…

  • The Sad Monkey Railroad · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Palo Duro Canyon State Park, and you might have just passed the site of a unique attraction: the Sad Monkey Railroad. For over 40 years, this narrow-gauge train carried visitors on a 20-minute…

  • Randall County Courthouse · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and you're passing the Randall County Courthouse. This is the second courthouse for the county, which was created way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1876</say-as>. The…

  • Randall County · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Randall County. Formed from Young and Bexar territories. Created August 21, 1876 Organized July 27, 1889 Named in honor of Horace Randall 1821-1864 A distinguished Confederate officer who fell in…

  • Lucille Nance Jones · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former Nance Ranch headquarters, once the heart of a nationally recognized Hereford breeding operation. Lucille Nance Jones took over the ranch after her first husband's death, then later married…

  • Canyon, City of · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, a town named for the stunning Palo Duro Canyon just a dozen miles east. Imagine settling here on Christmas Day, 1887, facing down blizzards, sandstorms, and swarms of grasshoppers! These…

  • Conner Dugout, Site of · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, Texas, and right here is the site of the Conner Dugout. This wasn't just any home; it was the very first home in Canyon, built in 1887 by L. G. Conner. Imagine a half-dugout, with windows…

  • Smith Building (Palace Hotel) · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the site of the old Smith Building, later known as the Palace Hotel. J. Frank Smith built this place back in 1906, the same year Canyon officially became a town. He even…

  • Clyde & Grace Warwick · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, home to Clyde and Grace Warwick, a couple who left a huge mark on this region. Clyde edited The Canyon News for 45 years, winning awards and serving in the Texas House. Grace was in the…

  • First National Bank · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the site of a bank that helped build this whole region. Organized in 1900 as the Stockman's National Bank, it was the very first bank south of Amarillo. This institution…

  • Canyon News · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, the birthplace of the Texas Panhandle's first city newspaper. The "Echo" kicked things off in 1889. Then came the "Stayer" in 1896, which eventually became the "Randall County News." For…

  • Presbyterian Church Building · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former Presbyterian Church building in Canyon, constructed back in 1926. It's a beautiful example of classical revival architecture, featuring a grand portico with Ionic columns and striking…

  • Conner, Lincoln Guy · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Lincoln Guy Conner, rancher and founder of Canyon, was born on March 4, 1860, near Boonville, Missouri. Earlier, his father had established a flour mill, and the community that grew up around it was known as Conner's…

  • Tex Randall · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Tex Randall cowboy statue, a Texas icon standing 47 feet tall and weighing seven tons. Designed and built by Harry Wheeler in 1959, this giant cowboy was created as a roadside welcome…

  • Canyon, TX (Randall County) · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Canyon is at the junction of U.S. Highway 60 and Interstate Highway 27, near the center of Randall County and southwest of the old T Anchor Ranch headquarters. In December 1887 Lincoln Guy Conner surveyed and settled at…

  • Dyer, Leigh Richmond · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a land shaped by tough pioneers like Leigh Richmond Dyer. He started as a drover for Charles Goodnight in 1867, driving cattle on the famous Goodnight-Loving Trail. By 1875,…

  • Harper, Margaret Pease · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here is the place that inspired a monumental outdoor musical drama. Margaret Pease Harper, a woman with a vision, saw the dramatic potential of Palo Duro Canyon.…

  • Hutson, Lee John · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here in Randall County, you're passing through the heart of ranching country, thanks to pioneers like Lee John Hutson. Arriving in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Randall County · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Randall County, right here on the Llano Estacado. This land was once the hunting grounds for Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne, and even saw Coronado's expedition camp in Palo Duro Canyon back in…

  • T Anchor Ranch · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, in what is now Randall County, you're passing through the heart of the historic T Anchor Ranch. It started in the fall of 1877 when Leigh Dyer drove his cattle…

  • Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here near Canyon, you're passing the birthplace of a Texas legend. Back in 1960, professors here had a big idea: bring the history of this vast land to life with an…

  • Cornette, James Percival · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the heart of West Texas A&M University. For over twenty-five years, from 1948 to 1973, James Percival Cornette led this place, transforming it from a college into a…

  • Harrell, Edward Dow · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a land shaped by giants like Edward Dow Harrell. He arrived here in 1890, a Georgia transplant who, along with his brother, first tried his hand at raising horses ten miles…

  • First National Bank Building · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the First National Bank building, completed in 1909. Rancher and banker L.T. Lester commissioned this Neoclassical showplace, designed by St. Louis architect R.G. Kirsch.…

  • Hill, Joseph Abner · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Joseph Abner Hill, college president, the sixth of eleven children of Francis Patterson and Rachel (Witt) Hill, was born on October 29, 1877, on a cotton farm five miles south of Moody, in Bell County, Texas. His…

