Tex Randall

Canyon, Texas, United States

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A 47-foot, seven-ton cowboy of concrete over wire mesh and rebar, built in 1959 by Harry Wheeler beside U.S. Highway 60 in Canyon, Texas. A Texas Historical Commission marker describes it as a Texas icon; a restoration was completed in 2016.

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Tex Randall

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 34.9770° N, 101.9366° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Tex Randall is a cowboy 47 feet tall, and for most of his life he has been a landmark just north of downtown in the Texas Panhandle town of Canyon. The Texas Historical Commission marker beside him says Harry Wheeler, a teacher by profession, built him in 1959 to welcome travellers to his curio shop on U.S. Highway 60.

According to the marker, Wheeler spent ten months working with six-inch wire mesh, rebar and concrete, and a friend welded the pipe and rebar frame. The statue weighs seven tons. Levi’s made the pants and an Amarillo awning company made the shirt, and the clothes were hand-stitched at the back with sailboat thread. A resident told Texas Standard in 2020 that the real jeans would not stay up in the West Texas wind, so the clothes were painted on instead. The marker says reconstruction of the highway cut the shop’s trade and Wheeler sold the property in 1963.

Texas Highways reports that a restoration campaign in 1987 gave Tex a painted look, but by 2010 he had fallen into disrepair, and that year his owner donated him to Canyon Main Street, a nonprofit. Construction began in October 2015, and between residents, businesses and grants the city had reached its $400,000 goal by 2016. Artist Rhonda Timmons spent four months painting him. The full restoration, including a park built around him, was finished in September 2016. A 2015 report said the restoration would remove the cigarette he once held.

In August 2026 Texas Highways said Canyon Main Street was planning another restoration, possibly in 2027.

The marker is at North 3rd Avenue and North 14th Street.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A painted concrete cowboy in a park built around him, with a Texas Historical Commission marker on North 3rd Avenue. Canyon Main Street, the nonprofit that looks after him, told Texas Highways in 2026 it plans another restoration, possibly in 2027.

ACCESS

At 1400 N. 3rd Avenue in Canyon, just north of downtown on the Highway 60 corridor; the Texas Historical Commission marker is at North 3rd Avenue and North 14th Street.

COMMUNITY

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WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

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Current

Lightnin' McDuff giant's legs

Amarillo, Texas

'Ozymandias on the Plains,' a 38-foot-high pair of concrete legs built in 1996 by local artist Lightnin' McDuff, commissioned by Stanley Marsh 3 (also behind the nearby Cadillac Ranch). Inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias,' about a ruined statue of a once-great king found alone in the desert -- the piece intentionally depicts only the legs, with a joke plaque claiming the rest of the statue was destroyed by jealous football players from Lubbock. Located at I-27 and Sundown Lane, southeast corner, and currently fenced off to prevent visitor interaction.

Public art

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9.6 km away

TRANSPARENCY

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