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In September 1887, J. T. Berry bought 640 acres of school land from the State of Texas. Several years earlier, this raw section of prairie had been home to buffalo herds and the Kiowa and Comanche Nations. Berry could not have known that this land would one day become home to cattle barons, oil and gas pioneers, and a U.S. ambassador. When Charles Oldham Wolflin married Alpha Eunice McVean a decade later and acquired that same section of land, he never dreamed that his son would develop that land from a dairy farm into a premier residential development . . . Read More Look Inside

Panhandle Tidbits

Lana Barnett is a freelance writer who loves any, and everything about the Texas Panhandle. She has studied and promoted Texas since publishing her first book: Presenting the Texas Panhandle in 1979. The book was at the time required reading for history majors at West Texas State University. More recently she has published two books on Panhandle murders, Lonely Graves, A Texas Murder Trilogy, and Murder Book, Second in the Lonely Graves series. Each book contains three early murders in the Panhandle . . . Read More and Look Inside

Seven Earth kids from Amarillo, Texas, live a normal life till they are hit with an alien life essence from another galaxy. They find themselves with dual personalities, advanced knowledge, and special powers. A Clean adventure. They also find they are involved in a war against a ruthless reptilian humanoid enemy that will stop at nothing to gain total domination of the entire universe. They must defend themselves against the aliens as well as Earth's secret alien government agency. Area 61. Will they be able to survive to make it to Talon Prime and defeat the enemy?... The author, Freddie Perez worked as a Police Officer in Amarillo, Texas, for 27 years and was a Randall County Deputy for 8 years . . . Read more Look inside

Twenty-Four Karat, the Jack B. Kelley Story

So often poets, artists, musicians, and writers are not recognized until after their death. The prophet is often without honor in his own land. And, to an extent, that is true in Jack B. Kelley's case. Even years after his death, Jack's achievements were not well known to most of his neighbors. Jack Kelley's success was always one of the best kept secrets in Amarillo, the hometown Jack adopted at age six . . . Read more

Many people are surprised to learn that the city of Amarillo was actually founded twice. Originally settled by J. T. Berry in April 1887 and known as Oneida, the site of the town was located on such low ground that many residents feared it was susceptible to flooding. In 1888, one concerned resident named Henry B. Sanborn began buying land a mile east of the site as a potential place to relocate the town. In 1889, the town's fears came to fruition when heavy rains flooded the original . , , Read more and Look Inside

by Gail Caldwell from Amarillo

In this exquisitely rendered memoir set on the high plains of Texas, Pulitzer Prize winner Gail Caldwell transforms into art what it is like to come of age in a particular time and place. A Strong West Wind begins in the 1950s in the wilds of the Texas Panhandle–a place of both boredom and beauty, its flat horizons broken only by oil derricks, grain elevators, and church steeples. Its story belongs to a girl who grew up surrounded by dust storms and cattle ranches and summer lightning . . . Read more and Look Inside

These are the chronicles of the trail drivers of Texas those rugged men and, sometimes, women who drove cattle and horses up the trails from Texas to northern markets in the late 1800s.

"In 1888 we drove two thousand head to Panhandle City. We sold some of them to be delivered above Amarillo, and the remainder were driven on to Kiowa and sold there. In driving this herd across the plains from the Pecos River to Warfield, a station ten miles west of Midland, I made arrangements with a ranchman at Warfield to have enough water pumped up for two thousand head of cattle. He had a windmill and troughs for watering and charged 5 cents a head . . . "  Read more Look inside

"On December 6, 1934 bank robber Irvin "Blackie" Thompson was killed at point-blank range by Deputy Sheriff Roy Brewer on Route 66 in Amarillo, east of Tenth Street, while resisting arrest . . ." Read more Look inside

Amarillo: The Story of a Western Town

by Paul H. Carlson

Named by True West magazine as one of the fifty most Western towns in America, this city of 176,000 people remains rooted in its Western past―yet at the same time Amarillo’s background and outlook have a distinctly Midwestern flavor. In this book, the first comprehensive history of Amarillo, Paul H. Carlson explores the city and its environs, from the first peoples who settled in the area to Amarillo’s current position as the marketing and commercial hub of a broad region . . . Read more and Look Inside

