DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, out on the Texas Panhandle, where the wind has opinions and the land goes on forever, there's a story that starts with two names you might not expect to find partnered up together. Henry Sanborn — Amarillo pioneer — and J.F.
Glidden, the inventor of barbed wire. In 1881, those two men founded the Frying Pan Ranch. You want to talk about a partnership with some history to it, well, there it is.
But partnerships don't always last. By 1894, that one was dissolved. And here's where our man enters the picture.
Glidden sold the ranch to his son-in-law — a fellow named W.H. Bush. William Henry Bush, born 1849, died 1931.
He inherited a piece of Panhandle ground with a name already attached to legend, and he set about making a few marks of his own. Now, Bush was not the kind of man who kept things close. He gave.
He gave generously, and he gave far and wide. Way back east in Martinsburg, New York — his birthplace — he endowed a free library and a park. A man doesn't forget where he came from, apparently.
Up in Chicago, he served as a patron of the Art Institute. And right there in Amarillo, he supported the Public Library. But here's the one that really put down roots.
In 1900, Bush gave a gift of land that established the site of St. Anthony's Hospital. Land into healing — that's a transaction with some weight to it.
And then, toward the end, there's this one last detail the marker offers up, quiet and particular. In 1926, Bush had a house built — the Round Up House, they called it. He gave it to his daughter, Emeline, on her sixteenth birthday.
A ranch, a hospital, a library, a park, an art institute, and a house for a girl turning sixteen. William Henry Bush spread himself across a lot of Texas — and a good stretch beyond it too.
What the marker says
(1849 - 1931) The Frying Pan Ranch was founded in 1881 by Amarillo pioneer Henry Sanborn and J.F. Glidden, the inventor of barbed wire. The partnership was dissolved in 1894. Glidden sold the ranch to his son-in-law, W.H. Bush, who later endowed the free library and park in his birthplace, Martinsburg, New York. Bush was a patron of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Amarillo Public Library. His gift of land in 1900 established the site of St. Anthony's Hospital. The Round Up House built in 1926 was a present to his daughter, Emeline, on her sixteenth birthday. (1984)