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40 yr. Photos
1200 South Polk Street
Destroyed in a fire on March 1, 1970
Amarillo High School first opened in 1889 in a two room
structure that had also served as the first Potter County Court House. The
building received several new additions (including a salon) to accommodate the
rapidly growing Amarillo area. The over crowded school house was abandoned in
1889 when the Amarillo settlers built a new “city hall” at 1200 South Polk
Street and rented it to the School Board for the price of $1.00. The building
became know as “Red Brick” and included accommodations such as horse and
donkey stalls.
In 1906, “Red Brick” was too small for the ever growing student population,
know as the Amarillo High Savages. The school moved to a new location at 500
Johnson, which housed the school for only a few short years, until in 1910 a
new building was constructed at 1300 S. Polk. That building was also soon
abandoned when the original “Red Brick” was torn down in 1921 to make room for
the structure that was to serve as the Amarillo High School residence for
almost 50 years.
In 1970, on an early Sunday morning in March, a fire raged through the
building. It first began in a second story storeroom, caused by a overheated
boiler below, and soon spread to damage nearly all of the structure and
destroy most of the property inside. Several courageous, yet foolish students
arrived on the scene first and began removing textbooks, trophies, class
gifts, art pieces and other artifacts from the burning building. Fortunately,
no one was injured in the fire. The damage was estimated at the time to be
nearly 2 million dollars.
The approximately 1,700 Amarillo High School students spent the remainder of
the year in makeshift classes set up in nearby Churches and the undamaged
school gymnasiums and armory. The experience created a bond among the
students, who were grateful not to be farmed out to another high schools in
the area. Renovations in the burned out building accommodated students for the
next three years until a new high school could be built.
After the fire in 1970, the Amarillo School Board voted to rebuild the
school-- not on Polk Street, the site of the current school building, but at
another larger campus on the city’s growing southwest side. The decision was a
controversial one and protests against the move were soon heard in the streets
and courthouses of Amarillo.
The Amarillo Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People filed a suit in U.S. District Court against the school board.
The suit not only sought an injunction to the proposed site but also sought an
order to implement a federal integration plan and to set up fair guidelines
for the hiring and promotion of black personnel. The school board testified
that the move was based solely on the residences of the students and that
there were no racial considerations in purchasing the new campus. They stated
the need for more room and the desirability of moving the campus away from the
downtown area as key considerations in the move.
In December of 1970, the U.S. district court ruled in favor of the school
district. The process of moving the school begun and in the Fall of 1973, the
campus opened its new doors at the current Amarillo High School site of 4225
Danbury.
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