National Ranching Heritage Center: A Ranch Town Moved to Lubbock

What is the National Ranching Heritage Center?

The National Ranching Heritage Center is an outdoor museum on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, Texas, where historic ranch buildings from across the state have been moved and restored. It preserves homesteads, barns, a schoolhouse, windmills and a railroad depot. According to the Ranching Heritage Association's history, the park today has 55 structures representing the 1780s to the 1950s, though a 2009 count in the same history was 48 and True West Magazine counts nearly four dozen, so the number depends on the date and source.

How did the Ranching Heritage Center start?

In 1966 Texas Tech President Grover E. Murray conceived an outdoor ranching history museum after visiting an outdoor history museum in Norway. Ranchers and business leaders met that year at Lubbock's Pioneer Hotel to plan the Ranch Headquarters Association, which later became the Ranching Heritage Association. In 1969 the association became a nonprofit and took its current name. Jerry L. Rogers served as first director from 1969 to 1972.

A Wikipedia account credits William Curry Holden as first director, while the association's history names Rogers, so sources differ on that point.

Building the park, structure by structure

The 12-acre site opened to visitors for a day in October 1970 and 1971. The first structure was the Renderbrook Spade Ranch blacksmith shop, and the JA Ranch Milk and Meat House was the first building to arrive. By 1974 the site had three windmills and 19 buildings under restoration, and in 1975 the museum was renamed the Ranching Heritage Center.

The grand opening came on July 2, 1976. Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson spoke, and a week-long symbolic Longhorn cattle drive passed through San Antonio, Kerrville, San Angelo, Stamford, Midland and Lubbock. About 25,000 visitors toured during the four-day celebration, according to the association.

Which historic buildings can you see?

A Wikipedia mirror of the article names several relocated houses, including the Barton House, a Queen Anne style home moved from Hale County, and the Jowell House of 1872 to 1873, a fortress-style residence from Palo Pinto County. It also lists the Harrell House, built in phases between 1885 and 1917, the Hedwig's Hill Dogtrot House of 1855 from Mason County, and the home of Daniel Webster 80 John Wallace from about 1900.

True West Magazine adds the train station from Ropes, Texas, hometown of the author Max Evans, and says eighteen life-size longhorn statues stand in front of the center. The association says the bronze steer herd eventually reached 19.

From museum to learning center

The center separated from the Museum of Texas Tech in 1998 and became the National Ranching Heritage Center in 1999. The main building became the DeVitt-Mallet Ranch Museum in 2006 after a $3 million wing was added, and the $8.2 million Cash Family Ranch Life Learning Center opened in 2023.

The association reports more than 75,000 visitors a year and 5,000 to 8,000 schoolchildren annually. Programs include Ranch Day, Summer Stampede and Candlelight at the Ranch, and the association has presented the National Golden Spur Award since 1978.

Visit the National Ranching Heritage Center

The center sits next to the Museum of Texas Tech at 3121 4th Street in Lubbock. Wikipedia says admission is free with a self-guided walking tour. For more on ranching heritage, see farm.FM's ranching section, and read a story about Texas ranching history on the same site.