Charles Schreiner: The Merchant Who Built the Y.O. Ranch

Who was Charles Schreiner?

Charles Armand Schreiner was born February 22, 1838, in Alsace and died February 9, 1927, in Kerrville, according to the Wikipedia article on the rancher, which this profile treats as a lead and cross-checks against other sources. His family moved to Texas in 1852, first to the coast and then San Antonio.

He served with the Texas Rangers, according to that article, from 1854 to 1857, and then fought as a private for the Confederacy. A Texas Historical Commission marker places his Civil War service in the Third Texas Infantry and says he returned to Kerr County in 1865.

How did Schreiner start in business?

Before the ranch came the store. The commission marker says Schreiner entered the cattle business at Turtle Creek in Kerr County in 1856, then moved to Kerrville in 1869 and opened a mercantile business. A Texas Co-op Power history says the first-day sales were $2.50 in cash plus some credit, and that cattle drives on the Western Trail brought payments in Spanish gold doubloons worth $16 each.

The store grew into the Schreiner Mercantile Company, one of the largest general stores in the Southwest. He chartered a bank and made his son L.A. Schreiner its cashier; the private bank later became a national bank. The store closed in 2007.

Building the Y.O. Ranch

In 1880 Schreiner bought the Taylor-Clements Ranch and its Y.O. brand, according to the Texas Historical Commission atlas entry. Wikipedia puts the first purchase at about 27,000 acres and says the company held about 600,000 acres by 1900, stretching 80 miles from Kerrville to Menard. Texas Co-op Power says the ranch covered about half a million acres, so sources differ on the peak total. He reportedly acquired land at one cent to 50 cents an acre.

The marker says Texas longhorns were his chief concern and that more than 300,000 head were driven from the area to Kansas railheads. The last cattle drive from the ranch took place in 1941.

Sheep, goats and the Mohair Center of the World

Schreiner later diversified into sheep and goats. Wool and mohair became a major source of his wealth, and the marker says his venture led Kerrville to be called the "Mohair Center of the World." Wikipedia adds that he bought out his store partner around 1879 and expanded into wool and mohair.

Challenges, family and the breakup of the ranch

Wikipedia reports that heirs began disputing in 2013 and moved to break up the ranch holdings. In 2015 two couples bought 5,300 acres for $12.3 million. Most of the ranch had stayed in the family for more than a century, per Texas Co-op Power.

Schreiner married Mary Magdalena "Lena" Enderle in 1861; they had eight children. He is buried at Glen Rest Cemetery in Kerrville.

Visit and learn more

The Capt. Charles Schreiner Mansion, designed by Alfred Giles and commissioned in 1879, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. A 1944 book by J. Evetts Haley, Charles Schreiner, General Merchandise, covers three generations of the country store. For related reading see farm.FM's ranching section and a farm.FM story about Hill Country ranches.