History of Cinco Ranch
Compliments of Wikipedia
The Cinco Ranch community goes back to before Texas became a Republic. In the 1820s, pioneer Moses Austin was granted by the Spanish government the authority to settle 300 families in the valleys of the Brazos and Colorado rivers. He died before he was able to accomplish this, but his son Stephen F. Austin was able to complete his father’s wishes, even under the newly established Mexican government. One of the men who moved into these 300 slots of land (each one over 4000 acres (16 km²) was Randolph Foster, whose land spread across Fort Bend and Waller counties and upon which wild horses, deer, Indians and buffalo lived.
Foster’s daughter married Thomas Blakeley, cattleman and future sheriff of Fort Bend County. Their son, Bassett Blakeley, took after his father and grandfather and soon grew into a cowboy and cattleman. Bassett Blakeley owned 15,000 acres (61 km²) of land and 14,000 head of Brahman cattle, along with his grandfather’s land. The cowhands of his Blakeley Ranch annually drove 10,000 head of cattle to the railheads in Kansas.
In 1937, Blakeley sold the working ranch to William Wheless, who convinced four of his friends, J.S. Abercrombie, W.B. Pryon, H.G. Nelms and L.M. Josey—all, like him, wealthy from oil—to become his partners at the ranch. In a nod to its Spanish roots perhaps, they called it Cinco Ranch (”cinco” means “five” in Spanish). Only the Wheless family lived on the ranch, but all of the families visited on many holidays and weekends, making use of a huge clubhouse complete with two bedroom wings. The ranch was not merely involved in cattle—it also had several acres of rice—for years, the main output of Katy, Texas—and peanut production.
In February 1984, the largest raw land transaction in the history of Houston took place when Cinco Ranch Venture, consisting of U.S. Home, the Mischer Corporation, and American General Corporation purchased Cinco Ranch for a 5,000 acre (20 km²) master plan development. American General eventually bought out the other partners. Its current developer is Newland, and it now surpasses 7,200 acres (29 km²).
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Great hyper local post, this is sure to be a hit with the community. “The largest raw land transaction in the history of Houston”…very interesting! Where did you get your facts?
Thanks for your comment! I got my facts from the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, http://tinyurl.com/7rmvoh, and Wikipedia, which seems to have used the Chamber as their source, too.
If you want to hear a reader’s feedback
, I rate this post for four from five. Detailed info, but I just have to go to that damn msn to find the missed bits. Thanks, anyway!
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PS:Have you considered putting video to the blog to keep the visitors more entertained?I think it works.Best regards, Jeanine Attig