  • Sheffy, Lester Fields · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a region rich with history. Right here, you're near where Lester Fields Sheffy spent much of his career. He wasn't just a history professor at West Texas State Normal College…

  • Walker, Darthula Adaline · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, perhaps near Canyon, and right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1920</say-as>, Darthula Adaline Walker arrived at West Texas State Normal College. She wasn't…

  • Barbed Wire Fence in the Panhandle · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a land once as open as the sky. But in the late 1800s, this vast landscape needed a new kind of boundary. Enter barbed wire. Joseph F. Glidden’s invention, perfected by 1876,…

  • Company F, 2nd Battalion, 142nd Infantry, 36th Division, Texas National Guard · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former training grounds for Company F, a unit of Randall County soldiers who fought with the famed 36th Division in World War II. These local men, including ten sets of brothers and a father and…

  • Shaw-Keiser House · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Shaw-Keiser House, a beautiful example of Craftsman architecture right here in Canyon. Travis Shaw, a local banker and civic leader, commissioned this home in 1908. It was built as a one-story…

  • C.R. Burrow House · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Canyon, and look to your right! This beautiful Craftsman bungalow was home to Charles Richard Burrow, a true Texas entrepreneur. Burrow arrived in 1899, working for a hardware store. By 1919, he…

  • Lester, L. T. Home · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is the home built in 1904 for L.T. Lester. Lester wasn't just a homeowner; he was a buffalo hunter and cattleman who settled this area back in 1889. He opened the very first…

  • Randall County · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Randall County, created in 1876 and named for Confederate General Horace Randal. Rancher Leigh Dyer, brother-in-law to cattle pioneer Charles Goodnight, settled here in 1877. The county was…

  • The man who brought the first cattle · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Randall County, Texas. Created in 1876 and named for Confederate General Horace Randal, this Panhandle county was first settled by rancher Leigh Dyer in 1877. Dyer was the brother-in-law of…

  • Settled by rancher Leigh Dyer · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Randall County, created in 1876 and named for Confederate General Horace Randal. Rancher Leigh Dyer, brother-in-law of cattle baron Charles Goodnight, settled here in 1877. The county was…

  • Settled by Goodnight's brother-in-law · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Randall County, named for Confederate General Horace Randall. It was created in 1876 and settled just a year later by Leigh Dyer, brother-in-law to the famous cattleman Charles Goodnight. The…

  • Randall County · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    Created 1876; named for Confederate general Horace Randall. Settled 1877 by rancher Leigh Dyer, brother-in-law of Charles Goodnight, man who brought first cattle to Panhandle. Organized in 1889. County seat: Canyon.…

  • Heller, W. F.; Pioneer Farmer, Homesite of · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and just ahead is the homesite of W.F. Heller. This Civil War veteran settled here in 1887 and was the first to farm this area successfully. He was elected the first county clerk when…

  • Palo Duro Canyon · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Palo Duro Canyon is the most spectacular and scenic landscape feature in the Panhandle of Texas. The Spanish name Palo Duro means "hardwood" and refers to the hardwood shrubs and trees found in the canyon. Palo Duro…

  • T Anchor Ranch · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the vast plains once known as the T Anchor Ranch. In the fall of 1877, Leigh Dyer, Walter Dyer, and Samuel Coleman arrived with about 400 head of cattle and built a simple log cabin. By 1881, this…

  • Col. John I. Gregg 1872 Battle Site · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a land shaped by conflict. It's 1872, and the post-Civil War era is seeing settlers push west, often clashing with Native American tribes. The U.S. Army launched campaigns to…

  • The Highway Commissioner's Interstate · 2.0 mi

    Interstate Twenty Seven between Lubbock and Amarillo is the Marshall Formby Memorial Highway, named for a man who once chaired the Texas Highway Commission. Marshall Formby was born in nineteen eleven and moved with his…

  • Dreamland Cemetery · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Dreamland Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to the very beginnings of Canyon. It started life as Canyon City Cemetery back in 1891, the same year the first burials took place.…

  • C. Stuart Johnston · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past C. Stuart Johnston. Born in Belhaven, North Carolina on Dec. 31, 1900, Claud Stuart Johnston began teaching in Oklahoma after graduating from the University of North Carolina. Fieldwork for the…

  • Civil War Veterans Reunion · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Canyon, and right here is where, for ten years in the early 1900s, thousands of Civil War veterans gathered for a massive reunion. Imagine this: folks arriving by train, horseback, even covered…

  • First Baptist Church · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Canyon's First Baptist Church. Organized in 1890 with seven members, the congregation built the town's first church edifice in 1899. Their present structure was begun in 1929 and finished…

