Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company. Now settle in, because this one starts as a cattle empire and ends as a whole town. That's the kind of story Texas tends to produce.

It begins in 1871, when five partners joined forces to form the Coleman, Mathis, Fulton cattle company. George Ware Fulton, Youngs Coleman, Tom Coleman, Thomas Henry Mathis, and J.M. Mathis, headquarters set up in Rockport, down in San Patricio County.

Five men, one vision, and a whole lot of south Texas range to work with. Fulton himself was a pioneer in fencing that open range, which was no small thing in those days, and in shipping cattle by boat right from the company's own wharves. The man was thinking big from the start.

Then 1879 rolls around, and after the Mathis cousins left the partnership, the operation reorganized. The new outfit was called the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company, and it came with one hundred and sixty-seven thousand acres of land. That is not a number you misread.

One hundred and sixty-seven thousand acres. But as any storyteller worth his campfire knows, big land means big expenses. Continuing financial problems led Fulton to borrow funds from a man named David Sinton, all the way up in Ohio.

Now when you borrow from a man patient enough, eventually that man gains control. And that is exactly what happened. Sinton gained control of the company, and when he died, he willed his interest to his daughter, Anna, who was the wife of Charles P.

Taft. From that point on, the locals had a simpler name for the whole enterprise. They called it the Taft Ranch.

In 1900, a man named Joseph F. Green became manager, and he set about building the ranch into one of the largest and most innovative operations in the entire state, introducing new crops and new cattle breeds. Then in 1904, a company town was formed and given the name Taft.

A whole city, born out of this ranch. That town was sold at auction in 1921. The building that still stands from that era, constructed in 1923, was the last headquarters the Taft Ranch ever had.

By 1928, all the ranch enterprises had been sold off. And in 1930, the company's charter expired. George Ware Fulton and his partners started with a cattle company.

What they left behind, in the end, was a town.

What the marker says

The Coleman, Mathis, Fulton cattle company was formed in 1871 by partners George Ware Fulton, youngs Coleman, Tom Coleman, Thomas Henry Mathis, and J.M. Mathis, with headquarters in Rockport. The The Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company, with 167,000 acres of land, was organized in 1879 after the Mathis cousins left the partnership. Fulton was a pioneer in fencing of the open south Texas range and in shipping cattle by boat from company wharves. Continuing financial problems led Fulton to borrow funds for the company from David Sinton of Ohio. Eventually Sinton gained control of the company and at his death willed his interest to his daughter, Anna, wife of Charles P. Taft. The company became known locally as the Taft Ranch. Joseph F. Green became manager in 1900 and built the ranch into one of the largest and most innovative in the state, introducing new crops and cattle breeds. The city of Taft was formed in 1904 as a company town and was sold at auction in 1921. Constructed in 1923, this building was the last headquarters for the Taft Ranch. By 1928 all ranch enterprises had been sold. The company's charter expired in 1930, leaving the town of Taft as its legacy.