In the badlands of Oklahoma and Texas in the late nineteenth century, Jim Gober―cowboy, lawman, gambler, saloon keeper, homesteader, horse-race promoter, private detective, both hunter and hunted―was a real-life hero. The Wild West tales featuring Jim Gober spanned the gamut from the Indian raids of his childhood in Denton County, Texas, and the shootouts of his teenage years in the Panhandle town of Tascosa, to the shot, in self-defense, from his Colt 45 in 1887 when the then young lawman served as the first sheriff of Potter, County Texas ... Read more Look Inside

No Trespassing in Amarillo

Suitably, hauntings and paranormal happenings in the Lone Star state are larger than life. Included in this must-read collection are tales of the ghost lights of Marfa, the werewolf of Elroy, and the Devil's brand in the eternal roundup of El Paso. Your hair will stand on end as you read about the mysteries and lore in Spooky Texas including the Restless Spirit in Wink, The Half-Clad Ghost in Waco, The Weeper in Laredo, No Trespassing in Amarillo, On the Front Desk in Bandera, Madstone in Socorro, Eternal Roundup in El Paso, The Gray Lady in Fort Worth, Lost and Found in Abilene... Here's 35 spooky tales from Texas . . . Read more, Look inside

Also see: Mysterious Texas

by Robert Baldwin

This book is the account of an ordinary person whose life experiences were atypical. He was the fifth of seven children born into the home of a rural minister and educator.

Found Inside: "But we preferred our children grow up in the same environment we did, so we made the decision to move back to Texas. We obtained a position teaching at Tascosa High School in the Amarillo Independent School District for the school year starting in late August of 1962 ... " Read more Look inside

by Theodore Adolphus "Dot" Babb

The stories of those Texas pioneers who survived captivity among the Comanches are full of harrowing interest. Of particular interest is that told by Dot Babb in his 1912 narrative.

In September of 1865 thirteen-year-old T. A. "Dot" Babb was abducted by Comanches and adopted into their tribe. After years of captivity he was returned. He spent the last 30 years of his life in Amarillo and is buried in Randall County . . . Read more Look inside

In 1916, in the tiny West Texas town of Benjamin, a gunman slips into a courtroom and murders the defendant. In 1912, in Fort Worth’s finest hotel, a young wheeler-dealer from Amarillo kills an old gentleman in cold blood in the middle of the lobby. The verdict in both of these murderers’ trials? Not guilty. The explanation? “This is Texas . . .  Read more Look inside

Whistling Willie from Amarillo, Texas

Everybody knows that the Texas Rangers are the roughest, toughest, meanest, leanest good guys around. Willie knows he can be just like them, but all the Texas Rangers see is someone who smiles too much, whistles all the time, and has a belly that's just too big. Dejected, Willie covers his sadness with a smile and looks for a way to prove himself to the Texas Rangers. His opportunity comes on a July 4th that's hot enough to fry an egg on a sidewalk. When no-good varmints rustle the town's cold . . . Read more

Before captivating America as Morticia in THE ADDAMS FAMILY, actress Carolyn Jones appeared in 30 movies (including starring roles with Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra) and had a decade-long marriage to producer Aaron Spelling. But the road to Hollywood from her native Amarillo, Texas, was studded with rejection, typecasting, and unwanted comparisons ... Read more Look inside

Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People: The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived

"If there's anything I'll argue about, I'll either bet on it or shut up. And since it's not becoming for a cowboy to be arguing, I've made a few wagers in my day. But in my humble opinion, I'm no hustler. You see, neighbor, I never go looking for a sucker. I look for a champion and make a sucker out of him."
 . . . Read more and Look inside

The feud began with a torrid sex scandal at the core of a love triangle, featuring Lena Snyder Sneed, the high-spirited, headstrong wife; Al Boyce, Jr., Lena’s reckless, romantic lover; and John Beal Sneed, Lena’s arrogant, grim, and vindictive husband, who responded to Lena’s plea for a divorce by having her locked up in an insane asylum on grounds of “moral insanity.” The chase was on after Al rescued Lena from the asylum and the lovers fled to Canada. That’s when the killings began . . . Read more Look inside

