DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put down on the marker for the R. L. White Ranch out in Bexar County.
Now settle in, because this one's got rock and asphalt and ambition running all the way through it. Ryall Luther White came into this world in 1878, born in Jasper, Texas, to John Luther Calvin White and Texanna Priscilla Ryall White. Right away you get the sense that this was a family that took names seriously, and as it turns out, they took a good many other things seriously too.
In 1907, Ryall Luther married Ethel Gertrude Smyth, and that marriage set in motion a chain of events that would eventually leave its mark on thousands of miles of Texas road and three thousand five hundred acres of Bexar County land. Because when a man marries into a family, he sometimes finds himself working for that family, and White went to work managing his father-in-law's operation — the Uvalde Rock Asphalt Company. Now rock asphalt.
That's the through line of this whole story. Remember that. He managed that company, learned its rhythms, learned its secrets, and then in 1920, he did what a certain kind of Texan always does — he walked away to build something of his own.
He opened the Alamo Paving Company in San Antonio, and he wasn't mixing materials or hedging his bets. He paved exclusively with rock asphalt. No compromises.
Pure conviction. And if you're going to commit that hard to a material, you'd best control your own supply. So White bought his own rock asphalt mine.
Then he joined forces with his brother Tom White, and together they built Whites Mine Corporation. By 1928, that corporation had done something genuinely remarkable — they developed a brand new process to manufacture a cold-mix paving material right there onsite. A product they could make themselves, market themselves, sell themselves.
The timing, as you may have already guessed, was not ideal. Because right around the corner was the Great Depression. And yet — and here is where the story gets interesting — they began marketing that product during the Depression.
While the rest of the country was coming apart at the seams, the White brothers were out there selling cold-mix asphalt. Now, Ryall Luther White was a man who clearly believed in building things that last. Roads, yes.
But also something you could stand on and look at and be proud of. In 1926, the same year the Red Cottage went up on his property — one of the very first structures on the ranch, a square, one-story, front end gabled wood frame house with red-painted siding and a standing seam metal roof, used back then to keep horses that were sold to the U.S. Army — in that same year, White began building what would become one of the largest ranches in northwest Bexar County.
His vision for that ranch was specific and grand. He wanted Texas rustic-style architecture on a scale that would impress his guests, and the best example of what that meant was the Lake Pavilion — a two-story rectangular, symmetrical stone structure, faced inside and out with locally available gray and cream-colored limestone. It is the kind of building that makes a statement without saying a word.
Then there's the Main House, also called Gertie's House after his wife Ethel Gertrude, a rectangular, single-story, end-gabled stone house in that same rustic style, finished with gray asphalt shingles. Of course it had asphalt shingles. This was R.
L. White's ranch. When he finally laid down in 1962, having lived eighty-four years from Jasper to San Antonio to the limestone hills of Bexar County, he left behind three thousand five hundred acres and a collection of historic buildings that the Texas Historical Commission saw fit to recognize as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2012.
Roads wear down. Fortunes rise and fall. But a man who controls his own mine, builds his own company, and lays his own stone — that man tends to stick around a while.
What the marker says
Ryall Luther White (1878-1962) was born in Jasper, Texas to John Luther Calvin White and Texanna Priscilla Ryall White. He married his wife, Ethel Gertrude Smyth, in 1907 and began working for his father-in-law as the manager of the Uvalde Rock Asphalt Company. In 1920, he resigned to open his own paving company, the Alamo Paving Company, in San Antonio paving exclusively with rock asphalt. White bought his own rock asphalt mine to have his own supply of the material and joined forces with his brother, Tom White. By 1928, Whites Mine Corporation had developed a new process to manufacture onsite a cold-mix paving material and the company began to market the product during the Great Depression. In 1926, White began to build the ranch which was to become one of the largest ranches in northwest Bexar county. The ranch reflects Whites desire to impress his guests with Texas rustic-style architecture on a grand scale. The best example of this style is the Lake Pavilion. It is a two-story rectangular, symmetrical stone structure designed in this architectural style. The building uses the locally available gray and cream-colored limestone to face the walls, inside and out. The Main House, also called Gerties House after Whites wife, is a rectangular, single-story, end-gabled stone house also designed in the rustic style with gray, asphalt shingles. The Red Cottage, a square, one-story, front end gabled, wood frame house with red-painted siding and a standing seam metal roof, was built in 1926. It was one of the first buildings and used to keep horses which were sold to the U.S. Army. Today, the ranchs 3500 acres and historic buildings reflect the tradition of Texas grand homesteads. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012