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Famous Ranches and Stations

Spring Hill Ranch: The Flint Hills Stone Ranch Behind Tallgrass Prairie

A stone mansion, 30 miles of stone fence and a purebred herd tell the story of the end of open-range ranching in the Flint Hills.

What is Spring Hill Ranch?

Spring Hill Ranch is the historic core of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills of Kansas, north of Strong City. The Wikipedia article on the preserve describes how the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy work to protect a nationally significant example of tallgrass prairie, while sharing the story of the ranching legacy.

Of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered North America, less than 5 percent remains, mostly in the Flint Hills.

Who was Stephen Jones?

Stephen F. Jones, a cattle rancher originally from Tennessee, moved in August 1878 to Chase County, Kansas, from southeast Colorado, where he had run the JJ Ranch with his brothers. He bought 160 acres along Fox Creek for $2,000. In September 1880 he bought 1,409 acres from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad for $4,001, and over the next few years he expanded to about 7,000 acres. This timeline comes from the National Park Service ranch timeline.

Jones finished the ranch headquarters in 1881 and, per the preserve's Wikipedia history, was one of the early adopters in the region of enclosed ranching, which spread across the Plains in the 1880s largely because open-range grazing had caused overgrazing.

What did Jones build?

In the early 1880s Jones enclosed the ranch with roughly 30 miles of five-foot stone fence. A three-story limestone mansion, built from Cottonwood limestone quarried nearby, was completed in 1881 for $25,000, and a three-story barn and stable measuring 110 by 60 feet followed at a cost of $15,000. He called the estate Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch.

Jones used the ranch to raise purebred cattle of several breeds, along with purebred hogs and sheep. In 1882 he donated two acres to the school district for the Lower Fox Creek School.

The Key to Spring Hill's Survival

Spring Hill survived because it changed hands among owners who kept it grazed, and then because a public and private partnership kept it whole. Its ranch buildings were recognized early, and the ranch's story, the end of open-range ranching, is now told on site.

The record is also honest about turnover and loss.

  • Enclose the range: Jones built about 30 miles of stone fence and was an early adopter of enclosed ranching in the region.
  • Build to last: limestone construction has kept the mansion, barn and school standing for well over a century.
  • Keep it grazed: the Flint Hills land stayed in ranching under the Lantrys, Pattens, Davis and the Z Bar Cattle Company.
  • Assemble, then protect: George Davis reassembled the Jones and Lantry ranches in 1935 and eventually held about 70,000 acres, and a public-private partnership later protected the core.
  • Costs: the Benninghoven family lost the ranch during the Depression, and the ranch complex was divided and reassembled more than once.

How did Spring Hill change owners?

In February 1888 Jones sold the estate to neighbor and banking partner Barney Lantry for $95,000, and Lantry merged it into his Deer Park Place estate. The Lantry family lived in town rather than the mansion. Charles and Nannie Patten bought 9,682.55 acres in 1907, and in 1909 Otto and Flora Benninghoven bought the house, barn and 1,080 acres. In 1921 Lester and Beulah Urschel bought the remaining 8,602 acres from the Pattens for $400,000.

In 1935 George Davis, a wealthy Kansas City resident (Wikipedia calls him a grain dealer; the Park Service timeline does not), reassembled the ranches during the Depression and eventually held about 70,000 acres, making him Kansas's largest landowner at the time. After he died in 1955 the operation became the Davis-Noland-Merrill Grain Company, and in 1975 it merged with the Z Bar Cattle Company, giving the ranch the Z Bar name.

How did the ranch become a national preserve?

The stone ranch complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1971. After the Z Bar Cattle Company disbanded in November 1986, the 10,894-acre ranch was placed in a trust and kept grazed. The National Park Trust bought it in June 1994, and Public Law 104-333 created Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve on November 12, 1996, with private ownership and park service management in a partnership.

The entire ranch property was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1997, primarily for its association with Jones and the end of the open-range era. In 2002 the National Park Trust donated about 32 acres to the Park Service, including the house, barn, outbuildings and school, and in 2005 it sold about 10,862 acres to The Nature Conservancy.

Visit the preserve and see the bison

The preserve maintains over 40 miles of hiking trails and offers narrated bus tours of the prairie in summer. The Park Service and Conservancy established a bison herd of 13 animals in 2009 from Wind Cave National Park, and Wikipedia says the population has grown to about 90. About a third of the grassland is typically burned each year to keep trees from taking over.

Texas billionaire Ed Bass owns grazing rights to nearly 10,000 acres of the preserve until 2035, so cattle still graze there. For more ranch history, browse the ranching section of farm.FM, or read a story about Flint Hills ranching.

Timeline

  1. 1878Stephen Jones moves to Chase County, Kansas, and buys 160 acres on Fox Creek
  2. 1881Limestone mansion is completed for $25,000
  3. 1888Jones sells the estate to Barney Lantry for $95,000
  4. 1935George Davis begins reassembling the Jones and Lantry ranches
  5. 1971The ranch complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
  6. 1994National Park Trust buys the ranch
  7. 1996Law creates Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve on November 12
  8. 1997Ranch is named a National Historic Landmark District
  9. 2009A herd of 13 bison arrives from Wind Cave National Park

Frequently asked questions

Who built Spring Hill Ranch?

Stephen F. Jones, a Tennessee-born cattleman, began buying land in Chase County, Kansas, in 1878 and completed the ranch headquarters in 1881.

What is Spring Hill Ranch known for?

Its limestone mansion, barn and stone fences, and its role as a National Historic Landmark District for marking the end of open-range ranching in the Flint Hills.

Who owns Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve?

The Nature Conservancy owns most of the land, since buying it in 2005, while the National Park Service owns a small portion and manages the preserve in partnership.

Are there still cattle at Tallgrass Prairie?

Yes. A private owner holds grazing rights to nearly 10,000 acres until 2035, and the preserve also keeps a bison herd started in 2009.

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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