Against the flamboyant background of the “Golden Spread,” the oil-rich Panhandle of the late 1950s, Al Dewlen has poised a full-scale and truly original novel of one Texas family―the Mungers of Amarillo. The six Munger siblings are the heirs of hard-drinking, hardscrabble farmer Cecil Munger, who in one generation brought his family from Dust Bowl poverty to unfathomable wealth. Sitting as directors of the several corporations in which their wealth resides, five of the siblings―Spain, Texas, Laska, China, and Bethel―struggle to balance their past with their present . . . Read more Look Inside

Found Inside: "As soon as tempers cooled and the danger of a lynch mob had passed, Payne was brought back to the Potter County lockup in his hometown. Confronted with the overwhelming evidence of his crime, he cracked like an egg and put it all down in an epic confession that ran sixty-three pages . . . " Read more Look inside

June 1930: in Amarillo, Texas a peaceful summer morning turns into pandemonium when a blonde colored Durant drives through . . .

October 1897: a Panhandle, Texas Methodist minister decides to slip his faithful wife of seventeen years a lethal dose of strychnine the day after their 17th wedding anniversary . . .

Christmas Eve 1926: authorities in Farwell, Texas discover the worst case of family annihilation this country has ever recorded after unearthing the remains of eight children and their mother

. . . Read more and Look Inside

In 1881, a Chicago-based businessman secured interest in a sprawling ranch in the heart of Texas' great Panhandle. The celebrated Frying Pan Ranch spread across two counties and bordered what later became Amarillo, a raw frontier settlement. The land's unlikely new owner from the North, William Henry Bush - clothing wholesaler, real estate developer, philanthropist, and fledgling cattleman - represented a new figure at the beginning of the boom era in the . . . Read more

Who were the black cowboys? They were drovers, foremen, fiddlers, cowpunchers, cattle rustlers, cooks, and singers. They worked as wranglers, riders, ropers, bulldoggers, and bronc busters.

Mathew "Bones" Hooks

West Texan Mathew Hooks emerged as a leading component of the community in and around Amarillo. Born in 1867, two years after the close of the war that ended slavery, Hooks learned to to ride and break harses early in life ... Read more Look inside   . . . for more like this please see Black Texans in History

The thirty-three Depression-era interviews presented here were culled from the WPA-Federal Writers' Project. They faithfully show how old-time Texas cowhands lived and how they felt about their glamour-less existence. "When I was ten years old, my father dragged out to Haskell, Haskell County, Texas. My father had learned the carpenter trade and followed it in Haskell. The next year, 1896, I dragged out of Haskell for the Skillet section of Texas. I lit on the T Diamond  outfit which was located twenty-seven miles north of Amarillo, and there I nested for six years, quitting the outfit in 1902. When I " ... Read more Look inside

By true crime writer Lana Payne Barnett from Tulia Texas features another trilogy of homicides from the Texas Panhandle. The case of cocaine addicted Robert Blake who murders Fred Conner and dumps the body on a lonely Texas highway is a fascinating read. The hunt for the fugitive is an exciting one as J. Frank Norfleet pulls out all the stops to find the person who murdered his friend. Blake is eventually arrested, tried, convicted and executed. While on death row he pens an account of his exploits that become the basis for the most popular Broadway Play of 1930 . . . Read more Look Inside

High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband

Describes the late Rick Husband's life-long dream of becoming an astronaut, the spiritual crossroads that enabled him to enter into NASA's space shuttle program, and the difficult process that considerably shaped his faith and eventually led to his journey into space . . . Read more Look Inside

by Red Steagal

Red Steagall is West Texas cow country clean to the bone . . .  and proud of it. He couldn't hide it even if he tried. Where he came from is who he is, both as a man and as an artist.

