Today Amarillo is the capital of the Texas Panhandle — a high-plains city of cattle, energy, the self-styled "Helium Capital of the World," and a steady stream of Route 66 travelers passing through on the way across the country. Just to the south, Palo Duro Canyon opens 800 feet into the plains, the "Grand Canyon of Texas." Our Amarillo designs gather that identity into wearable form — the Yellow City, the longhorn-and-star, the Quarter Horse, the Mother Road. From the cattle sidings to the canyon rim — wear a little of the high-plains Panhandle.
They named it yellow. When the railroad reached the high plains of the Texas Panhandle in 1887, the cattle town that sprang up took the Spanish word for yellow — amarillo — for the wildflowers, or the soil. The Yellow City grew into one of the busiest cattle-shipping points on earth, then a marquee stop on Route 66 halfway between Chicago and the coast, with the second-largest canyon in the country cut into the plains just to the south. Cattle, canyon, and the Mother Road — this is Amarillo, and this page tells its story.
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.
