Cornelius T. Herring

Cornelius Taylor Herring was born on November 13, 1849, in Sherman County, Texas.[1][2] His father was Jesse Herring and his mother, Sarah Friend.[3] His mother died when he was ten years old.[3] Meanwhile, his father remarried and served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[3] He had a brother, Emerson.[3]

Herring started his career as a wheat farmer in Hill County, Texas, at the age of thirteen, making $200 the first year.[2] By the second year, he purchased 100 head of cattle.[3] At the close of the civil war, Cornelius and his brother Emerson drove cattle from Navarro County, Texas, to Shreveport, Louisiana.[3] By 1872, they purchased 500 acres in Smith County, Texas.[3]

Herring moved his cattle to Archer County, Texas, in 1878.[2] Within a few years, he moved his cattle to the open range which belonged to the Comanche and Kiowa, two Native American tribes.[2][3]

The Herring Hotel in Amarillo, Texas.

Herring sued the Texas and Pacific Railway for "damages to cattle" in 1883.[4]

Herring invested in cattle with Bill Stinson in the late 1880s.[3] By 1887, they owned 12,000 Texas Longhorns, which they raised over 150,000 acres in Greer County, Texas.[3] In 1899, Herring founded the C. T. Herring Banking Company,[5] later known as the Herring National Bank and finally the Herring Bank in Vernon, Texas.[2] It was also in Vernon that he built his first hotel, known as the Wilbarger Hotel.[3] Additionally, he "owned thirteen lumber companies throughout North Texas"[3] like the C. T. Herring Lumber Company in Wichita Falls, Texas.[6] By the late 1890s, he raised cattle in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Lyon County, Kansas.[3]

Herring purchased the Seven-Up Ranch in Castro County, Texas, in 1905.[3] Two years later, in 1907, he purchased 96,000 acres from the LS Ranch in Oldham County, Texas.[3][7] He also purchased the Kit Carson Ranch, the "Y Ranch near Paducah, the H-Anchor Ranch near Crowell, a ranch in the Big Bend country, and farming interests in Hartley and Moore counties."[3] With Patrick H. Landergin, he acquired the Bravo Ranch, formerly owned by Henry B. Sanborn.[8]

Herring joined the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.[3] He served on the executive committee of the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockmen's Association in 1912.[9] By 1919, he served as the first chairman of the West Texas Chamber of Commerce.[2][10][11] He also served as the president of the Tri-State Fair Association.[11]

Herring built the Palo Duro, a five-story hotel in Amarillo, in 1923.[2][12] He built the Herring Hotel, a 14-story hotel, for US$1 million, in 1925.[2][3] Additionally, he was a shareholder of the Amarillo Gas Company, later known as Pioneer Natural Gas.[3]

Herring was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Rotary Club, the Odd Fellows, and the Boy Scouts of America.[3]

Herring married Sarah Jane Lawrence in 1869.[3] They had a son, William E. Herring of Amarillo and a daughter, Mrs L. K. Johnson of Vernon.[1][11] The couple divorced, and Herring married Elizabeth Smithey in 1889.[3] After living in Vernon, they moved into a new mansion located at 2216 Van Buren Street in Amarillo, Texas in the 1910s.[3]

Herring died on June 29, 1931, in Amarillo, Texas.[13][14] He was buried at the Llano Cemetery in Amarillo.[3] By the time of his death, he was worth an estimated US$10 million.[15][2]

Herring's mansion in Amarillo was demolished in 1970.[3] It is now a parking lot near the Amarillo Museum of Art.[3]