Page 6 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Spring 2022 - Online Magazine
P. 6
Local
History
Celebrating
100-Year-Old
GLENWOOD ELEMENTARY
and its Beloved Betty Solis by Jane Bromley
it was built, Amarillo had only Betty was 13. She was fluent in two
100 teachers, and just 65 students languages, but still, “It was a huge
graduated from the high school that culture shock.”
year. In 1926, an oil boom allowed
for the first addition to the already She overcame the challenges,
crowded school at a cost of $13,000. graduating from Amarillo High
In 1948, just after WWII, a citywide School in 1956 and later from
expansion to relieve overcrowding Amarillo College and West Texas
resulted in a brand-new structure State University. She married her
for the “outdated” 26-year-old high school sweetheart, John Solis,
building. Unlike the Potter County in 1959 and began her teaching
Library, which was also built in career at Dwight Morrow the same
1922, very little evidence remains year. She taught there for 15 years
of the original building. In fact, before its fateful closing in 1967. The
the school has recently undergone native Spanish speaker related easily
another beautiful facelift just in time to the families of the Glenwood
for its 100th birthday. neighborhood and, in 1972, was
certified as Amarillo ISD’s first ever
marillo, Texas was growing In 1967, the construction of I-40 bilingual instructor.
fast in 1922. World War caused enrollment to drop in
AI had only been over for a barrio elementary school on Betty loved teaching first graders
four years, and everyone was Cleveland – Dwight Morrow. That from 1967 until 1978, when the
hopeful. The Amarillo Independent forced the students and teachers district needed her to serve as
School District hired its very first to relocate – many of them to principal. She was a natural in the
athletic coach that year, and a Glenwood which also had a large role. She always made it her goal
group of students at the High Hispanic population. One of those to know each of the students by
School organized the first band. teachers was Betty Solis, whose name and hug as many as possible
The Glenwood Neighborhood name will forever be associated with each day. She went out of her way
addition was burgeoning, so the city Glenwood Elementary.
erected Glenwood Elementary to
accommodate all the young families. Elizabeth “Betty” Keel
That makes Glenwood 100 years old, was born in Buenos Aires,
and the current students celebrated Argentina in 1939. Her
the milestone birthday on the 100th father was an American
day of the 2021-22 school year. who worked for Texaco.
Because the political
The original brick building faced unrest in her homeland
Mirror St. and cost the city $162,449. forced the refinery to close,
Today, the address of the school the company relocated the
is 2407 S. Houston. At the time Keels to Amarillo when
6 Amarillo Senior Link
