Henry Bradley Sanborn
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1845-1912) Principal early-day developer of Amarillo. Born in New York state; employed 1875 by barbed wire inventor J.F. Glidden as his Texas sales agent. With Glidden he established the famous 250,000-acre Frying Pan Ranch in 1881 to prove the economic advantages of barbed wire fencing. Building of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway through the region led voters to organize Potter County. In the election on Aug. 30, 1877, Sanborn offered a site for the county seat. A rival section was chosen. Undaunted, Sanborn began developing the Glidden & Sanborn Addition one mile east of the new town site. In 1889 heavy rains and other inducements led residents to move to Glidden & Sanborn Addition. In 1892 Sanborn traded his interest in The Frying Pan for Glidden's interest in the city. In 1898 he secured a rail connection to the South Plains which assured the future of Amarillo. On this site Sanborn and his wife (Glidden's niece, Ellen Wheeler) had their home, an office building, a carriage house, stables for their six matched coach horses, and a deer park. Henry Bradley Sanborn, "Father of Amarillo," died on May 19, 1912. (1971)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
Sanborn's story ties together two forces that remade the West — barbed wire and the railroad — and shows how a single promoter's persistence could decide which town on the plains would thrive.
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Related people
- · Henry Bradley Sanborn
- · Joseph F. Glidden
Related events
- · Founding of the Frying Pan Ranch
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Henry B. Sanborn Building (1903)
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Built in 1903, this Amarillo building is tied to Henry Bradley Sanborn, one of the men most responsible for the city's very existence. Sanborn, who made his fortune promoting barbed wire, helped relocate and establish Amarillo on higher, better-drained ground in the 1880s, earning him a reputation as a founder of the town. By the early 1900s his name was woven through the young Panhandle city's growth. A building raised for him marks the confidence of a frontier settlement maturing into a permanent community.
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