Thomas Henry Mathis Ranch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Thomas Henry Mathis Ranch out in San Patricio County. Now settle in, because this one's got cattle, polo ponies, and a whole town that needed a fence to keep the cows from movin' in. In 1879, after the dissolution of the Coleman, Mathis, Fulton Cattle Company, Thomas Henry Mathis set about building something of his own.

Mathis was born in 1834 and he'd be gone by 1899, but in between those years he did not sit still. He established a ranch he called the Henry Bend Ranch, named for a combination of his middle name and its location on a bend in the Nueces River. Twenty-four thousand acres of southwestern San Patricio County.

That is not a small piece of Texas. By 1880, Mathis had fenced seventeen thousand of those acres along the Nueces River, and he did it with wooden planks. Not wire.

Planks. Inside a three-thousand-acre enclosure, he kept his registered cattle and horses, and here is where the story gets a little unexpected: he also kept polo ponies. Prized polo ponies, trained right there on the ranch and sold to buyers in England.

England. The Nueces River to the English countryside. Near this very site stood the ranch headquarters, built in 1880 and not razed until 1953.

Then Mathis turned his eye toward the future. Realizing the advantage of a nearby rail line, he donated land for a right-of-way to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad in 1887. Two years later, in 1889, a hundred-acre townsite was platted and dedicated, and that town was named for Mathis himself.

Now here is the detail that ought to stop you cold: the entire town was fenced in order to keep the roaming cattle out. Two wooden gates guarding the entrances to the city. A town that had to lock the door against the longhorns.

In subsequent years the Mathis Ranch was sold and divided, but what Thomas Henry Mathis built out on that Nueces River bend left a mark on San Patricio County that a fence and two wooden gates could not contain.

What the marker says

In 1879, following the dissolution of the Coleman, Mathis, Fulton Cattle Company, Thomas Henry Mathis (1834-1899) established a ranch he called the Henry Bend Ranch, named for a combination of his middle name and its location on a bend in the Nueces River. The ranch covered some 24,000 acres of land in southwestern San Patricio County. In 1880 Mathis fenced 17,000 acres along the Nueces River with wooden planks. In a 3,000-acre enclosure were his registered cattle and horses, as well as his prized polo ponies, which were trained on the ranch and sold to buyers in England. Near this site was the ranch headquarters, built in 1880 and razed in 1953. Realizing the advantage of a nearby rail line, Mathis donated land for a right-of-way to the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad in 1887. A 100-acre townsite, named for Mathis, was platted and dedicated in 1889. The entire town was fenced in order to keep the roaming cattle out, and there were two wooden gates guarding the entrances to the city. An important part of San Patricio County history, the Mathis Ranch was sold and divided in subsequent years. (1988)