DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Chapman Ranch, out in Nueces County. Now, if you want to talk about thinking big — and in Texas, thinking big is practically a civic duty — let me tell you about Philip Alexander Chapman. In January of 1919, this man reached into his pocket and pulled out a deal that would turn heads anywhere: he purchased thirty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty-one acres.
Not thirty thousand. Not thirty-four thousand. Thirty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty-one.
That's the Laureles Division of the King Ranch we're talking about. And P.A. Chapman, born in 1847, had plans for every last acre of it — farm lands, the kind he already knew how to run from his operations over in east Texas and Oklahoma.
But a man of Chapman's standing doesn't exactly pack his own boots and drive fence posts himself. He sent his son, J.O. Chapman, born in 1883, to go down and get things moving.
J.O. arrived in September of 1919, and he got to work. He started dividing what he called "Nueces Farms" into one-hundred-and-sixty-acre tracts, leasing them out to tenants. Piece by piece, the land started coming alive.
By 1924, the name had changed — Nueces Farms became Chapman Ranch. And that same year, Philip Alexander Chapman passed away, born 1847, gone in 1924, but the thing he built kept right on growing. Then came 1925, and a whole town rose up out of that South Texas soil.
Not a camp, not a crossroads — a town. It had a hospital. It had two schools.
It had a cotton gin and its own power plant. And then there was The Commissary — and friend, that place was something. Under one roof you had a grocery store, a hardware store, a mercantile, a barber shop, a soda fountain, an automobile agency, a service station, a post office, and the ranch headquarters offices.
You needed it, The Commissary had it. By 1926, over twenty thousand acres were under cultivation. Twenty thousand.
The ranch was contracting with manufacturers to test modern farm equipment, and here's the part that ought to raise an eyebrow or two — several farm implements were actually invented right there on Chapman Ranch. In the late nineteen-twenties, the place was being advertised as the world's largest mechanized farm. The world's largest.
Out here on the South Texas coastal plain. Then the thirties came rolling in, and Chapman Ranch didn't slow down — it pivoted. Extensive crop experiments, season after season, until they developed a superior strain of long-staple cotton.
The seed from that cotton was marketed worldwide. Worldwide, from Nueces County, Texas. But by 1941, the town had dwindled away.
The hospital, the soda fountain, the automobile agency — all of it quiet. The land was partitioned among P.A. Chapman's children.
And his heirs, to this day, continue to operate the ranch. The town may be gone, but the land remembers what happened here. Thirty-four thousand acres of ambition, and most of it still in the family.
What the marker says
In Jan. 1919, Philip Alexander Chapman (1847-1924) purchased 34,631 acres of the Laureles Division of the King Ranch for development as farm lands similar to others he owned in east Texas and Oklahoma. He sent his son, J.O. Chapman (1883-1953), to supervise operations. Arriving in Sept. 1919, J.O. Chapman began dividing "Nueces Farms" into 160-acre tracts and leasing them to tenants. In 1924, the name was changed to Chapman Ranch. The town, founded in 1925, had a hospital, cotton gin, 2 schools, its own power plant, and "The Commissary", which housed grocery, hardware, and mercantile stores, a barber shop, soda fountain, automobile agency, service station, post office, and ranch headquarters offices. In 1926, over 20,000 acres were in cultivation. The ranch contracted with manufacturers to test modern farm equipment. Several implements were invented here. In the late 1920's, Chapman Ranch was advertised as the world's largest mechanized farm. During the 1930's, the ranch conducted extensive crop experiments, and developed a superior strain of long-staple cotton, the seed of which was marketed worldwide. By 1941, the town had dwindled away, and the land was partitioned among P.A. Chapman's children, whose heirs continue to operate the ranch. (1973)