Found Inside: "Red finished college and took a job with Shamrock Oil Company in Amarillo  " . . . Read more Look inside

Blessèd Assurance: At Home with the Bomb in Amarillo, Texas

In 1982, with Cold War anxieties running high, A.G. Mojtabai set out for Amarillo, Texas, home of Pantex, the final assembly plant for all nuclear weapons in the United States. Through the lens of this particular city, she sought to focus on our adaptation as a nation to the threat of nuclear war. Her interviews began with Pantex workers assured of both the necessity and the safety of the work that they did, and in the steady, beneficent, advance of science. Working alongside them were fundamentalist Christians who believed . . . Blessed Assurance won the year's Lillian Smith Award for the best book about the South in 1986 . . . Read more

In 1912, at age 24, Georgia O’Keeffe boarded a train in Virginia and headed west, to the prairies of the Texas Panhandle, to take a position as art teacher for the newly organized Amarillo Public Schools. Subsequently she would join the faculty at what was then West Texas State Normal College (now West Texas A&M University). Already a thoroughly independent-minded woman, she maintained an active correspondence with her future husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, and other friends back east during the years she lived in Texas . . . Read more Look inside

I Never Worked In Pocatello — The Life and Times of Santa Fe Railroad’s Paul T. Collins

The story of Paul T. Collins’s life working on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, I Never Worked In Pocatello —The Life and Times of Santa Fe Railroad’s Paul T. Collins, is the story of the changes in railroading from the end of the Nineteenth Century to past the middle of the Twentieth Century. Amarillo, Texas was his final stop while working with the Santa Fe where he served as rules examiner for the railroad, creating new and better rules while butting heads with his fellow examiners, and sometimes his superiors. He ended his fifty-one years of service with the Santa Fe at this station . ., . Read more and Look Inside

A cow-boy's book; lively, spirited, energetic, slangy, and coarse; a book with a great deal of courage, adventure, roughness, and incident; a book which gives a life-like picture of cattle raising; and one that is full of the flavor of the " Wild West," but which is rude company for people with the tastes and refinements of civilization. "I finally arrived at the LX ranch in the Texas Panhandle, after an absence of eight months, and after having ridden horse-back about 3000 miles. . . . Read more Look inside

Emphasizing the region’s social and economic history, The Great Plains during World War II is the first book to examine the effects of the war on the region and the responses of its residents.

"... Male employees, such as those working at the zinc smelters in Amarillo and Dumas, Texas could not quit without the permission of the U.S. Employment Service. Workers who failed to acquire a certificate of separation from the agency could not be rehired by another employer." . . . Read more Look inside

..."Jim Streeter still rides his old dun horse, though not as often as he'd like. He's been deviled by health problems in recent years. I heard that he'd had heart surgery and was loafing in a bed somewhere in Amarillo. I figured he needed a visit and some flowers, so I found and old Xerex antifreeze can put together a river bouquet -- filled the can with horse biscuits, sagebrush, cuttings of ragweed, soapweed and other flora that he would recognize and headed to Amarillo . . ." Read more Look inside

Featuring a side of Tejano history too often neglected, author Arnoldo De León shows that people of Spanish-Mexican descent were not passive players in or, worse, absent from West Texas history but instead were active agents at the center of it . . . Read more Look inside

They Called Them Soldier Boys offers an in-depth study of soldiers of the Texas National Guard’s Seventh Texas Infantry Regiment in World War I, through their recruitment, training, journey to France, combat, and their return home. Gregory W. Ball focuses on the fourteen counties in North, Northwest, and West Texas where officers recruited the regiment’s soldiers in the summer of 1917.

"The companies from Potter, Donley, and Childress counties arrived first, followed by the companies from Hardeman, Foard, and Wilbarger counties " ... Read more Look inside

by Dr. Bo Brock

A collection of humorous and poignant stories from a veterinarian in a small, dusty farming and ranching community in rural West Texas. Dr. Brock gives you an intimate look into his small-town and big-hearted perspective on life, animals, and their owners. His unique perspective and tales of doctoring beloved pets, cantankerous livestock, and occasionally their owners will make you smile, laugh, cry, and . . . Found Inside: "This moment in time starts with my great-uncle J. W., the lone brother in the family, making a trip to the booming city of Amarillo, Texas. While his wife was was undergoing some tests at a hospital there, he would stay with two of the sisters, my Nonny and Jo Anna.  . . ."   Read more Look inside

by David Espinoza from Dimmitt Texas

Raised in a poverty lifestyle, as a five-year-old boy, I was traumatized due to a life-changing accident. I was later confined to a hospital bed at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Amarillo, Texas. I lost half of my eyesight, but that was only the beginning of my challenging experiences. Growing up was a living nightmare as I discovered how lonely life could be. Kids made fun of my appearance. The jokes continued throughout grade school, junior high, and even high school . . . Read more Look inside

