U.S. Bureau of Mines, Helium Plants, Amarillo Helium Plant, 10001 Interchange 552, Amarillo, Potter County, TX

Significance: An inert, nonflammable gas, helium became a strategically important element after the U.S. Navy began producing it in 1917. Since then, helium has been used in lighter-than-air craft, as well as rocketry, aerospace technology, the medical field, science and industrial construction, and for the more mundane purpose of inflating balloons. For many decades, the United States maintained a monopoly on helium, giving the nation an edge in atomic science and the space race. Helium played a key role during World War II because of its use in blimp reconnaissance on the high seas and as an element in the atomic bomb. After the war, helium served as a key element in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Cold War activities. The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Amarillo Helium Plant, built in 1928-29, served as headquarters for the government's helium program, as well as the place where the technology for processing, producing, and shipping helium was developed. In 1942-43, with rapidly expanding military needs, the government constructed a second helium plant, Exell, at Masterson, Texas. After the war, Exell became the leading producer of helium in the United States and the world. With passage of the Helium Conservation Act of 1960, the principal focus of helium production shifted from the federal government to private industry, culminating in 1996 with passage of the Helium Privatization Act. In 1998, the Exell and Amarillo plants closed. Over the years, a somewhat primitive technology that produced 97 percent helium in the 1920s, advanced to a sophisticated international industry producing 99.999999 percent and higher grade helium.
Survey number: HAER TX-105-A
Building/structure dates: 1928 Initial Construction