Director’s Report Newsletter February 2024
2023 was quite a year for our organization; we couldn’t have done it without your support. We ended the year in a very different yet much stronger position than where we started, and 2024 will be no different. Here is a brief recap of where we have been and a peek at where we are heading.
As we began 2023, we looked for the best way to celebrate the rich railroading history of Amarillo and the people who made this city what it is today. Our organization has worked to acquire the old Santa Fe Depot building downtown for years because we thought this would be the perfect place to tell the stories of our pioneers and the people who built this town. We spent the better part of last year working to make that a reality.
In the end, the city did not share our vision, and we had to find a different location. It was an agonizing decision for all of us at the Amarillo Depot in part because without a plan, the depot will continue to decay, and what should be a symbol of determination and pioneering spirit is still something we can only look at from the outside. It is not the point of pride that it deserves to be.
So, we went looking and found a structure that we again thought would be a great place to house and share these stories. The Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, one of Amarillo’s three original rail lines, built a Roundhouse sometime before 1913. Though it was expanded and re-configured a few times, that Roundhouse still stands where it was built. BNSF now owns the property. We approached them and asked that they either sell or lease the space to us so that we could build our museum and attraction. And after eight months, they gave us an answer. Unfortunately for us, the answer was no.
Rest assured, we are just getting started. We have identified several properties that would be appropriate and are evaluating each of their strengths and weaknesses. This is a difficult process, and while we are all eager to start building, finding the right place for the Amarillo Depot is important. Personally, I have been involved in building several museums. Everybody involved in these projects shared one thing in common. Though we were all from different backgrounds, experiences, and even world views, we could all agree that we weren’t building these things for ourselves. We built them for the following generations. If it takes a little time to get it right, we know we should take that time to ensure that whatever we build will last. That these stories will still be told long after our time.
That is what we are working on right now at the Amarillo Depot.
Scott Metelko
Executive Director
the Amarillo Depot