St. Mary's Academy
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 1899, St. Mary's Academy was originally located in Clarendon (60 mi. SE). In 1913 the institution was moved to Amarillo through the efforts of The Rev. David H. Dunn and the local Knights of Columbus council. The original section of this three-story brick schoolhouse was completed the same year. Later additions were constructed to accommodate the school's growth. Operated by the Amarillo Diocese since 1945, St. Mary's Academy has played a vital role in the educational development of the area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word founded St. Mary's Academy in Clarendon in 1899, then moved it to Amarillo in 1913 through the efforts of the Rev. David H. Dunn and the local Knights of Columbus. The original three-story brick schoolhouse rose that same year, expanding with later additions as enrollment grew. The Amarillo Diocese has operated the school since 1945.
Why it matters
The academy reflects the vital role Catholic teaching orders and immigrant faith communities played in building education across the Texas Panhandle.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Rev. David H. Dunn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Polk Street Schools
Amarillo, TX
Polk Street in Amarillo hosted three public schools over the twentieth century, beginning with the 1900 Red Brick School, which kept sheds for the horses and donkeys ridden in by ranch children. A 1911 brick building became Amarillo High School, later joined by Central (Nixson) Junior High, and successive campuses rose and fell as the growing city rebuilt and expanded. Amarillo High integrated peacefully in 1967, and after a 1970 fire the school moved on, leaving the block to Amarillo College.
Potter County Library
Amarillo, TX
The Potter County free library began in 1902 through the efforts of twelve local women, who gathered donated books and raised money with bazaars and candy sales. After moving through a series of borrowed quarters, the library won county support in 1921, and this building rose in 1922 for $25,000 in the prairie-school style. Its basement offered a lounge for women shoppers, children, and tourists, staffed by a matron.
Northwest Texas Hospital School of Nursing
Amarillo, TX
When the Panhandle oil boom of the 1920s swamped Amarillo's medical facilities, the city answered with a public teaching hospital, and prominent architect Guy Carlander designed this Prairie-style building in 1924 to house its nurses and a tuberculosis ward. For six decades the school trained nurses to staff a fast-growing region until it closed in 1985. Its clean horizontal lines still speak to the optimism of boomtown Amarillo.
Ordway Hall
Amarillo, TX
Built in 1936–37 to a design by architect Guy Carlander, Ordway Hall served as the administration building for Amarillo College and was named for George Ordway, who helped win the legislative authority to found the school and became its first president. Its buff-brick, L-shaped form rises to a four-story tower and is dressed in crisp Art Deco ornament — chevrons, flutes, and terra-cotta panels of gnomes at their books. Inside, terrazzo floors and patterned brick carry the same careful craftsmanship.