  • T-Anchor Ranch Headquarters · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the T-Anchor Ranch Headquarters, built way back in 1877. Look around – this log house, constructed from timber hauled out of Palo Duro Canyon, is the oldest surviving home in the entire Texas…

  • St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery near Canyon. This quiet resting place has roots stretching back to the early 1900s, when German immigrants began settling this area. By 1909, they had established a school…

  • Palisades State Park Concession Building · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Palisades State Park, established during the Great Depression. In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps built this concession building, designed by local architect Guy Anton Carlander.…

  • The Town That Built a Gate · 9.6 mi

    As you passed through the gate to enter Lake Tanglewood, you experienced the single most important feature of this community. This place was built as a private, year-round residential resort, laid out in the early 1960s…

  • The Man Who Made a Lake · 9.6 mi

    Every drop of water in Lake Tanglewood is here because some men would not take no for an answer. In the early 1960s Roy Stockton, a construction supervisor, made a deal with John Currie to throw a dam across Palo Duro…

  • Engineering a Panhandle Oasis · 9.6 mi

    The lake at the heart of this village is a piece of civil engineering that had to be built twice. Work began in 1961 on an earth-fill dam across Palo Duro Creek, in a canyon that gets long droughts broken by violent…

  • Lake Tanglewood, TX · 9.6 mi

    The village of Lake Tanglewood is a tapestry of ethnicities, with the 2000 census revealing a diverse population. The racial makeup of the village was predominantly White at 98.06%, with Native American comprising…

  • Palo Duro Canyon · 9.8 mi · Things to Do

    Second-largest canyon in the US. The Grand Canyon of Texas with stunning red rock walls.

  • Umbarger, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through western Randall County, right near the town of Umbarger. This community owes its existence to rancher S. G. Umbarger, who in 1895 leased this land from the railroad. By 1897, he'd established a…

  • Umbarger · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Umbarger, a community that started as a wagon yard in 1895 by Civil War veteran S.G. Umbarger. The railroad named a switch after him in 1898, and soon after, German-Catholic families arrived,…

  • JA Ranch, The Old · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the heart of the Texas Panhandle, and right here, you're passing the historic site of the JA Ranch. In 1876, legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight blazed a trail into Palo Duro Canyon,…

  • Smyth, Rawleigh Porteus · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Plainview, the town that Rawleigh Porteus Smyth helped lay out. Born in Austin in 1855, Smyth was a Brigadier General after serving in the Spanish-American War. He was also a surveyor, mapping out…

  • How the Great JA Ranch Began in Palo Duro Canyon · 12.3 mi

    This canyon is where one of the most famous ranches in the West was born. In 1876 the trail driver Charles Goodnight brought roughly 1,600 longhorns down off the Colorado plains and into Palo Duro Canyon, the second…

  • The Civilian Conservation Corps at Palo Duro Canyon State Park · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Palo Duro Canyon, and right here is where the Civilian Conservation Corps left their mark. During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt's New Deal created the CCC to give jobs to young men and…

  • Ozymandias on the Plains · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Two enormous concrete legs rise from the flat Panhandle grass near Amarillo, broken off at the thighs, with nothing above them but sky. There is no torso, no head, no plaque that fully explains. A small sign at the base…

  • Palo Duro Canyon · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    This is the second largest canyon in the United States, 120 miles long and 800 feet deep, hidden in the flat Panhandle like a crack in the earth. The Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River carved it over millions of…

  • Georgia O'Keeffe's spiritual home · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You can drive across the Texas Panhandle and see nothing but flat grassland for hours, and then the earth opens. Palo Duro Canyon drops eight hundred feet below the plains, stretching 120 miles long and up to twenty…

  • Palo Duro Canyon · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    The second-largest canyon in the United States, 120 miles long and 800 feet deep, carved by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River in the Texas Panhandle.

  • Amarillo Globe Dream House · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Amarillo Globe Dream House, built in 1925. This Tudor Revival home was a real estate and newspaper collaboration, designed to showcase local craftsmanship and materials. The Amarillo…

  • Amarillo Helium Plant · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Amarillo Helium Plant, a place that literally held the world's supply of a vital element. From 1929 to 1943, this plant was the first in the world to extract helium from the Texas…

  • Melissa Dora Oliver-Eakle · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a true Amarillo pioneer, Melissa Dora Oliver-Eakle. She arrived here in 1889, a widow with a personal fortune. She invested heavily in the growing frontier town, developing land for…

  • Amarillo · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Amarillo, a city that sprang to life in 1887. Its name comes from the Spanish for 'yellow creek,' thanks to a nearby stream. Amarillo quickly became a hub for transportation and finance, and by…

  • Cadillac Ranch · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1974, a San Francisco art collective called the Ant Farm convinced an eccentric Amarillo millionaire named Stanley Marsh 3 to let them bury ten Cadillacs nose-down in his wheat field. The cars span model years 1949…

  • Cadillac Ranch · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    Ten Cadillacs buried nose-first in a Panhandle wheat field since 1974, commissioned by eccentric Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3.

