The Mallet Ranch is a historic ranch in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It was established in Hockley County, Texas in the 1880s. It was used to raise

Hereford cattle The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It has spread to many countries – there are more than five million purebred Hereford cattle in over fifty nations worldwide. The bre ...

from the 1900s to the 1930s, with cotton fields added in the mid-1920s. By the late 1930s, oil was discovered. The ranch spanned 45,000 acres in 1990.

History

The ranch was established by David M. DeVitt and John Scharbauer in Hockley County, Texas in 1885. The name, "Mallet Ranch", came from a former ranch established by D. P. Atwood on the Texas-Mexican border in the early 1880s. DeVitt and Scharbauer acquired more land in Terry County, Cochran County and Yoakum County. The main ranchhouse, windmill and "several bunkhouses, sheds, barns, and corrals" were located in

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Sundown, Texas Sundown is a small town in Hockley County, Texas, United States. The community school district is Sundown ISD. The population was 1,397 at the 2010 census, a decrease from 1,505 at the 2000 census. Geography Sundown is located at (33.457018, ...

six miles north of modern-day

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. Lawsuits over ownership of the land were filed against C.C. Slaughter, the owner of several ranches including the Lazy S Ranch, in the early 1900s. The dispute originated from messy leasing claims. By the early 1900s, the Mallet Land and Cattle Company was corporated to ensure ownership. The ranch was used by DeVitt to raise

from 1904 to 1934. By 1925-1926, DeVitt turned 6,000 acres into cotton fields. It was inherited by DeVitt's daughters Helen and Christine in 1934. While Helen became a philanthropist in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

, it was Christine who oversaw the ranch; she also founded the CH Foundation. By the late 1930s, oil was discovered on the ranch. Meanwhile, the Mallet Land and Cattle Company was disestablished for tax purposes in 1944. The ranch headquarters have been "neglected" since 1983, when heiress and philanthropist Christine DeVitt died. The ranch spanned 45,000 acres in 1990. In 2008, the headquarters were on the annual list of Texas' Most Endangered Places published by Preservation Texas, an architectural conservation non-profit organization. Historical papers about the ranch are held in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallet Ranch 1885 establishments in Texas Hockley County, Texas Ranches in Texas American companies established in 1885

History

Further reading

References