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Famous Ranches and Stations

Kenedy Ranch: The South Texas Ranch Built on Grapevine Country

Mifflin Kenedy, a steamboat man turned rancher, assembled La Parra on the Texas coast, and three generations of his family held it together.

What is Kenedy Ranch?

Kenedy Ranch sits on a high sand dune in the Nueces Strip, the dry coastal country between Corpus Christi and Brownsville that old Texans called the White Horse Desert. Its other name, La Parra, comes from the grapevines that wrap the live oaks there. The ranch's boundaries run from Baffin Bay on the north to the Laguna Madre on the east, and the neighboring King Ranch sits along its southern edge.

It began as a cattle operation and still counts cattle among its activities, but over the decades it has also earned money from oil and gas, hunting and wind power. For a fuller picture of how ranches like this one fit into the wider beef story, the site farm.FM keeps a ranching section with stories from working ranch country, including a story on the King Ranch next door.

Who was Mifflin Kenedy?

Mifflin Kenedy made his first fortune on the water. He operated steamboats that ferried cargo along the Rio Grande, and he used that money to buy land north of the river. His friend and business partner, Richard King, founded the adjoining King Ranch, so the two largest ranches in South Texas started as neighbors tied together by the same river trade.

In 1882 Kenedy established La Parra Ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company. By the time he died in 1895 the ranch had grown to about 400,000 acres, according to the Kenedy Ranch article on Wikipedia. His son John G. Kenedy later consolidated it with other land purchases, and at its largest the ranch is reported to have reached 500,000 acres.

How big was the ranch and what did it raise?

One account puts the ranch at about 125 square miles along 35 miles of coastline, with up to 40,000 head of cattle and up to 800 horses and mules. Those figures describe the ranch at its busiest, and the acreage numbers differ from source to source, so the totals are best read as ranges rather than exact counts.

The ranch was built to feed itself. Bunkhouses, a dairy, barns, a blacksmith shop, an ice house, a smokehouse, an elementary school and a commissary sat on the grounds, and a turbine driven by an artesian well supplied electricity. Families, mostly Hispanic, worked on the ranch for four generations, with fathers teaching sons to ride, rope, mend fence and work weeks-long cow camps.

Why was a mansion built with Gatling guns?

Beginning in 1918 the Kenedys built a three-story, 30-room Spanish-style mansion that took five years to finish. People have called it La Casa Grande, the Big House and La Parra. It was the family residence and ranch headquarters, built at the highest point on the property, 37 feet above sea level, which has protected it in hurricanes and coastal floods.

The design reflected the frontier it grew out of. Gatling guns were installed on the roof to protect the family, and underground tunnels offered a way out if trouble came. The ranch had begun as open land where rustlers could steal stock, and sheep could wander in and wreck the range.

The Key to the Kenedys' Success

The Kenedy story is less about a single clever move than about a set of practical decisions, each of which kept the land together longer than most family ranches manage. The record shows an owner who spent early on infrastructure, built a town around the business and later reshaped the ranch's income when oil and gas faded.

That durability came with real costs and tensions. Open range invited theft and trespass, fences were expensive, and the ranch's survival depended on Hispanic ranch families whose labor made the operation run over four generations.

  • Fence early: Kenedy began installing fences in 1868, first at his Laureles Ranch, despite the expense, to keep out rustlers and wandering sheep.
  • Build for self-reliance: a dairy, ice house, commissary, school and artesian-powered electricity kept the ranch running on its own.
  • Own the town: Sarita, founded in 1904 on ranch land, housed employees and tenant cotton farmers and held the company store and offices.
  • Diversify when markets turn: after oil and gas income fell 50 percent by 1982, the ranch opened guided hunting on 22,000 acres in 1986 and later leased land for wind power.
  • Put the land in trust: with no children in the third generation, the ranch passed to a foundation and a charitable trust instead of being sold off.

Sarita, the ranch town

In 1904 John G. Kenedy founded the town of Sarita on land that had been part of the ranch and named it for his daughter, Sarita Kenedy East. The town served the Kenedy Pasture Company, the ranch and its workers. The company store, ranch offices and other ranch buildings have been located there, and most residents worked for the Kenedy businesses, either as employees or as tenant cotton farmers.

The Kenedy Ranch Museum opened in 2003 in the restored Kenedy Pasture Company building, with art and artifacts on the family's history in South Texas. It is a good place to start for anyone who wants to see the ranch's story in objects. Visiting hours have been limited, so check with the museum before you drive out.

How did the ranch change after the oil and gas boom?

Oil and gas royalties once carried the ranch, but revenue from them fell by half by 1982. In 1986 the Kenedy Memorial Foundation opened commercial guided hunting on 22,000 acres, with limits on deer, quail, nilgai, feral hogs and turkeys. The foundation's own ranch page lists game that includes white-tailed deer, nilgai, javelina, turkeys and bobwhite quail, and it notes that the nilgai is an antelope imported from India.

Wind power came next. Gulf Wind leased 9,600 acres for a wind farm that was installed in 2009, after a dispute with the neighboring King Ranch, which worried about the effect on migrating birds. The Kenedy side commissioned a two-year study and concluded the impact would be minimal. The foundation describes a wind farm in its Jaboncillos division with 118 turbines, so the turbine count has grown since the first phase of 84.

Who owns Kenedy Ranch today?

Sarita Kenedy East and her brother John G. Kenedy Jr. were the last of the family to inherit the ranch, and neither had children. Today, as a summary of the ranch's organizations explains, the ranch is run in sections. The John G. Kenedy Jr. Charitable Trust manages the northern part, roughly 200,000 acres, and the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, which East established, runs the southern part, about 235,000 acres. The foundation says its mission is to keep its land as a natural asset that honors the family's role in South Texas.

East also left about 1,100 acres, the main house, the chapel and the cemeteries to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, with the condition that the property serve religious purposes. In 1973 the Oblates opened the Lebh Shomea House of Prayer there, a Hebrew name meaning listening heart. The foundation earned the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Outstanding Lone Star Land Steward Award in 1997-98.

Timeline

  1. 1868Mifflin Kenedy begins fencing, starting at his Laureles Ranch
  2. 1882Kenedy establishes La Parra Ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company
  3. 1895Kenedy dies; the ranch has reached about 400,000 acres
  4. 1904John G. Kenedy founds the town of Sarita on ranch land
  5. 1918Construction begins on the three-story, 30-room mansion, a five-year project
  6. 1973Missionary Oblates open the Lebh Shomea House of Prayer at the main house
  7. 1986Commercial guided hunting opens on 22,000 acres
  8. 2003Kenedy Ranch Museum opens in Sarita
  9. 2009Wind farm installed on Kenedy land

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Kenedy Ranch?

Mifflin Kenedy, a steamboat operator and rancher, established La Parra Ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company in 1882. He was a friend and business partner of Richard King, founder of the neighboring King Ranch.

How big is Kenedy Ranch?

It reached about 400,000 acres by 1895 and is reported to have peaked near 500,000. Today it is split between a foundation with about 235,000 acres and a charitable trust with about 200,000 acres.

Why is it called La Parra?

La Parra is Spanish for grapevine. Grapevines wrap around the oak trees on the ranch, and the name was used for the ranch, its headquarters and the main house.

Can you visit Kenedy Ranch?

The Kenedy Ranch Museum in Sarita shows the family's history, though its hours have been limited. The ranch also offers guided hunting, and the Lebh Shomea House of Prayer occupies the old main house.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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