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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	KING RANCH Texas
Location: Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy Counties; headquarters in Kingsville. King Ranch

Ownership and Administration. Privately owned.

Significance. This mammoth and historic ranch ranks as one of the most outstanding—and certainly the best known—of all cattle enterprises in the history of the Southwestern cattle frontier. It was founded on July 25, 1853, when Capt. Richard King purchased from Juan Mendiola a Spanish land grant, the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis, consisting of 15,500 acres. From 1860 to 1868 King operated the ranch in partnership with Mifflin Kenedy. At the time of King's death in 1885, his youngest daughter Alice was engaged to Robert J. Kleberg. The wedding was postponed until the following year, when Mrs. King asked Kleberg to manage the ranch. When Kleberg retired in 1933, his son, Robert J. Kleberg, Jr., took over. When Mrs. King died in 1925, she left her land in a 10-year trusteeship, at the end of which the heirs would obtain title as specified in her will. In 1935 Mrs. Robert J. Kleberg formed the King Ranch Corporation, which managed the land she inherited, as well as that which she bought from the other heirs.

The King herd grew from Longhorn stock imported from Mexico, but about 1893 Kleberg began purchasing British breeds—Shorthorns and Herefords. He later purchased Brahman cattle and bred them with Shorthorns to produce the famous Santa Gertrudis cattle, which the Department of Agriculture in 1940 recognized as a new and distinct breed of beef cattle. The ranch gradually grew until it included at its peak almost 1,225,000 acres. By the mid-20th century it encompassed 826,000 acres and covered most of four south Texas counties.

Present Appearance. Although the business offices of the King Ranch today are at Kingsville, the original headquarters area is 2 miles west. In 1911 fire destroyed the first ranchhouse. The present white brick mansion and most of the surrounding structures date from 1912, although the original commissary building still survives. To accommodate visitors, the management of the ranch has generously laid out a 12-mile tour that has numbered posts keyed to a self-guiding trail leaflet. [25]

NHL Designation: 11/05/61