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.”
A creek named yellow, a town painted to match, the busiest cattle pens on earth, and a highway that carried the whole country through town — Amarillo wears its story the way the Panhandle wears its sky: wide open. Amarillo, Texas — the Yellow City of the Panhandle, on Route 66 since 1926. Wear a little of it wherever the road takes you.
Why People Visit Amarillo Texas
Amarillo draws visitors with a mix of Western heritage, natural wonder, and Mother Road Americana. Travelers find it both a marquee stop along historic Route 66 and the gateway to Palo Duro Canyon, with deep cattle-ranching and Quarter-Horse traditions and the wide, plainspoken character of the high plains. It is proud, practical, and unmistakably Texan.