  • Lighthouse Rock · 14.9 mi · Things to Do

    Lighthouse Rock is the signature hoodoo of Palo Duro Canyon -- a three-hundred-foot pillar of red sandstone with a harder caprock balanced on top. The caprock…

  • Fain, Mary (Masterson) and John, House · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Fain House in Amarillo, a beautiful example of Colonial Revival architecture built in 1930. What makes this house unique is that it was built alongside its identical 'twin' next door, designed by…

  • Comancheria: The Empire That Rose and Fell on These Plains · 15.0 mi

    The High Plains around Palo Duro Canyon were once the heart of Comancheria, an Indigenous empire historians now rank among the great powers of early North America. The Numunu ('the People,' the Comanches' own name for…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Tascosa (Amarillo) · 15.0 mi

    Tascosa (Amarillo, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Jaxon Armstrong (0.500 avg); Sam Adams (0.453 avg, 2 HR).

  • Russell Hall · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Russell Hall, the first permanent building on the Amarillo College campus. Originally the Badger Gymnasium, it was built between 1937 and 1939 with federal funding. Designed in the geometric Art Deco…

  • Edward L. and Margaret Seewald Roberts House · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Edward and Margaret Roberts in Amarillo. Designed by Harold Walsh in 1949, this house was built with heavy input from Margaret, a student of Georgia O'Keeffe who became a nationally…

  • St. Anthony's Hospital · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. Anthony's Hospital. 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…

  • Ordway Hall · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Ordway Hall, a building that's a real work of art. Built between 1936 and 1937, it was designed by architect Guy Carlander in a striking Geometric Art Deco style. Look for the buff brick and cast…

  • Llano Cemetery · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Llano Cemetery, a regional burial ground for the Texas Panhandle. Land was given in 1891, but the earliest known burial was Lillian Morrow in 1888, legend says a child interred by her traveling…

  • Palo Duro Canyon · 15.1 mi · Things to Do

    The second-largest canyon in the United States cuts straight through the flat Texas Panhandle like somebody took a knife to a pancake. A hundred and twenty…

  • Eakle, Clarence and Lorraine House · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Eakle House in Amarillo, a beautiful example of Tudor Revival architecture. Built in 1925, this home was designed by noted Amarillo architect Guy Carlander for early business and civic leaders…

  • Eakle-Archer House · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker

    As you drive through Amarillo, look for a truly unique home, designed by architect Guy A. Carlander. Built in 1923, this craftsman bungalow looks like an airplane! Its upper floor is designed like a cockpit, with…

  • Helium Time Columns Monument and Museum · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Amarillo, and you might notice this monument to a gas that's literally out of this world! This Helium Time Columns Monument commemorates the 100th anniversary of helium's discovery in the sun's…

  • Alice Victoria Ghormley Curtis House · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Alice Victoria Ghormley Curtis House, built between 1906 and 1907. Designed by local contractor J. D. Singleton, it was built for the widow of Texas Ranger W. R. Curtis. Mrs. Curtis raised her…

  • Avery and Mary Turner House · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Avery and Mary Turner House, built in 1910. Avery worked for the Santa Fe Railroad for nearly 60 years, while Mary was active in the Red Cross and Salvation Army. This home, modeled after Mary's…

  • Herring-Crudgington House · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Herring-Crudgington House in Amarillo, a beautiful example of Classical Revival architecture. Built in 1910 for the wealthy Day Herring ranching family, it boasted a grand entry portico with…

  • Galbraith, H.W. and Katie, House · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the H.W. and Katie Galbraith House in Amarillo, built in 1912. This two-story home is a beautiful example of Craftsman architecture, with its quality clapboards, exposed rafters, and shingled roof.…

  • Houghton House · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and you might catch a glimpse of the Houghton House, a beautiful example of Prairie Style architecture. Built in 1914 for John Malcolm Shelton, a big-time cattleman and businessman, this…

  • Shuford-Killough House · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Amarillo, and right here is the Shuford-Killough House, built in 1913 for cattleman J.D. Shuford. Take a look at that design – it's a prime example of the Prairie School style, with its wide…

  • Smith-Rogers House · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Smith-Rogers House in Amarillo. Built around 1904 for early settlers James and Marie Smith, this home originally stood on South Taylor Street. In 1945, Jesse A. Rogers bought the property,…

