DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, right here in Val Verde County. Now settle in, because this story starts with a wave of stolen livestock and ends with an organization that's still shaping Texas today. That's the kind of tale worth telling slow.
The Edwards Plateau of southwest Texas has long been tied to sheep and goats — and I mean long. Spanish explorers brought them first, then late-nineteenth-century colonists kept the tradition alive. By 1869, a rancher named Phillip Palmer was already pushing it further, bringing the first sheep to the Fort Clark area.
His operation didn't stay modest. It grew to a flock of nearly nine thousand sheep. Nine thousand.
That's a lot of animals to keep track of — and that detail matters, as you'll soon see. Around that same time, a man named Charles Dissler was building something different. He brought his goats with him from Kimble County and, in doing so, started Val Verde County's goat industry.
Two men, two animals, one rugged stretch of Texas — the plateau was quietly becoming one of the most important wool and mohair regions in the state. But here's where the story takes a harder turn. By 1915, stock thefts had become a genuine wave.
Not a trickle — a wave. And ranchers across the region had had enough. So they gathered in Del Rio, right here in this city, at a place called the Princess Theater, on this very block.
Five prominent ranchmen called that meeting: J.B. Murrah, Johnson Robinson, E.E. Sticklen, V.A.
Brown, and B.M. Halbert. Sixty stockmen showed up.
Thirty of them signed the charter. They named their outfit the Sheep and Goat Raiser's Association of Texas, chose J.B. Murrah of Del Rio as their first president, and put Julian Lacross, also of Del Rio, in as secretary-treasurer.
Now, nothing that starts strong stays simple. In the 1930s, the headquarters packed up and moved to San Angelo. Then came a split — the kind that happens when strong-willed people disagree on direction — and that split produced a rival outfit called the Texas Wool and Mohair Growers Association.
Two organizations, same industry, different flags. That tension held until 1935, when the two groups merged back together under the name that endures to this day: the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association. Their merged agenda reached statewide — advocacy, research, and promotion.
Del Rio was where this all began, on a day in 1915 when sixty ranchers walked into a theater to stop thieves and ended up building something that would outlast all of them. The headquarters may be in San Angelo now — more central to where the industry lives today — but the founding ground is right here. Some roots run deeper than the address on the door.
What the marker says
The Edwards Plateau area of southwest Texas has long been associated with the sheep and goat industries of the state. Both sheep and goats were significant elements of the local economy, having been introduced to Texas by Spanish explorers and late-19th-century colonists. In 1869, rancher Phillip Palmer brought the first sheep to the Fort Clark area, and his operation grew to a flock of nearly 9,000 sheep. Within a few years, Charles Dissler began Val Verde County's goat industry, bringing his animals with him from Kimble County. In 1915, ranchers met in Del Rio to organize the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association to bring a halt to a wave of stock thefts. The organizational meeting, held at the Princess Theater on this city block, was called by five prominent ranchmen: J.B. Murrah, Johnson Robinson, E.E. Sticklen, V.A. Brown and B.M. Halbert. Sixty stockmen attended, and 30 signed the charter, originally naming the group the Sheep and Goat Raiser's Association of Texas. Members chose Murrah, of Del Rio, as the group's first president, and Julian Lacross, also of Del Rio, as secretary-treasurer. The headquarters moved to San Angelo in the 1930s, and a split within the association resulted in the creation of the rival Texas Wool and Mohair Growers Association. The two groups merged in 1935 as the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association, with a statewide agenda that included advocacy, research and promotion. Today, the association is an important trade organization and political force. Although the association had its beginning in Del Rio, the headquarters is in San Angelo, which is now more central to Texas' sheep and goat industries. (2005)