Fascinating Photo Shows Creation Of Oldham Circle In Wolflin
Ever come across something as simple as a photo of horses in a field that makes your jaw drop? It happened to me. And let me explain why.
This photograph of horses buckled to some kind of contraption is how Oldham Circle in Wolflin began.
Yes. Really. This is Oldham Circle in the late 1910s or early 1920s.
See, Wolflin Estate was once a patch of land that operated as a dairy farm. The name of it was Daylight Dairy and it was owned by a man named Charles Oldham Wolflin and it covered 640 acres.
Oldham Circle is one of the few roundabouts found in the Amarillo city limits, and I've always wondered why it was so different from all the other streets. While I'm not sure of the reason for it being a roundabout, I can't help but feel stunned as I look at the photograph and compare it to the Oldham Circle of today.
The Historic Wolflin District is a treasure trove of historical gems that I think I could spend all day learning about. There's so many phenomenal nuggets of early Amarillo that I've come across.
For example, take this early photo of Wolflin Park off 32nd and Hayden taken in 1927.
The dirt roads, the lone house. It's almost like watching a diamond be cut.
Here it is by 1929. There's still only one house, but you can see that the towering Siberian elms have been planted. There's even a little fire hydrant in the bottom left corner.
Finally, here's a photo of 22nd and Lipscomb that was taken in 1929.
I can't get over the sight of all the empty fields.
Compare that against how it looks today.
Finding these photos puts me in a strange mood. It's a sense of being humbled; an appreciation of the passage of time along with the incredible and long lasting impact left by the city's leaders.