Of the ranching history is texas, texas, texas, but one of the things we talked about this show, we pitched it as looking without rather than always looking within. We are in the panhandle Plains Historical museum. The museum is the largest Historical Museum in the state of texas, if you count it by the number of artifacts and the exhibition title is cattle, cowboys and culture. Kansas city and Amarillo Building an urban west. Michael grauer, both of us are native to kansas city. We were always interested in why this place felt so familiar to us as having grown up there. Michael started looking at the objects and there were over 1,000 objects on a daily basis he started pulling up. We found such a good array, variety of objects that we thought we needed to do a show that told the sister city hood of kansas city and amarillo. This closeness is basically around the train system and the cattle industry that drew those two cities together. We tell the story of that in this show. In the 1870s, cattle were being driven by cowboys, but theyre not the best beef cattle. By 1887, the railroad had cut through this area and founded amarillo based on the railroad. Amarillo as a city didnt exist until the railroad came through. By that time there was more shipping of the cattle on the rails rather than doing the drives anymore and those cattle could be the beef cattle we think of. Kansas city and amarillo were linked by the Santa Fe Railroad, kansas citys Cattle Market started booming based on the cattle being raised in the panhandle. We helped to grow the cattle industry with the train connecting the two. The other aspect is like the culture, fashion and objects in the museum that tell the story of going to kansas city and finding goods and services that were bringing sophistication back here. Even the cowboys could go shopping and buy spurs and boots in kansas city. We didnt have local Business Owners that could sell those items to the cowboys, and i think people can really understand beyond this area its a local history but its also a regional history and its also a national history. It works on a number of levels. We have a newspaper from kansas city that is dated to the era of the boom of oil. A town northwest of amarillo in 1926, oil was discovered in the town and there was a huge influx of investment money. The wonder city of the texas panhandle. This idea that the little amarillo city was the wonder city of the texas panhandle, thats something that, you know, today sounds a little oldfashioned but i think its very true back then. We also have this blueprint above, and its by an architect who deserves his own study. Its showing the networking of amarillo as a crossroads for the United States. It also says ideal location for capital and industries. And you can see that the Santa Fe Railroad between amarillo and kansas city is one straight shot of a line. And its an even almost quicker line than to dallas. Houston isnt even on this map. So the idea that this network between amarillo and kansas city is what this whole show is about and how close those two cities were for a number of reasons, based on the cattle trade at that time. So, these two objects kind of help tell that story. This is a reproduction of the original object. Born in the kansas city area, studied for a few years in pratt, kansas, for college, and then he got a job at the Santa Fe Railroad. And so when he didnt get the raise he wanted after a few years of very good work on the santa fe, he decided to start out in amarillo and found his own firm and basically he lived out his life being an amarillo citizen and he built so much of the landscape in this area. This is a design by him. Here is his signature. Its the skyline of amarillo. After 1926 there was a building boom that happened in the urban space of amarillo and there were more skyscrapers erected in 1926 and 1930 than any other city in the United States. These skyscrapers were seven to ten stories tall. One of the things during the promotion of this show we thought back to the musical of oklahoma. When theyre talking about everything is uptodate in kansas city, they talk about the line building is seven stories is as high as buildings ought to go. This idea of scraping the sky at only seven stories is something for the period that seems a little out of date for us. Hes very proud of the skyline. And he designed a number of things here. He designed the baptist church, First Baptist church, and he also designed the Fisk Building here. Kansas city architects, who also designed the harrington house and many other buildings in councilto downtown amarillo. They designed the first building with a car garage attached to it. Amarillo went from the horse and buggy to street cars to actual automobiles. Between it has the route 66 connection, it becomes an automobile city quickly. You can see that in the structures. To give the sense that this area, panhandle plains and amarillo as a city, its interesting, because its a big urban center for a large urban area. We were interested in how the development of cities and their urban landscape in the west occurred. The idea of kansas city being another city that is not as appreciated as it should be for its role in the United States development of urbanity. So, we were tying those two together and i think people can really understand beyond this area, its a local history but its also a regional history and its also a national history. It works on a number of levels. Our cities tour staff recently travelled to amarillo, texas, to learn about its rich history. To watch more video from amarillo and other stops on our tour visit cspan. Org cities tour. Youre watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. Next an interview with george