  • Husband, Rick Douglas · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, Texas, the hometown of Rick Husband, commander of the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia. Born and raised right here, Husband dreamed of space from the age of four, inspired by the moon…

  • Marsh, Stanley III [3] · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving west of Amarillo right now, and you might just see it: Cadillac Ranch. This iconic roadside attraction, a monument to the American dream, was the brainchild of Amarillo businessman and eccentric Stanley…

  • Amarillo Natatorium [The Nat] · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here on Route 66 is a building with a story as grand as any castle facade it sports. This is the Amarillo Natatorium, or 'The Nat.' It started in 1922 as an open-air swimming…

  • Bivins, Lee · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in the Texas Panhandle, you're driving through the heart of a cattle empire built by Lee Bivins. Born in Grayson County in 1862, Bivins developed a passion for ranching early on. By the 1880s, he was making…

  • Farley, Cal · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is the legacy of Cal Farley. This former wrestling champ and minor league baseball player came to Amarillo after World War I and built a business empire. But Farley's real…

  • Finklea, Tula Ellice [Cyd Charisse] · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the hometown of Cyd Charisse, born Tula Ellice Finklea in 1922. A frail child who battled polio, she found her strength and passion in dance, starting lessons at age six. Her father,…

  • Herring, Cornelius Taylor · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, an empire built on cattle, railroads, and big dreams. Right here, Cornelius Taylor Herring, known as Neal, was a titan. By 1878, he was already running cattle in Archer…

  • Jones, Carolyn Sue · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, Texas, the hometown of Carolyn Jones, the actress who brought Morticia Addams to life. Born here in the 1930s, she was a loner who found escape in the movies. After graduating from…

  • Mesa Petroleum Corporation · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here is where a titan of the oil industry got his start. Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. founded Mesa Petroleum in 1956, choosing the name for the picturesque,…

  • Nutt, Grady Lee · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the birthplace of Grady Lee Nutt, born right here on September 2, 1934. Licensed as a Baptist minister at thirteen, Nutt became known nationwide not just for his faith, but for his…

  • O'Keeffe, Georgia Totto · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here, the world-famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe found her inspiration. In 1912, she arrived in this dusty Panhandle town, seeking adventure and the wide-open spaces she'd read…

  • Pickens, Thomas Boone, Jr. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the childhood home of one of America's most notorious corporate raiders, T. Boone Pickens. He started small here, with a newspaper route, but his ambition was huge. After college, he…

  • Sanborn, Henry Bradley · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, Texas, a city that owes its very existence to barbed wire and a visionary named Henry Bradley Sanborn. Back in 1875, Sanborn, a successful businessman from Illinois, was tasked with…

  • Thornton, Ward A. [Tex] · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a place where Ward A. "Tex" Thornton made his name. Thornton was a master of explosives, and he became legendary for fighting oil well fires. In the 1920s, the Panhandle's…

  • Edwards Hall, Frances Leta Exum · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is where Frances Leta Exum Edwards Hall took over the Dr Pepper bottling plant in 1952. She inherited the business after her husband died, knowing absolutely nothing about…

  • Helium Production · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Helium, a light, nonflammable, chemically inert gas, was first produced in Texas from the natural gases of the Petrolia oilfield , in Clay County, during World War I . Experimental plants were constructed in that area…

  • Wyatt, James Odis · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    James Odis Wyatt, physician and community leader, was born on November 30, 1906, in Victoria. He attended Temple and Dunbar school at San Angelo and graduated from Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson College) in…

  • Bivins, Mary Elizabeth Gilbert · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is a place connected to Mary Bivins, a woman who left an incredible mark on this city. She moved here with her husband Lee around the turn of the last century, when he was…

  • Bush, William Henry · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, a place that owes a lot to a young man from New York who came here in 1879. William Henry Bush arrived as an agent for his father-in-law, the inventor of barbed wire. His…

  • Coble, William Thomas · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here is land once owned by William Thomas Coble. He arrived in Texas as a boy, working farms for fifteen dollars a month. But Coble had bigger dreams. He saved $400,…

  • Funk, Dorrance Wilhelm · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Amarillo, home of a wrestling legend who was as much a humanitarian as a "two-fisted buster" in the ring. Dory Funk arrived here in 1949, quickly gaining a reputation for his intimidating style. But…

  • Gould, Charles Newton · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, in the early 1900s, geologist Charles Newton Gould was mapping the land. He was on horseback and in covered wagons, surveying underground water resources for…

  • Hazelrigg, Mary Lou Harris · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here in the North Heights neighborhood, you're passing a place that holds a lot of holiday magic. Back in 1965, Mary Lou Hazelrigg saw that many local kids might not have a…

