Henry B. Sanborn
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1875 Henry B. Sanborn (1845-1912) began a long association with the state of Texas when he became the Texas sales agent for Joseph F. Glidden's newly patented invention, barbed wire. A native of New York, Sanborn had become acquainted with Glidden in DeKalb, Illinois, where he had boarded with the Glidden Family and in 1868 had married Glidden's niece, Ellen Wheeler. At the time Glidden and his partner, Judson P. Warner, shipped the first four carloads of wire to Texas, farmers and ranchers of the state were in the midst of a great controversy over the preservation of open ranges versus closed protection of fields. Sanborn bought 10,000 acres of ranch land in Grayson County on which he sought to prove that barbed wire could be successfully used in fencing large acreages. In 1881 he and Glidden formed a partnership and began what now is known as the Frying Pan Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Surrounded with 120 miles of barbed wire fence, it proved to be a very successful ranching operation. Sanborn was involved in the promotion of the major Amarillo townsite, earning him the title "Father of Amarillo." His ranching and promotional ventures were major factors in making Amarillo and the Panhandle one of Texas' leading cattle and ranching centers. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1875 Henry B. Sanborn became the Texas sales agent for Joseph Glidden's newly patented barbed wire, arriving as ranchers and farmers fought over whether the open range should be fenced. Sanborn bought thousands of acres to prove barbed wire could enclose vast holdings, and in 1881 partnered with Glidden to build the famous Frying Pan Ranch, ringed by 120 miles of wire. His promotion of the Amarillo townsite later earned him the title "Father of Amarillo."
Why it matters
Barbed wire transformed the American West, ending the open range and reshaping ranching — and Sanborn's Panhandle ventures helped turn empty plains into a cattle empire and a city.
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Related people
- · Henry B. Sanborn
- · Joseph F. Glidden
- · Ellen Wheeler
- · Judson P. Warner
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Amarillo
Amarillo, TX
When the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad pushed through the Panhandle in 1887, Colorado City merchants led by J. T. Berry platted Amarillo to serve their South Plains trade, and cowboys elected it the seat of newly organized Potter County. Ranchers J. F. Glidden and H. B. Sanborn of the Frying Pan Ranch soon lured residents to a new townsite addition, and from 1892 to 1897 Amarillo was the nation's largest rural cattle-shipping point. Sanborn's maneuvering to win a key rail junction in 1898 sealed the town's future as the commercial center of the Texas Panhandle.
Henry Bradley Sanborn
Amarillo, TX
A New York native, Henry Bradley Sanborn came to Texas in 1875 as sales agent for barbed-wire inventor Joseph Glidden, and together they founded the vast Frying Pan Ranch in 1881 to prove that wire fencing could tame the open range. When a rival site won the county seat, the undaunted Sanborn developed his own townsite nearby, luring residents there after heavy rains flooded the original and later securing the rail connections that guaranteed Amarillo's future. On this spot stood his home, offices, stables for matched coach horses, and even a deer park.
Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, First Railroad through the Texas Panhandle
Amarillo, TX
Chartered by Fort Worth citizens in 1873 but delayed by that year's financial panic, the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway became the first railroad to cross the Texas Panhandle. Grading began in 1881 under famed engineer G. M. Dodge, and as crews pushed the rails northwest, their camps became towns—Amarillo among them, born in 1887. The line's completion in 1888 opened a through route to Denver and helped transform the old buffalo range into an economy of cattle, grain, and petroleum.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, The Amarillo Story
Amarillo, TX
The arrival of a railroad across the Panhandle gave rise to Amarillo, made county seat of Potter County in 1887, and for a decade the town enjoyed a trade monopoly over the South Plains, ranking as the nation's largest rural cattle-shipping point in the 1890s. When a rival routing threatened to bypass it in 1898, citizens persuaded the Santa Fe to make Amarillo the terminus of its new line; the railroad then moved its headquarters there and, by 1908, folded the town into its transcontinental main line. Branch lines followed, cementing Amarillo as the commercial hub of the High Plains.