Historical Marker
Homesite of Judge James Nathan Browning
Amarillo, Potter County · Texas
Erected 1969
Browning's frontier years were spent near Fort Griffin. After a year as a cowboy in Stephens County he went into the cattle business with his brother Joe, which brought them into Indian fights, and read law under C. K. Stribling. As Shackelford county attorney he turned his reforming zeal on gambling and other frontier vices and taught a Sunday school class. His first wife, Cornelia Beckham, died in childbirth, and he married Virginia Bozeman in 1879. Voters called him Honest Jim, and in 1896 he moved to Amarillo and began a sixteen-year law partnership with W. H. Madden.
What the plaque says
Homesite of Judge James Nathan Browning Cowboy, lawyer, state official and jurist. Born in Arkansas, Browning received only a few months formal education, but taught himself by reading at night by the dim light of a pine knot. At 16, he came with his family to Cooke County, Texas, but later moved west to become a cowboy. His first job as a trail hand opened a nine-year career as a cattleman. His quick mind and desire for knowledge led him to begin the study of law with a law firm at Fort Griffin. Admitted to the Bar in 1876, he began a dual career of public service and private practice that continued through moves to Mobeetie, Clarendon and Amarillo. He was named first district attorney of the 31st Judicial District, a sprawling area taking in the entire Panhandle; he often had to ride hundreds of lonely miles to attend court. He was elected (1882) State Representative from the 43rd District (which included 69 counties). Re-elected in 1884, 1886, 1890, he became a popular champion of the rights of small farmers and settlers against big ranching interests. He served as Lieutenant Governor, 1898-1902; and on the Board of Regents, University of Texas, 1903-1907. From 1906 to 1914 he served as District Judge in Amarillo. Twice married, he had 10 children. (1969)
Where it stands
35.23897, -101.83312 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Route 66 Sixth Street Historic District — 2.7 miThirteen blocks of Amarillo's streetcar suburb that Route 66 turned into a roadside strip, from the 1922 Nat to Texaco, Phillips and Dutch Mill stations, now shops and bars.
- Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument — 5.3 miFour sealed time capsules raised in Amarillo in 1968 for helium's centennial, in the city that for years produced almost all the world's commercial helium from the Cliffside field.
- Cadillac Ranch — 9.4 miTen Cadillacs from 1949 to 1963 planted nose down in a pasture west of Amarillo by the Ant Farm collective in 1974, on private land where visitors are let in to paint them.
- Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum — 18 miThe Panhandle's great collection, some two million objects behind a 1933 Art Deco hall carved with cattle brands, closed to the public since March 2025 over fire-safety violations.