Amarillo is the 14th-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 173,627 at the 2000 census. The Amarillo metropolitan area has an estimated population of 236,113 in four counties. By 2010 the population of the city will near an estimated 200,000.

Amarillo was originally named Oneida and it is situated in the Llano Estacado region.Rathjen, Fredrick W. The Texas Panhandle Frontier (1973). pg. 11. The University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-78007-9. The availability of the railroad and freight service provided by the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad contributed the city's growth as a cattle marketing center in the late 19th century. . Retrieved on 2007-01-25. Amarillo is the regional economic center for the Texas Panhandle , and is economically significant for Eastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The city was once the self-proclaimed "Helium Capital of the World" for having one of the country's most productive helium fields. The city is also known as "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (as the city takes its name from the Spanish word for yellow). Also crowned "Beef City" by Amarillo group "Lockjaw" for the city's growth as a cattle marketing center in the late 19th century. . and former beef industry IBP now owned by Tyson Foods and most recently "Rotor City, USA" for its V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft assembly plant. Amarillo operates one of the largest meat packing areas in the United States. Pantex, the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility in the country, is also a major employer. The attractions Cadillac Ranch and Big Texan Steak Ranch were located on the former U.S. Highway 66, which passes through the city.

History

Large ranches exist in the Amarillo area: among others, the defunct XIT Ranch and the still functioning JA Ranch founded in 1877 by Charles Goodnight and John George Adair. Goodnight continued the partnership for a time after Adair's death with Adair's widow, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair, who was then the sole owner from 1887 until her death in 1921.

In April 1887, J. T. Berry established a site for a town after he chose a well-watered section along the way of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad, which had begun building across the Texas Panhandle. Berry and Colorado City, Texas merchants wanted to make their new town site the region's main trading center. On August 30, 1887, Berry's town site won the county seat election and was established in Potter County. Availability of the railroad and freight service after the county seat election made the town a fast growing cattle marketing center.

The settlement originally was called Oneida; it would later change its name to Amarillo. Amarillo's name probably derives from yellow wildflowers that were plentiful during the spring and summer or the nearby Amarillo Lake and Amarillo Creek, named in turn for the yellow soil along their banks and shores (Amarillo is the Spanish word for the color yellow). Despite having a name of Spanish origin, Amarillo's name is pronounced in English as "Am-ah-RILL-oh" rather than "Ah-mah-REE-yoh". Early residents pronounced it according to the Spanish pronunciation, but within a year, the English pronunciation prevailed. Charles F. Rudolph, editor of the Tascosa Pioneer, predicted the pronunciation change after blaming Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad employees for ignoring the word's Spanish pronunciation.