John Wesley Hardin is the most famous gunfighter of the American Wild West. The subject of conversations from the Mexican border to the rowdy saloons of Kansas, he was the greatest celebrity of the age. He wrote an autobiography, but he only told what he wanted known, and few have researched beyond that. Today, Hardin is an enigma. Part of the mystery is his disastrous relationship with Helen Beulah Mrose, yet she has not been researched at all. Until now. A primary source used in researching this book was the Potter County courthouse records  . . . Read more Look inside

by Veva Vonter

Texas movies are as vast as the Lone Star State. This book offers readers the chance to visit Texas vicariously by viewing movies filmed in and about the state that reflect Texas history, cultures, and landscapes. Found inside: "The Sundowners (1950), not to be confused with the 1960 movie of the same name about Australian sheepherders, follows the typical B-western pattern, emphasizing horses and gunplay. It was filed on location around Amarillo and the gorgeous Palo Duro Canyon, and features Robert Preston playing Kid Wichita, a gunslinger who  . . . " Read more Look inside

The Resting Places of Famous, Infamous, and Just Plain Interesting Texans

Winner, Journalistic Achievement Award, Texas Historical Foundation, 2004

"Dutch Mantell (1881-1941) was born Alfred Albert Joe de Re la Gardiur, in Diekirch, Luxembourg. Although he began his sports career as a prizefighter, he took up wrestling and became a champion in the sport. He became an American citizen in 1906 and for the next six years toured the nation as a wrestler. From 1913 to 1915 he was a cast member of Hollywood's keystone Cops. In 1925 Mantell made Amarillo his permanent home, and there he helped promote the Wun-Stop-Duzzit tire business . . ."  Read more Look inside

Amarillo became a town in 1887 when merchants opened stores to cater to railroad workers. The first African Americans in the area were Jerry Callaway, who came to the area in 1888 with a white family, and Mathew "Bones" Hooks, a highly respected cowboy who moved to Amarillo in 1900 and later worked for the railroad. By 1908, five African American families had moved to Amarillo. The black community grew and people established churches, businesses, and schools. With the 1950s and 1960s, Amarillo citizens participated , . . Read more Look Inside   . . . for more like this please see Black Texans in History

For 100 years, Texas High Plains Writers has supported and encouraged writers to craft their stories. In this centennial anthology, you will find a collection of short stories, inspirational essays, and poetry that celebrates the past. Thirty-four of our talented members contributed humor, heartache, and truth to these pages. You will discover works from best-selling authors and first-timers nestled together.A cunning escape, mischievous family pets, and many walks through memory lanes... These historic tales are truly a labor of love . . . Read more Look Inside

A Collection of Columns by Jon Mark Beilue

by Amarillo Globe-News

Where Do You Get Your Stories? is a question Jon Mark Beilue hears often, and also the title of his latest book. That question, of where Beilue is going to get the next story, was one that consumed him, particularly his last 12 years as a columnist. In Beilue's words, "I had to fill a blank screen at least three times a week, and so finding stories was a constant churn. Sometimes it was a phone call or email, other times it was something I read. It could be an event, a scene, an observation or simply the evolving of life. I didn't care how I got them . . . Read More

In the Texas Panhandle town of Amarillo, New York attorney Max Friedman is assigned to represent a nightmare client. Joe Wagner is a violent man, dangerous both to family and friends. As Max builds his defense case for murder, he reveals a reason for Joe's violence. But is it a justification? The characters whom Max meets during the course of his investigation include Smith Dixon, a career criminal trying to change the course of his life; Carl Puente, a gambler desperate for a big score; Carl's brother-in-law Freddie Odom, a family man drowning in alcoholism , , , Read more Look Inside

In March 2005, Dr. Steven Berk was kidnapped in Amarillo, Texas, by a dangerous and enigmatic criminal who entered his home, armed with a shotgun, through an open garage door. Dr. Berk’s experiences and training as a physician, especially his understanding of Sir William Osler’s treatise on aequanimitas, enabled him to keep his family safe, establish rapport with his kidnapper, and bring his captor to justice . . . Read more Look Inside

