Historical Marker
Polk Street Schools
Amarillo, Potter County · Texas
Erected 2010
The college that bought the block had begun twice. Amarillo's first college opened in September 1897 in two store buildings moved onto a four-block tract a mile from town; its teachers drew no salaries but shared the tuition of five dollars a month per pupil, and it closed in 1910, the land going back to Henry Sanborn for $600. A second start came in 1929, when Amarillo Junior College opened at the Municipal Auditorium with 350 students. It moved to its campus on Washington Street in 1938, decades before it bought the Polk Street block.
What the plaque says
Polk Street Schools During the 20th century, Polk Street was home to three public schools. The first opened in 1900 to meet the needs of the rapidly-growing Amarillo community. Bounded by Polk, Tyler, 12th and 13th Streets, the Red Brick School house supplied space for 284 students; the property also had sheds for the horses and donkeys belonging to students coming from ranches. In 1911, a brick building was completed south of the Red Brick School at 1300 Polk Street; it was named Amarillo High School. In 1921, the Red Brick School was razed to make room for a new, larger Amarillo High School, which opened the next year. The 1300 Polk Street building became Central Junior High School; it was later renamed Elizabeth Nixson Junior High School in honor of a former principal. In 1927, the empty space in Amarillo High School's u-shape design was filled with a cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium. Further additions were made in 1951 and 1952. In 1964, Nixson Junior High School was razed; other educational facilities were built on the site. Three years later, Amarillo High School integrated without major incident. A 1970 fire destroyed the main building's third floor and the auditorium, and damaged the rest of the structure. Students attended classes in usable rooms and in nearby churches until it was decided to rebuild the high school on Danbury Street. The school board sold the block to Amarillo College, and the building at 1200 Polk was razed. Today, other structures from Nixson Junior High and Amarillo High School are still used. Although the former school buildings on Polk Street are no longer employed in primary and secondary education, the schools' legacy lies in the vital contributions of the former students in the community, state and nation. (2010)
Where it stands
35.20122, -101.83850 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Route 66 Sixth Street Historic District — 1.7 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 — 4.2 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 — 8.4 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 — 16 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.