Potter County Courthouse
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized in August 1887, Potter County erected its first courthouse in 1888 in old town Amarillo. The building was constructed by Mays, Hightower, and Jackson for a cost of $191. Over the years, three more courthouses were built as Amarillo and Potter County grew. During the 1920's the Panhandle experienced an oil boom. As a result, business increased, the population of Amarillo nearly tripled, and eight sky scrapers were added to the city. The fifth courthouse in Potter County, this building was designed by Architect W.C. Townes of Townes, Lightfoot and Funk of Amarillo. It was constructed at a cost of $420,000 in 1930-32 by Amarillo builder Charles Lambie. More than 500 laborers, residents of Potter County, applied to work on building the new courthouse. The Potter County Courthouse is a fine local example of an art deco style institutional building. It exhibits stepped massing from its entrance pavilion to the top of the tower, and skillful use of details that include ornamental figural and botanical bas relief, symmetrical pilasters and metal casement windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Potter County organized in 1887 and put up its first, humble courthouse in 1888 for just $191. The 1920s oil boom nearly tripled Amarillo's population and studded its skyline with skyscrapers, and the prosperity funded this fifth courthouse, built in 1930–32 for $420,000 by more than 500 local laborers. Designed in a striking Art Deco style with stepped massing and ornamental relief, it was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1996.
Why it matters
The building stands as a monument to the Panhandle oil boom that transformed Amarillo from a dusty cattle town into a modern city.
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Related events
- · Panhandle oil boom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Henry B. Sanborn
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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."
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
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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.