  • Leidigh, Arthur Henry · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, maybe near Amarillo, where a groundbreaking agronomist named Arthur Henry Leidigh was hard at work over a century ago. From 1903 to 1908, he led USDA experiment stations right…

  • Marsh, Stanley · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the heart of the Texas Panhandle. Right here, Stanley Marsh made his mark in the oil fields. Arriving in 1926, he partnered up to develop major oil and gas properties. Marsh was…

  • McBride, David Nichols · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, David Nichols McBride carved out a life from the raw frontier. He arrived in Amarillo back in 1887, just after Potter County was organized. He claimed land…

  • Mead, Ben Carlton · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Amarillo, where you can still see the legacy of Ben Carlton Mead. Born in 1902, Mead became a renowned western artist and illustrator, known for his incredible attention to…

  • Nobles, Millard Clinton · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here, you're passing through the heart of Texas oil history. Millard Clinton Nobles, a businessman who already ran a successful grocery company, turned his attention to the…

  • O. M. Franklin Serum Company · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the birthplace of a major veterinary breakthrough. Back in 1916, veterinarian O. M. Franklin developed the first successful blackleg vaccine in the United States. Blackleg was…

  • Potter County · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Potter County, the heart of the Texas Panhandle. This land was once roamed by ancient peoples and later by Comanches. But right here, in 1887, a brand new town was born out of a railroad…

  • Shelton, John M. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Panhandle, and right here, you might be passing through country once owned by John M. Shelton. Born in 1853, Shelton started out on the open range in Shackelford County, wearing the same shirt…

  • Taylor, Jay · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here is a region shaped by giants of industry and ranching. Jay Taylor, born in Montague County in 1902, found his calling not on the open range, but in the booming…

  • Thompson, Ernest Othmer · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, you're passing through the territory once dominated by Ernest O. Thompson. Born in Alvord in 1892, Thompson became a shrewd entrepreneur and a decorated World…

  • Wrather, John Devereaux, Jr. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in Amarillo, Texas, you're passing through the birthplace of John "Jack" Wrather, Jr. Born in 1918, he wasn't just an oilman; he was a media mogul and a hotelier. After inheriting his father's oil company,…

  • Amarillo, TX · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, a city born from a railroad and a bit of a land dispute. It all started in 1887 when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway pushed into the Panhandle. A group of merchants saw the…

  • Fuqua, Wiley Holder · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Wiley Holder Fuqua, banker and businessman, the son of William M. and Elizabeth (Milam) Fuqua, was born on September 13, 1862, in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. His father, a Baptist minister, was also a prosperous…

  • Amarillo Symphony · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, home to the only professional symphony in the entire Panhandle region. It all started back in 1924 with just twelve musicians, calling themselves the Philharmonic Club. They played…

  • Amarillo, Catholic Diocese of · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, the Catholic Church has put down deep roots. It all started picking up steam in 1887, when the Fort Worth and Denver Railway arrived. Priests began traveling…

  • Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, the story of Amarillo's connection to the wider world begins. It was June of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1901</say-as> when the Choctaw, Oklahoma…

  • Crudgington, Jonathan Wilford · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, a city that owes much of its early development to a man named Jonathan Wilford Crudgington. Born in Tennessee in 1859, Crudgington came to Texas and got involved in railroad contracting,…

  • Diamond Shamrock · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, and right here, you might be passing by the legacy of Diamond Shamrock. This company wasn't just one thing; it was a massive merger of three businesses. One part, Shamrock Oil and Gas,…

  • Guleke, James O. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, a city James O. Guleke called home. Born in Grayson County in 1891, Guleke became a lawyer and a major civic leader here. He was instrumental in developing Palo Duro Canyon State Park…

  • Madden, Squire H. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the "Queen City" of the Panhandle. Right here is where Squire H. Madden, a lawyer who arrived in the 1880s, helped secure this city's future. When a rival railroad threatened to bypass…

  • Plemons, William Buford · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Panhandle, perhaps near Amarillo, and you're passing through the territory of William Buford Plemons. He was a Confederate soldier, wounded three times and present at Appomattox. After the…

  • Twichell, Willis Day · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through West Texas, a land shaped by surveyors like Willis Day Twichell. Arriving in 1886, Twichell used advanced techniques, correcting for the Earth's curvature, to map out vast ranches like the XIT and…

  • Vandale, Earl · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, a city that became home to one of Texas's most passionate collectors: Earl Vandale. While he made his fortune in the oil business, Vandale's real love was Texana. Starting in the 1920s,…

  • Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Amarillo · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is the site of a major victory for veterans' care. Back in the 1930s, Congressman John Marvin Jones championed a bill to build a veterans' sanatorium in this area. After a…

