Amarillo has a wonderful treasure trove of history, much of it unknown and spicy, just being uncovered…
After much digging and research, King Hill, an Amarillo author, teacher and historian, has unearthed some new local legends — worthy of acknowledgement and rich in character and content, along with other well-known locals.
While working on the project for several years, Hill decided to approach KAMR Local 4 News and Patriots in Action about working in partnership to produce a short video series about the icons of Amarillo, some of whom have a not-so-prim-and-proper, but colorful, past.
The first of the 60-second spots starts Thursday, Sept. 4 and runs throughout the day, and they’ll continue during the entire month, and then change to another character. Many of those heralded figures are tough Panhandle women with grit and gumption, rivaling the cowboys, ranchers, oilmen and tycoons of their time. Others include a wide-ranging group of people.
The story of Frenchie McCormick, barroom dancer, card dealer with class
The first segment to run will feature one of these “people that are important to us, Frenchie McCormick,” Hill said. The spot will be narrated by Wes Reeves, who is a fan of Frenchie. McCormick was known as a saloon dancer who lived to be 89 and was the last citizen to leave the town of Old Tascosa, near Boys Ranch. Hill was intrigued by her story and took a look into her history. There are several tales regarding her origin, but one involved her being raised in a convent, learning French along with manners and a great education, even though later she was known to engage in saloon dancing and even some boxing with cowboys hanging around.
Another story said she ran away from home and danced in the famous saloon in St. Louis called the St. Bendict. And from there, she moved southwest to Dodge City, Kansas. Frenchie could also speak French. She had dark hair and striking blue eyes. “This story goes that she was dancing in a saloon and one of the cowboys shouted, ‘Well, I’m gonna dance with Frenchie,’ and the name stuck,” Hill said. During that period, she traveled around, dancing and dealing Faro, a French gambling game of cards, at a saloon in Old Mobeetie and later in St. Louis.
“It was in Dodge City that she met Mickey McCormick, an Irish settler and gambler who was known to carry as much as a thousand dollars in his pocket,” Hill said. “Mick was said to have claimed that he never lost when Frenchie was by his side. It was Mick that took her to Old Tascosa where they lived together in the rough and tumble western town. He had a livery stable with a gambling room in the back. She met Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett and other cattle rustlers and gunslingers who brought stolen cattle to Texas. The couple was finally forced to get married or leave, to which they complied and lived happily together until Mick died.”
Mickey died at a rather early age and was buried outside her adobe home, where she could watch over his grave. As the city began to move away and migrate to Amarillo after the railroad came in there, she watched the town dwindle into nothing but refused to leave. “No one will ever know who I was,” she reportedly said.
Hill said that she had to stuff her adobe home with rags and material to keep out the cold winds. Her friends had said that there were rattlesnakes under her bed and begged her to leave and go with them to Adrian. As the last survivor of Old Tascosa, she finally left with her friend’s promise that when she died, she would be returned to her place and buried next to her husband, which they complied with. The Bivins, who owned the land, gave her a headstone which read, “Home on the Range.”
Later, the land was sold to Boys Ranch and the grave still remains, as does the beautiful Cottonwood tree, which still lives in front of her home and was a trail marker for the Comanches who roamed there. Hill said that Comanches often would bend trees along a trail as signs along it.
Frenchie lived eight decades and was able to see the Old Wild West and later experience televisions and automobiles. She was able to visit the Tri-State Fair in Amarillo and other places as well.
Other legends being featured
Among others to be featured will be Georgia O’Keefe, an American modernist artist who lived in Amarillo from 1912 to 1914. She taught art in Amarillo public schools and returned to Canyon in 1916. She was inspired by the Palo Duro Canyon and surrounding landscape, which reflected in her art.
Astronaut Rick Husband will be featured in October’s television spot, to be narrated by Mayor Cole Stanley. Husband died suddenly and tragically in the Columbia shuttle disaster during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. The Amarillo International Airport was changed to Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in honor of his legacy and life in Amarillo.
Other true tales coming up involve Joe Fortenberry, who was born in Happy, Texas, who was a 1939 basketball star in the famous Olympics in Munich. He won a Gold Medal and has been credited with inventing the “slam dunk” shot so famous in the sport now. Fortenberry has a son who lives in Amarillo and a daughter who grew up here but now lives in Colorado.
Other featured Panhandle legends will be Molly Goodnight, wife of Charles Goodnight, famous cattleman and driving force in getting the railroad to run through Amarillo, thus cementing Amarillo as a major city in the Panhandle; Bones Hooks, a well-known Black cowboy and horse breaker who became a civic figure in Amarillo and left an enduring legacy; and Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches and found later by Texas Rangers, when she was an adult, returned against her will to America, but rejected the American way of life, wanting to return to her home to her three sons and an Indian chief whom she loved.
For more information about the series, go to myhighplains.com, and scroll down on the website to High Plains History, which will take you to the most recent episode. The segments will also be mentioned on Town Square Media at Mix Radio 94.1.
“The City of Amarillo Public Library will also be having books available on the people mentioned. Amarillo teachers are excited about using the possibility of using the material in classes, because I have written it to fit the curriculum for the State of Texas,” Hill said.
“History has always been important to me,” Hill added. “I’ve written five shows about Texas history and Texas people including the Alamo. Many are legends and love stories such as Frenchie McCormick and Cynthia Ann Parker.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: ‘Panhandle Legends’ uncovers colorful Texas characters from our past
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
