DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Now, if you want to understand early Amarillo — and I mean the ground floor of the whole operation — you start with one name: Henry Bradley Sanborn. Born in 1845, gone by 1912, and in between those two dates, the man did a considerable amount of building.
We're talking about a principal early developer of Amarillo itself. And in 1902, right there in the 500 block of South Buchanan, Sanborn put up a house worthy of that ambition. But it wasn't just a house.
Oh no. At that original site, alongside the home, stood his own office building, a carriage house, stables big enough for six coach horses, and — now here's the detail that'll make you do a double take — a deer park. A deer park.
In Amarillo. The man had a deer park. Whatever kind of life Henry Bradley Sanborn was living, it was not a modest one.
Then 1912 came, and Sanborn did not. After his death, the house passed on without him, and in 1921 it was relocated to where it stands today. The move wasn't without cost.
The brick chimneys didn't make the journey. Neither did the cupola — and with it went the weathervane, spinning its last somewhere back on South Buchanan. What arrived here was something reduced, but not diminished.
Because what's left is now one of the oldest houses standing in the city of Amarillo. Six coach horses. A deer park.
And a house that outlasted all of it.
What the marker says
Built 1902 in 500 block, South Buchanan, by principal early developer of Amarillo, Henry Bradley Sanborn (1845-1912). At original site were also owner's office building, carriage house, stables for six coach horses, and a deer park. After death of Sanborn, the home was relocated here in 1921. Losses from the original include brick chimneys and cupola with weathervane. This is now one of the oldest houses in city of Amarillo. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971