DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm not gonna add a word it didn't earn. Way out on the Texas Panhandle, in Amarillo, there was a place folks just called The Nat — and if you know, you know. If you don't, settle in.
The full name was the Natatorium, and it started life as something pretty simple: an open air building wrapped around a swimming pool. Not just any pool, mind you — thirty-six feet wide and a hundred and one feet long. That's a serious stretch of water.
It opened in July of 1922, and right out of the gate it had people coming through the doors. But open air in Amarillo means you're at the mercy of the Panhandle wind and weather, so by 1923 they enclosed the whole operation. Year-round swimming.
Smart move. Then came 1926, and that's where The Nat really found its voice. Somebody looked at that enormous pool and thought — what if we covered it?
Ten thousand square feet of maple flooring, laid right over the water. Just like that, a swimming pool became a dance hall. And not a modest one.
The place employed forty staff members at its peak, and it offered dining on top of everything else. Now here's the detail that really puts The Nat on the map — well-known bands traveling along Route 66 often stopped here to entertain. Route 66 was the highway of motion, of music moving west, and The Nat was right there to catch it.
Decades rolled by. The Nat served as a significant social center for the Amarillo area through all of it. It did finally close as a public dance hall in the 1960s.
But you don't put ten thousand square feet of maple floor over a swimming pool, pull in the bands off Route 66, feed the people, dance the nights away for decades — and just disappear quietly. The Nat earned its marker.
What the marker says
The Natatorium, an open air building surrounding a swimming pool that measured 36' by 101', opened in July 1922. "The Nat" was enclosed in 1923 for year-round use. In 1926 the building was converted into a dance hall with 10,000 square feet of maple flooring covering the pool area. "The Nat" also provided dining and at its peak employed 40 staff members. Well known bands traveling along Route 66 often stopped here to entertain. Though closed as a public dance hall in the 1960's, "The Nat" served the Amarillo area as a significant social center for decades. (1996)