Santa Gertrudis, Headquarters of the King Ranch

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it the room it deserves. Out here in Kleberg County, you are standing on ground that carries some real weight. This is the Santa Gertrudis, headquarters of the King Ranch, and the story of what has stood on this particular patch of earth says about as much as any story Texas has got.

It starts with a land grant. The De La Garza Santa Gertrudis land grant, to be precise. Captain Richard King purchased this land in 1853, and from that moment forward, this site has held each and every King Ranch headquarters.

Every single one. Now the first headquarters was an adobe jacal. Modest, functional, the kind of structure that says a man is planting roots but hasn't quite decided how deep yet.

That jacal gave way to a frame cottage. And that frame cottage, well, it burned. So there the land sat, having swallowed two headquarters already, and the question was what would rise next.

What rose next was something built to last. Under the direction of Robert J. Kleberg, Sr., an architect named Carlton W.

Adams designed a house. He designed it specifically for Mrs. Henrietta King.

And in 1915, it was completed. That house is still the family home of Captain King's descendants, who are the owners of the King Ranch. Three headquarters on the same ground.

One grant, one purchase, one family. The land outlasted the jacal and the cottage both, and the house that finally took hold in 1915 is still holding.

What the marker says

On this site, part of the De La Garza Santa Gertrudis land grant purchased by Captain Richard King in 1853, has stood each of the King Ranch headquarters. The first, an adobe jacal, was replaced by a frame cottage which later burned. Under the direction of Robert J. Kleberg, Sr., this house was designed by Carlton W. Adams for Mrs. Henrietta King. Completed in 1915, it is the family home of Captain King's descendants who are owners of the King Ranch.