Filmed on Sunday, March 10 2024, I drive around downtown Amarillo, TX to see what's going on.
The settlement originally was called Oneida; it later changed its name to Amarillo, which probably derived from yellow wildflowers that were plentiful during the spring and summer or the nearby Amarillo Lake and Amarillo Creek.
Early residents originally pronounced the city's name more similar to the Spanish pronunciation, ah-meh-REE-yoh.
By the late 1890s, Amarillo had emerged as one of the world's busiest cattle-shipping points, and its population grew significantly. The city became a grain elevator, milling, and feed-manufacturing center after an increase in production of wheat and small grains during the early 1900s. Discovery of natural gas in 1918 and oil three years later brought oil and gas companies to the Amarillo area.
The United States government bought the Cliffside Gas Field with high helium content in 1927 and the Federal Bureau of Mines began operating the Amarillo Helium plant two years later. The plant was the sole producer of commercial helium in the world for a number of years.
World War II led the establishment of Amarillo Army Air Field in east Amarillo and the nearby Pantex Army Ordnance Plant, which produced bombs and ammunition. After the end of the war, both of the facilities were closed. The Pantex Plant was reopened in 1950 and produced nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War.
In 1949, a deadly F4 tornado devastated much of Amarillo, shortly after nightfall on May 15, tearing through the south and east sides of the city, killing seven people, and injuring more than 80 others. The tornado ripped through Amarillo's most densely populated areas, demolishing almost half of the city, causing catastrophic damage and loss of life.
Amarillo is considered the regional economic center for the Texas Panhandle, as well as Eastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma Panhandle. The meat packing industry is a major employer in Amarillo; about one-quarter of the United States' beef supply is processed in the area.
The city gained national media attention in 1998 when local cattlemen unsuccessfully sued television talk show host Oprah Winfrey for comments made on her show connecting American beef to mad cow disease, costing them and their industry millions of dollars. In order to attend the trial in Amarillo, she temporarily relocated her show to the Amarillo Little Theatre for nearly a year.
During the trial, Winfrey hired Dallas-based jury consultant Phil McGraw to aid her attorneys on selecting and analyzing the members of the jury. McGraw would later become a regular guest on Winfrey's television show and subsequently started his own talk show, Dr. Phil, in 2002.
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