Amarillo is the Yellow City — capital of the Texas Panhandle, out on the high, flat Llano Estacado where the railroad dropped a cattle town in 1887 and Route 66 later ran straight through its heart. This is big-sky Texas: feedlots and ranch country to every horizon, the second-largest canyon in America just down the road, ten Cadillacs planted nose-down in a field, and a town that was once the busiest cattle-shipping point on earth. Cowboy bones, Mother Road neon, helium under the caprock — that is Amarillo.
The twentieth century layered on the legends. Route 66 came through in 1926, and the San Jacinto stretch along Sixth Street — art deco and Spanish Revival storefronts, now a historic district of antiques and dining — became one of the Mother Road's marquee runs. Helium discovered in the Cliffside gas field made Amarillo the Helium Capital of the World, with the federal helium plant opening in 1929. Oil and gas, ranching and meatpacking kept the Panhandle's capital growing — and country fans the world over know the city's name from the rodeo standard “Amarillo by Morning.”
Why People Visit Amarillo Texas
- Drive a stretch of historic Route 66 through the Sixth Street Historic District, with vintage storefronts, antiques, and diners.
- Visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the "Grand Canyon of Texas" and the second-largest canyon in the country.
- Tour the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum, honoring the West's working horse.
- See Cadillac Ranch, the famous row of nose-down Cadillacs along Interstate 40.
- Stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Route 66 icon of Panhandle cattle country.
