Stringfellow Ranch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Stringfellow Ranch, out here in Brazoria County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way the best Texas stories do, with a boy, some cattle, and an awful lot of ambition. Robert Edward Lee Stringfellow was born at Old Brazoria, and those are a lot of names to carry into the world.

He started his career on a cattle ranch at fourteen years old. Fourteen. And he didn't stop there.

Before long, he had acquired his own herd. The boy was already in business. Come 1890, Stringfellow opened a meat market down in Velasco, and he put that operation to work feeding the crews building jetties at the mouth of the Brazos River.

That's real work, supplying beef to men doing hard labor at the edge of the Gulf. He kept growing. His ranch holdings here in southern Brazoria County climbed all the way to twenty thousand acres.

Twenty thousand. He became a philanthropist, a civic leader, and an early builder and investor in the Freeport townsite. By any measure, the man had built something.

Then came 1932, and a hurricane that injured him. That's where Nannie comes in. Nannie Maddox Stringfellow, who would live until 1971, took over the ranch and the Freeport interests and kept everything running.

Robert Edward Lee Stringfellow had built it big, but Nannie made sure it stood.

What the marker says

Born at Old Brazoria, Robert Edward Lee Stringfellow (1866-1951) began his career on a cattle ranch at the age of 14. Soon he acquired his own herd. He opened a Velasco meat market in 1890 and provided beef for workers building jetties at the mouth of the Brazos River. Stringfellow's ranch holdings here in southern Brazoria County increased to 20,000 acres. A philanthropist and civic leader, Stringfellow was an early builder and investor in Freeport townsite. After he was injured in the 1932 hurricane, his wife Nannie (Maddox) (d. 1971) operated the ranch and Freeport interests. (1980)