Found Inside: Bill Bobbora was among those "kids," playing for Osborne in the late 1980s. He was recruited out of Amarillo, Texas, where he played defensive line in high school. But he made the transition to the offensive line at Nebraska and was the starting right guard at Nebraska . . ." Read more Look inside

Journal of a College: Amarillo College, Texas

The History of Amarillo College in Texas from its founding in 1929 to 1979. Contains lists of administrators and faculty, student leaders and scholarship holders and more.

Award-winning Amarillo Globe-News columnist David Horsley is back with another collection of his personal essays from the newspaper. This time David's readers have selected over 100 of his best columns on topics ranging from the humorous to the serious to the sublime. Here are light-hearted favorites such as Chaw McCuddy's review of violinist Itzhak Perlman, David's encounter with a feral cat named Osama and the women who defended it, The Colonoscopy Chronicles, the true story of a black bra and how it inflamed readers' imaginations . . . Read more Look Inside

A century ago Americans were still moving west, settling in new states, establishing themselves in new environments. That pattern was followed by the grandparents, then by the parents of Robert L. Pirtle, the author of this autobiography.

"By 1921 the family had moved to Amarillo. Mother attended Wilson Elementary School in Amarillo in 1922. By 1930, Paw Paw and Baw Maw had moved into a little house with a white picket fence on South Pierce Street in Amarillo" . . . Read more Look inside

In response to the stifling socialism of the Canadian health care system and the intolerably long Canadian winters, Dr. Mel Genraich made a life-altering decision: leave Toronto for good, and seek his fortune in Texas. "I've been fortunate (and conniving) enough to have lived in some great homes in such great cities as Toronto, Houston, Lubbock, Oklahoma City, Odessa, Monahans, Levelland, and now back in Lubbock TX. In Amarillo, Texas, I lived in an exclusive country club community right up to and after, my second divorce . . . Read more, Look inside

Georgia O'Keeffe, a superbly gifted American artist usually associated with New Mexico, spent nearly four years in Texas, most of them in the Panhandle. She taught art in the public schools of Amarillo for two years, 1912-1914, and headed the art department at West Texas Normal College (now West Texas A & M University) in Canyon from the fall of 1916 to early 1918 . . . Read more

The Story of W.M.D. Lee

by Amarillo Author Donald F. Schofield

The story of an American tycoon . . . Look inside

The Murder Trials of T. Cullen Davis

The fast living of the Texas rich is the focal point of this true crime story about the murder trials of a multimillionaire oilman acquitted of the murder of his daughter and his wife's lover . . .

The Real Singing Cowboys profiles contemporary cowboy--and cowgirl--singers and musicians who are, or have been, authentic working cowboys or ranchers, or involved in related occupations tied to ranching and cowboy culture.

Found inside: "By the time he was in high school, Buck Ramsey was singing with a local band called the Sandy Swingsters, performing pop and jazz standards.1 Buck received his early education in a two-room schoolhouse in Middlewell, Texas, and graduated from Amarillo High School in 1956 ... Read more Look inside

Light 'n hitch;: A collection of historical writing depicting life on the High Plains

by Laura V Hamner

The High Plains cattle country was in many ways the last frontier in America. In the Seventies, a circle of three hundred miles diameter could have been drawn -from, a point in the center of the Panhandle of Texas: without encompassing a mile of railroad or a town of any size. It was but a stretch of free grass. Two obstacles stood in the way of development: buffalo and Indians. In the Seventies, with no thought of ultimate benefit to cowmen, buffalo hunters and United States soldiers moved into the area. . . Read More

In this newest installment of this award winning series, the authors look at what they like to call School Spirits! Find Haunted Texas schools in Alpine, Alvin, Amarillo, Arlington, Austin, Beaumont, Belton, Big Sandy, Big Spring,  . . . Read more

For more like this see Mysterious Texas

Lines To My Son

by Clarence N Cosby from Canyon Texas

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories (Face Book Group)

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Famous People from Texas County by County

Potter County Treasures