  • Ware, Benjamin Taliaferro · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here, in Amarillo, you're passing through the heart of a cattle empire built by Benjamin Taliaferro Ware. Born in Georgia, Ware's family lost their plantation during…

  • Polk Street United Methodist Church · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Polk Street United Methodist Church. The congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was organized on November 23, 1888, by Rev. Isaac Mills, Rev. Jerome Haralson and eight members. The…

  • Amarillo College · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here, in the heart of the city, stood the original Amarillo College. It wasn't built by the state or a big donor. Instead, in 1897, two local men, Willis Twichell and James…

  • Archambeau, Ernest R. · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is a place tied to Ernest Archambeau, a man who dedicated his life to preserving the history of the Texas Panhandle. Arriving in 1914, he spent decades as an insurance…

  • Defalco, Lawrence Michael · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, perhaps near Amarillo, where Lawrence DeFalco served as the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese. He was consecrated right here in Fort Worth in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the heart of the Texas Panhandle. Right here is where oilman Donald Harrington and his wife Sybil decided to invest their fortune. In 1951, they founded the Don and Sybil Harrington…

  • FitzSimon, Laurence Julius · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the city that was home to Bishop Laurence FitzSimon, a man dedicated to both faith and history. Born in San Antonio in 1895, FitzSimon's life took him from Texas towns to Rome and back,…

  • Fuqua, Henry Earl · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here in Floyd County, Henry Earl Fuqua was planting thousands of acres of wheat back in 1919. But Fuqua wasn't just a farmer; he was a banker, eventually chairman of…

  • Furr, Crone Webster · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Panhandle, and right here in Amarillo, you're passing through the heart of a grocery empire! Crone Webster Furr started small, with a crossroads store near McKinney in the late 1800s. By…

  • Gerken, Rudolph Aloysius · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo, the first Catholic bishop of this city. Rudolph Gerken arrived here in 1927 to lead a brand new diocese. In just six years, he built twenty churches, thirteen rectories, six schools, and…

  • Jones, John Marvin · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Cooke County, the birthplace of John Marvin Jones, a man who became a giant in shaping American agriculture. Born in Valley View in 1882, Jones went on to serve as a Congressman and later as…

  • Nunn, Joseph Elbert · 15.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Amarillo right now, and you might be surprised to learn that a prominent figure in the city's early development was a former Kentucky minister and educator. Joseph Elbert Nunn moved here in 1903,…

  • Henry Bradley Sanborn · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former home of Henry Bradley Sanborn, the man they call the 'Father of Amarillo.' Born in New York, he came to Texas in 1875 as a sales agent for barbed wire inventor J.F. Glidden. Sanborn was…

  • The H.B. Sanborn House · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and you might be passing one of the city's oldest homes. This is the H.B. Sanborn House, built way back in 1902. Henry Bradley Sanborn was a major player in Amarillo's early development.…

  • Polk Street Schools · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Amarillo's early public schools on Polk Street. The first, a Red Brick School, opened in 1900 for over 280 students, some arriving on horseback. By 1911, Amarillo High School was built…

  • Cadillac Ranch: Art in a Wheat Field · 16.0 mi

    If you're heading west of Amarillo on I-40, keep your eyes peeled for one of the strangest and most wonderful sights in America: Cadillac Ranch. You can’t miss it—ten classic Cadillac cars, from a 1949 Club Coupe to a…

  • The Big Texan and the 72-Ounce Steak · 16.0 mi

    You can't talk about Amarillo without mentioning The Big Texan Steak Ranch. You've probably seen the billboards for hundreds of miles. This iconic restaurant, with its bright yellow walls and giant cowboy sign, is a…

  • The Science of the Helium Capital · 16.0 mi

    Amarillo's nickname, 'Helium Capital of the World,' isn't just boosterism—it's based on unique geology and engineering. In the 1920s, drillers discovered the Cliffside Gas Field nearby. This natural gas reserve was…

  • The Mother Road's Path Through Amarillo · 16.0 mi

    The highway you're on, Interstate 40, is what replaced the legendary Route 66. But the spirit of the 'Mother Road' is still alive and well here in Amarillo. The old highway had two lives in this town. The original…

  • Pantex: The Nation's Nuclear Custodian · 16.0 mi

    About 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, in Carson County, sits one of the most secure and secretive facilities in the United States: the Pantex Plant. Originally built during World War II as a conventional bomb factory,…

  • Juan de Padilla · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and you're passing the site of a true Texas first: the martyrdom of Father Fray Juan de Padilla. <break time="400ms"/> In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1540</say-as>, he…

  • Old First Baptist Church · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Amarillo's first Baptist Church, organized way back in September of 1889 with just sixteen members. Their first meeting house, built in 1890, had a belfry made of cedar posts and a…

