McGill Brothers Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the McGill Brothers Building in Jim Wells County, Texas. Now, every good story starts somewhere, and this one starts with a Mississippi man named J. W.

McGill, who came to Texas with his wife Lydia, born an Abell, and raised two sons. The elder was James Claude, born in 1873. The younger was H.

Frank, born in 1883. Both boys grew up and attended school in Flatonia, over in Fayette County, and from that modest beginning, they would go on to leave their mark all across south Texas. Claude moved first.

In 1904 he established small ranches in Fayette and Nueces counties, getting his boots muddy and his hands calloused learning the cattle business from the ground up. Then in 1911, Frank joined him, and the McGill brothers became a partnership, which is a dangerous thing to say out loud in Texas because it tends to mean something is about to get serious. Something did.

In 1916 they purchased the Santa Rosa Ranch in Kenedy County. Let that name sit a moment. The Santa Rosa Ranch.

Frank had married Annie Lake back in 1905, and Claude would marry Eva Rowland in 1922, and both families settled in Alice, the seat of Jim Wells County, a county the McGill brothers themselves helped organize. They weren't just ranchers sittin' on their acreage, either. They were active members of the Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, prominent enough that Claude served as vice-president of the association in 1935, and Frank followed right behind him as president in 1936.

One brother, then the other. Back to back. That's not coincidence.

That's a family reputation. Now here's where the story takes a little turn toward the poetic. In 1940 Frank paid a visit to San Antonio, and something stopped him cold.

The Alamo Museum. He was so impressed by what he saw that when he decided in 1941 to build a structure in Alice to house the family's ranching operations, he patterned it after that building. Greek influences worked into the design, and a distinctive corbelled stone parapet crowning the whole thing.

A cattle operation headquarters that looked like it belonged to history. Which, as it turned out, it did. Frank had been born in 1883 and died in 1952.

Claude, born in 1873, had died in 1935. The brothers were gone, but the building stood. And in 1975, the heirs of the McGill brothers donated it to the South Texas Museum Corporation.

A ranching family from Mississippi, two brothers who schooled in Flatonia and built an empire across south Texas, and one building in Alice that still carries the shape of something Frank saw one afternoon in San Antonio and couldn't quite get out of his head. Some impressions just don't let go.

What the marker says

Mississippi native J. W. McGill and his wife Lydia (Abell) reared two sons, James Claude (1873-1935) and H. Frank (1883-1952). The McGill brothers attended school in Flatonia, Fayette County, Texas. In 1904 Claude McGill established small ranches in Fayette and Nueces counties. In 1911 he and his brother Frank formed a partnership and in 1916 they purchased the Santa Rosa Ranch in Kenedy County, Texas. Frank married Annie Lake in 1905 and Claude married Eva Rowland in 1922. Both families settled in Alice, Texas. The McGill brothers helped organize Jim Wells County and were active members of the Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Claude served as vice-president of the association in 1935; Frank served as president in 1936. The McGill brothers became prominent south Texas ranchers and noted experts in the cattle business. Frank built this structure in 1941 to provide offices for the family ranching operations. According to family tradition the building was patterned after San Antonio's Alamo Museum which had impressed Frank during a visit in 1940. The building exhibits Greek influences and features a distinctive corbelled stone parapet. In 1975 heirs of the McGill brothers donated this building to the South Texas Museum Corporation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994