OS Ranch

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Out on the open range of what would become Garza County, in the year 1878, a ranch took root. No fences, no county lines drawn yet, just grass and sky and the sheer nerve it took to run cattle on land that belonged to everybody and nobody all at once.

That was the beginning of the OS Ranch. By 1881, the brand was owned by a man named R. H.

Overall. A brand is a promise, and that one carried some weight across the range. Then came the turn of the century, and in 1901 the ranch passed into the hands of W.

E. Connell. Now, Connell didn't think small.

The man held about two hundred sections of land. Two hundred. You start trying to picture that and your mind just sort of gives up and tips its hat.

But here's the thing about the OS Ranch that makes it more than just a big spread with a famous brand. That ranch house became the heart of the whole surrounding country. Barbecues, roundups, parties.

Folks came from across the range to gather there, and the ranch house held them all. It was a community center in the truest sense of the word, back before anybody used that phrase. And then came 1907, when the OS Ranch found itself at the center of something that would shape the region for generations.

That ranch house, the same one that had hosted barbecues and roundups and all manner of celebration, became the site of the election that organized Garza County itself. Think about that the next time you pass through. The county didn't just happen.

It was organized, in a room, on a ranch that started with nothing but open range and a brand.

What the marker says

Founded on open range, 1878, brand was owned in 1881 by R. H. Overall. Acquired 1901 by W. E. Connell, who had about 200 sections of land. Ranch house a community center - for barbecues, roundups, parties. In 1907 it was site of election organizing Garza County. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966.