Don Harrington Discovery Center is a nonprofit interactive science center and planetarium in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. The Discovery Center is located in the city's hospital district and is named after philanthropist Don Harrington.[1]
Located in front of the Discovery Center is the Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument. The planetarium was renovated in 2003 and was implemented with the Digistar 3, fulldome video projection technology.[2]
Most of the Discovery Center's income comes from admission fees, membership fees, special events and programs, while the rest comes from event and exhibit sponsorships and grants from charitable organizations such as Amarillo Area Foundation and the Harrington Foundation.[3] The Don Harrington Discovery Center is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization that largely relies on the support of its community.
The Helium Monument & Time Capsule is located in front of the Don Harrington Discovery Center
The Helium Centennial Time Columns Monument was designed in 1967 by Peter Muller Munk Associates (located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and built in 1968 with the assistance of U.S. Steel to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of helium.[5][6][7] The Time Columns Monument is a six-story high stainless steel structure containing four time capsules, three of which form the legs of the monument and one which stands erect. The capsules are intended to be opened in 25, 50, 100, and 1,000 years from the date it was erected in 1968. In 1982 the Helium Monument was airlifted by helicopter from I-40 and Nelson to its current site at the Don Harrington Discovery Center. In 1993, the first time capsule was opened, on schedule, during a two-day celebration of the 25th birthday of the monument. The contents of that capsule are in the collection of the Discovery Center, and are not typically on display to the public.
On September 29, 2018, the second time capsule was opened during a special event celebrating the Amarillo Helium Plant and the sesquicentennial anniversary of the discovery of helium. Items preserved in the capsule include stamps, documents, toy cars, and other miscellaneous effects. These items are now officially on display at the Discovery Center.[8] At this event, the Discovery Center announced that it was accepting suggestions for new items to be placed into the now-empty capsule, which will be opened once more in 2093, 75 years in the future.[9] Over three hundred items donated to the Discovery Center were subsequently sealed in November 2018.[10] The 100 and 1,000 year capsules are still scheduled to open in 2068 and 2968, respectively.
Among the items stored in the monument is a passbook to a bank account containing a $10 deposit made in 1968, preserved within the 1,000 year time capsule.[11]
The monument also serves as a sun dial, its features oriented to the Sun to tell the time.
Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,930 at the 2010 census.
Amarillo is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The estimated population of Amarillo was 200,393 as of April 1, 2020. The Amarillo metropolitan area had an estimated population of 269,447 as of 2019, and the Amarillo-Pampa-Borger combined statistical area a population of 308,064.
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates back for millennia, but the practice of preparing and preserving a collection of everyday artifacts and messages to the future appears to be a more recent practice. Time capsules are sometimes created and buried during celebrations such as a world's fair, a cornerstone laying for a building, or at other ceremonies.
West Texas A&M University is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It was established on September 20, 1910, as West Texas State Normal College as one of the seven state-funded teachers' colleges in Texas.
The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas. They played their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the Intense Football League, a small indoor football league based in Texas. They won the championship in their first and only season with the Intense Football League.
KVII-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is a dual ABC/CW+-affiliated television station licensed to Amarillo, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. KVII-TV's studios are located at One Broadcast Center between South Pierce and South Buchanan streets in downtown Amarillo, and its transmitter is located west of US 87/287, in unincorporated Potter County.
KAMR-TV, virtual channel 4, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Amarillo, Texas, United States. Owned by Irving-based Nexstar Media Group, it is a sister station to low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate KCPN-LD, Nexstar also operates Fox affiliate KCIT under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with owner Mission Broadcasting. The three stations share studios on Southeast 11th Avenue and South Fillmore Street in downtown Amarillo ; KAMR-TV's transmitter is located on Dumas Drive and Reclamation Plant Road in rural unincorporated Potter County.
KFDA-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Amarillo, Texas, United States. Owned by Atlanta-based Gray Television, it is part of a duopoly with Borger-licensed Telemundo affiliate KEYU. Both stations share studios on Broadway Drive in northern Amarillo, where KFDA's transmitter is also located.
Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum is a history museum on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, U.S.A., a small city south of Amarillo. The museum's contents are owned and controlled by the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, while West Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M University Board of Regents maintains and provides the facilities. Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum claims to be the largest history museum in the state of Texas with 70,000 visitors annually and more than three million artifacts.
FirstBank Southwest Tower is a 374-foot, 31-story building located in Amarillo, Texas, United States. Formerly known as SPS Tower, Bank One Center, Chase Tower, and Amarillo Tower, it is the tallest building in Amarillo and the West Texas region. The building used to be the home of the Amarillo branch of American National Bank. The building also housed the offices of the region's electric power service provider, Southwestern Public Service.
The Westinghouse Time Capsules are two time capsules prepared by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. One was made in 1939 and the other in 1965. They are filled with contemporary articles used in the twentieth century way of life in the United States. The items are intended for people of the 7th millennium to receive for historical significance.
The Golden Spread Council is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America and serves youth in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. Its service area includes all or part of 23 counties in Texas and three counties in Oklahoma. Through 2010, the council served approximately 5,300 youth members and 1,700 adult leaders.
In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000. Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change in the course of this period and beyond.
Loop 335 is a highway loop that encircles the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States. Loop 335 connects to every major highway in the city and passes close to Amarillo International Airport on the east side of the city. Loop 335 is not currently a continuous freeway. Instead, the highway has interchanges at select junctions and short segments of freeway such as its southeastern section.
Helium Act of 1925, 50 USC § 161, is a United States statute drafted for the purpose of conservation, exploration, and procurement of helium gas. The Act of Congress authorized the condemnation, lease, or purchase of acquired lands bearing the potential of producing helium gas. It banned the export of helium, for which the US was the only important source, thus forcing foreign airships to use hydrogen lift gas. The Act empowered the United States Department of the Interior and United States Bureau of Mines with the jurisdiction for the experimentation, production, repurification, and research of the lighter than air gas. The Title 50 codified law provided the authority for the creation of the National Helium Reserve.
Paul Harpole is an American politician and businessman who served as the Mayor of Amarillo, Texas, the largest city in the Texas Panhandle, from May 2011 to May 2017. He chose not to seek re-election in 2017. Before serving as mayor, Harpole was an Amarillo City Councilmember from May 2005 to May 2007.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Amarillo, Texas, USA.
Sybil Buckingham Harrington (1908–1998) was an American philanthropist. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.
Cliffside Gas Field is located in the Texas Panhandle bearing 9 miles (14 km) west of Texas Highway 87 and 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Amarillo, Texas. The Great Plains Panhandle area is located in Potter County, Texas within the vicinity of the unincorporated community Cliffside, Texas.
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