2015
King Ranch
Captain Richard King purchased a land grant and established Kings Rancho in 1853 along the clear waters of Santa Gertrudis Creek. King and his new bride, Henrietta Chamberlain, rose to the challenge to tame the land and establish a viable business enterprise while simultaneously creating an outpost of hospitality and civility in the midst of a vast wilderness. Following Captain King’s death, Mrs. King turned to Robert J. Kleberg, who later married the Kings’ youngest daughter Alice, to run ranch operations. Under Kleberg’s management, King Ranch established a cattle breeding program and imported fine horses and bloodstocks to improve the Ranch’s equine brands. The Ranch also began to harness the land’s resources by drilling artesian wells and clearing the aggressive mesquite brush that displaced the native prairie grass. During this era, Mrs. King and the Kleberg family continued to improve and diversify the assets of King Ranch with agricultural pursuits and helped to build the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, as well as several towns along the newly laid track, including Kingsville. Before her death, Henrietta King donated land and funds toward the construction of churches, libraries, schools, and business projects. In subsequent years, King Ranch transitioned from a frontier ranch to one of the oldest and largest privately held corporations in the United States. King Ranch was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Today, King Ranch is a major agribusiness corporation with interest in cattle, farming (cotton, grain, sugar cane, and turfgrass), citrus groves, pecan processing and sales, commodity marketing and processing, and recreational hunting. Its retail operations include luggage, leather goods, home furnishings, farm equipment, commercial printing, and ecotourism. King Ranch’s 161 years of success have been carried forward through seven generations of family, stewardship and preservation of historic assets and stand as a testimony to loyalty, creativity and plain hard work.
Captain Richard King purchased a land grant and established Kings Rancho in 1853 along the clear waters of Santa Gertrudis Creek. King and his new bride, Henrietta Chamberlain, rose to the challenge to tame the land and establish a viable business enterprise while simultaneously creating an outpost of hospitality and civility in the midst of a vast wilderness. Following Captain King’s death, Mrs. King turned to Robert J. Kleberg, who later married the Kings’ youngest daughter Alice, to run ranch operations. Under Kleberg’s management, King Ranch established a cattle breeding program and imported fine horses and bloodstocks to improve the Ranch’s equine brands. The Ranch also began to harness the land’s resources by drilling artesian wells and clearing the aggressive mesquite brush that displaced the native prairie grass. During this era, Mrs. King and the Kleberg family continued to improve and diversify the assets of King Ranch with agricultural pursuits and helped to build the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, as well as several towns along the newly laid track, including Kingsville. Before her death, Henrietta King donated land and funds toward the construction of churches, libraries, schools, and business projects. In subsequent years, King Ranch transitioned from a frontier ranch to one of the oldest and largest privately held corporations in the United States. King Ranch was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Today, King Ranch is a major agribusiness corporation with interest in cattle, farming (cotton, grain, sugar cane, and turfgrass), citrus groves, pecan processing and sales, commodity marketing and processing, and recreational hunting. Its retail operations include luggage, leather goods, home furnishings, farm equipment, commercial printing, and ecotourism. King Ranch’s 161 years of success have been carried forward through seven generations of family, stewardship and preservation of historic assets and stand as a testimony to loyalty, creativity and plain hard work.