  • Saint Mary's Academy · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is the site of St. Mary's Academy. Established way back in 1899 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, this school wasn't always in Amarillo. It started sixty…

  • Fisk Medical Arts & Professional Building · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Fisk Medical Arts and Professional Building, a skyscraper that was commissioned in 1926 by Charles A. Fisk and other investors. Designed by Amarillo architect Guy A. Carlander, this eleven-story…

  • International Harvester Building · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past International Harvester Building. Founded in 1902 when J.P. Morgan merged several harvesting companies, the International Harvester Company came to Amarillo in 1919. By 1925, the company made plans…

  • Route 66 in Amarillo · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo on a road that was once called the 'Main Street of America' and the 'Mother Road.' Route 66, the first paved transcontinental highway, stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles. Here in…

  • Ranchotel · 16.2 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Pull over here for a slice of Route 66 history! The Ranchotel has been offering weary travelers a place to rest their heads since 1940. Back then, U.S. Route 66 was *the* road, connecting Chicago to Los Angeles. The…

  • Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Amarillo, a city born from the railroad. Back on August 30th, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1887</say-as>, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad's construction spurred the founding of…

  • Bivins Home · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the elegant home of Lee Bivins, built right here in Amarillo back in 1905. Bivins wasn't just a rancher; he was a real pioneer in the Panhandle's oil and gas industry. He was also a philanthropist…

  • Site of Significant Archeological Find, American Mammoths · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here, back in 1928, construction workers digging the basement for the Santa Fe Railway building hit a real jackpot. They unearthed the remains of an American Mammoth! These…

  • Amarillo Natatorium ("The Nat") · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is the site of the Amarillo Natatorium, better known as 'The Nat'! Opened in 1922 as an open-air swimming pool, it was enclosed the next year for year-round use. By 1926,…

  • Northwest Texas Hospital School of Nursing · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former Northwest Texas Hospital School of Nursing in Amarillo. Designed by prominent architect Guy Carlander in 1924, this building was part of a larger hospital complex born out of the…

  • First Transcontinental Air Service to Texas Panhandle, Amarillo Municipal Airpor · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Amarillo's historic airport, the site of a major aviation milestone. On May 29, 1929, Western Air Express launched the first segment of transcontinental air service right here, flying a Fokker…

  • Harmon-Toles Elevator · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Harmon-Toles Elevator, a crucial part of Happy's agricultural story. Construction began in 1945 to meet wartime demands for grain storage. What's fascinating is who built it: 50…

  • Santa Fe Building · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and look up! You're passing the Santa Fe Building, once the tallest skyscraper in town. Built between 1928 and 1930 for a cool million and a half dollars, this 14-story marvel was the…

  • American Legion Hanson Post No. 54 · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Amarillo's American Legion Hanson Post, organized way back in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1919</say-as>. It's named for Dr. David T. Hanson, a local doctor who died…

  • The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Palo Duro Canyon, the site of a pivotal battle in the 1874-75 Indian campaign. On September 28, 1874, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and the 4th Cavalry descended into this canyon, surprising a large…

  • Merge or Sling: How the Storm Dance Ends · 16.4 mi

    When two storms lock into the Fujiwhara dance, it can end one of two ways, and the deciding factor is size. If the two are badly mismatched, the bigger system simply wins: it pulls the smaller storm into a tight circle…

  • Landspouts · 16.4 mi

    Out here in storm country, not every twister is born the same way. A landspout is the quiet cousin of the big supercell tornado. With a classic supercell, the spin starts high up inside the storm, in a rotating updraft…

  • Old Happy · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Happy, a place that was once the only stop for freight and stage lines between Amarillo and Tulia. The Hugh Currie family built their home, "Happy Hollow," here in 1891, and it became…

  • Potter County · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Potter County, named for Robert Potter. He was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and served as Secretary of the Navy for the Republic of Texas. This county was formed in 1876, with…

  • Wild Horse Lake · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past what used to be Wild Horse Lake, also known as Amarillo Lake. This playa lake was a lifeline for everyone crossing the high plains – from buffalo and wild horses to Native Americans, explorers, and…

  • Potter County Library · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Amarillo, and right here is a building that started with a dozen local women in 1902. They organized the Potter County free library, raising money through bazaars and candy sales. Mr. and Mrs.…

  • First United Methodist Church of Happy · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Happy. Meetings began in settlers' homes in 1905, leading to services in a schoolhouse and then a small frame church. The congregation moved with the…

  • San, TX · 16.6 mi

    San Antonio, you see, isn't just a city; it's a palimpsest, layers of history etched onto the landscape. It started, of course, with the indigenous people, long before any Europeans dreamt of this place. Then came the…

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