|
Former Herring
Hotel in Amarillo
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
| "The Herring
was one of three oil-boom-era hotels built in the 1920s, and is now
the only one standing. It was the largest of these hotels, and was
home to the famous Old Tascosa Room where cattle and oil barons gathered
to discuss business and unwind. This room featured western frescoes
painted by noted muralist and artist H.D. Bugbee. Now only one of
those frescoes is intact after a water main flooded the basement several
years ago. The hotel's 14 stories and 600 hotel rooms made it the
largest of the 1920s-era buildings. Its builder, Cornelius Taylor
Herring, was a pioneer cattleman, oilman and banker. He also owned
98,000 acres of the LS Ranch north of the city." - Wes Reeves,
December 22, 2005 |
|
|
|
Hotel
Herring
L- TE postcard
R- 1950s postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
 |
Hotel Herring
Forum:
Subject:
Sahula Dycke Painting
I
own one of the four Western Paintings that hung in one of the cattlemen
clubs or a ballroom in the old Herring Hotel. There were four original
paintings and when I was doing an internshipat BSA Baptist Hosptal
in the early 80's, workers were loading them on the loading dock
to be hauled away. I inquired about them and asked the workers to
please stop as I had seen them as a child with my grandfather at
the Herring. The person in charge of decoration at the hospital
said, "We are getting rid of them because we are tired of that old
cowboy look, if you want them you can have them". When I got down
to the loading dock, one was removed and two had been hauled away.
I have enjoyed it in my office all these years now and it is a treasure.
The Herring must have been quite the place for everyone from travellers,
and cattlemen and people in the horse business as some of the early
day meetings of the American Quarter Horse Association met there
for some of their annual meetings. The Herring must have had quite
a prestige about it, my family members said it was the place to
be and it held a popular significance for the area. - David McMurry,
April 9, 2006
Subject:
Hotel Herring Memories-Amarillo Texas
HOTEL HERRING
First
and foremost, I am very pleased that this wonderful building is
still standing in downtown Amarillo,
Texas!! When traveling to Amarillo, by car or horse for that
matter, people would say they knew they were getting close to Amarillo
because they could see the; "Tall and alone standing, famous Hotel
Herring". It was a definite landscape landmark in that time.
My fondest memories of this building date back to 1959 thru 1964,
when I was just a very young girl. My grandfather, Walter Winstead
Holmes, was an oilman. He lived in Amarillo, along with all the
other oilmen drilling for oil, during the 'Panhandle Oil Boom'.
His office was downtown and when my family and I would drive from
Borger to visit him, we would
go eat lunch in one of the restaurants in the hotel. However that
was not the most exciting thing for me. In the lobby area there
was a fish pond. It was: THE FISH POND. The best ever in the whole
world! It looked absolutely huge to me. The beautiful fish, running
water and of course a duck or two could be seen in that pond also!
Everything looked so Grand!! That lobby was just heaven. Marble,
fixtures, pictures, OH MY!
My grandfather also had a suite, on one of the upper levels, which
he lived in during his later years of life. There was a full kitchen,
two bedrooms (I remember 2, I think), living room with fireplace
and one bathroom. Very nice in that day and time. For Amarillo that
was one very fancy and popular hotel. I was too young to go into
the 'dance hall' area but it's my understanding that it had the
most wonderful entertainment and wild parties!
My lunches and my visits with my most favorite grandfather will
always remain close to my heart. He was the most wonderful, kind
and funny grandfather a young girl could have! - Jackie M Dunlap,
City Of Amarillo, March 03, 2006
|
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and vintage or recent photos, please contact
us. |
|
|
HOME
