West Texas State Normal College opened in Canyon in 1910 with 152 students, lost its first main building to fire in 1914, and rebuilt. The school became a teachers college, hosted Georgia O'Keeffe as head of its art department, and gave the Panhandle its great history museum. This walk covers Old Main, the library, the museum and the pioneer cabin beside it, the O'Keeffe marker, and the Depression-era petrified wood hall built by students.
West Texas A&M has an outsized place in the story of the Texas Panhandle. It opened in Canyon in 1910 as West Texas State Normal College with 152 students and lost its first main building to fire in 1914. It went on to hire Georgia O'Keeffe to lead its art department and gave the region its great history museum. This compact walk touches each of those chapters.
The heavyweight is the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. It began with Pioneer Hall in 1932-33, and from 1935 Works Progress Administration crews brought in archeological and fossil finds faster than the building could hold them. Today it covers the region's ranching, oil, art and natural history. A state marker recalls O'Keeffe's years in Canyon, from fall 1916 to early 1918, when walks to Palo Duro Canyon and across the plains fed a burst of watercolors that helped launch her career.
The campus's own history shows up in its buildings too. Tradition says the buffalo mascot, chosen in 1921, traces back to a cowboy's tale of roping two buffalo calves on the ground where Old Main now stands. And a Depression-era recreation hall, built partly with student labor, still shows off walls of petrified wood and a big stone fireplace.
It's a short route with a big sense of place and a fine companion to a day at Palo Duro Canyon.
The tour begins in Canyon. Open Texas Roam to follow the full route stop by stop, with directions and audio narration as you go.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 6 stops, about 0.8 miles, ~40 min. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
In Canyon, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
Visit in daylight on a weekday when campus buildings are open; all the markers, the cabin and the building exteriors can be seen from outside, but check the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's current status and hours before planning to go inside.
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Canyon with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 6 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
