Tex Randall, a 47-foot, seven-ton cowboy statue, became a Texas icon and a roadside attraction on U.S. Highway 60 West to New Mexico. Designer and builder Harry Wheeler created it in 1959 to welcome travelers to his corral curio shop. The giant cowboy reflected the western heritage of the Texas panhandle and symbolized the state of Texas. William Harry Wheeler, born in 1914 in Hartley, Texas, in the panhandle and later dying in Amarillo in 1997, was a teacher who opened a curio shop along the highway in the 1950s to supplement his income. After three years, he moved the shop across the highway and began work on the cowboy, spending ten months using six-inch wire mesh, rebar, and concrete, with a friend helping weld pipe and rebar to the frame. Burlap protected the concrete figure from the elements. Levi-Strauss made the pants, Amarillo Awning made the shirt, and the statue’s 1,440 square feet of surface were dressed by hand-stitching the clothes in back with sailboat thread and decorating the shirt with sheet aluminum buttons covered with vinyl. In keeping with Texas style, the figure wore a Stetson-style hat. Wheeler later added a six-room motel for visitors, but highway reconstruction reduced tourist trade at his shop, and he sold the property in 1963. His vision, dedication, and attention to detail made the giant cowboy a landmark, tourist attraction, and lasting contribution to Texas heritage and history.