The Amarillo Hotel, 1889 to 1965

According to Wikipedia, the first photo was taken in 1889, three weeks after the "Town of Amarillo," Texas was incorporated. (The "City of Amarillo" was not incorporated until 1899.) In the 1889 photo, the 2-story building on the left was the old Amarillo Hotel, which at the time had thirty rooms and was located at 3rd & Polk. The second photo shows the hotel at a later date, after another wooden structure was built next to it.

The third photo shows the new brick version of the hotel that was built in 1908 next to the old wooden hotel, which is partially visible at the right edge of the photo. The old wooden hotel was later moved to 3rd & Van Buren so that a new 1922 brick addition could be added to the 1908 structure.

The fourth and fifth photos show the hotel with its 1922 and 1927 additions. The old wooden hotel that had been moved to 3rd and Van Buren and was being used to housed hotel employees when it burned down in 1926.

The seventh photo shows the Amarillo Hotel sometime after it closed its doors as a hotel on April 7, 1965.

The last two photos show the tower portion of the hotel on April 16, 1978, the day it was demolished by implosion, which supposedly took only eight seconds to complete.

The building on the left is the old Amarillo Hotel that was at 3rd & Polk in 1889

The old Amarillo Hotel at 3rd & Polk, sometime after it was built in 1889 and 1908, when a new brick version of the hotel was built right beside it. 

The brick building in the photo is "The Amarillo" Hotel built in 1908. It was built next to the old wooden Amarillo Hotel, which was 1889 and can be seen at the right edge of the photo. After the 1908 brick hotel was built, the old wooden hotel was used to house hotel employees. The wooden structure was later moved to 3rd & Van Buren so that a new brick addition could be added to the 1908 structure in 1922.

The new Amarillo Hotel at 3rd & Polk. The portion of the hotel on the left side of the photo shows a lighter brick portion and a darker brick portion. The lighter brick portion is the part of the hotel that was built in 1908. The darker portion is the portion that was built in 1922. On the right side of the photo, the portion beginning at the awning and going back to the edge of the photo looks like the addition that was added to the hotel in 1927. Notice that the façade is different.

The back portion of the wing along 3rd St. may have been the 1927 addition since it had a different exterior design.

1939 Amarillo Hotel Billboard

Photo taken sometime after the Amarillo Hotel closed its doors in 1965.