Franklin Ranch
Tilden, McMullen County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Ranch founder, Ralph S. "Rafe" Franklin, was born in Louisiana, April 4, 1848. He came to McMullen County in the early 1860's with his family. He started this ranch about 1870, building it up until he owned 40,000 acres, one of the largest holdings in this area. On Nov. 4, 1870, he married Minerva Holland; their children were: Murray; Buddy; R.S. Jr.; Green; Felix; Chapman; Amy; Claude; Tom; John; Margaret; Sam; Julius. The ranch headquartered on San Miguel Creek. In 1913, the present ranch home was built at the same location. It was a travelers' refuge; relatives and friends from near and far visited oftent to attend parties, dances, picnics and other social gatherings. For a short time Franklin ran sheep and goats but changed to cattle. In 1902, he purchased a herd of black angus, the first in this part of the country. The old "San Antonio-Laredo Stage Road" traverses ranch, crossing San Miguel Creek below ranch home. During the Civil War much cotton passed over this road headed for the Mexican border. The Franklins were pioneers in truest sense--few were more dynamic than they in early McMullen County development. "Rafe" Franklin died March 14, 1913. 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ralph "Rafe" Franklin came to McMullen County as a boy in the early 1860s and around 1870 began building a ranch that grew to some 40,000 acres, among the largest in the region. He raised a large family at the San Miguel Creek headquarters, briefly ran sheep and goats, then committed to cattle—introducing one of the area's first black Angus herds in 1902. The old San Antonio–Laredo Stage Road crossed the property, a route that had carried Confederate cotton toward Mexico during the Civil War.
Why it matters
Franklin's sprawling spread reflects the rise of the great Texas cattle ranches after the Civil War, when open range and ambition turned South Texas into cattle country.
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Related people
- · Ralph S. "Rafe" Franklin
- · Minerva Holland Franklin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Cross
McMullen County, TX
The community of Cross in McMullen County grew from one of the area's earliest permanent settlements, known over the years as Nopal, San Miguel, and Franklin before taking the name of Samuel C. Cross, who opened its store and became postmaster in 1924. The post office closed a decade later, but ranching sustained the area, and in 1953 a nearby gas well—then the largest in the state—tied this quiet ranch country to the Texas energy boom.
Townsite of Wentz
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Founded in 1914 as the market center for a 44,000-acre farm development promoted for absentee Kansas landlords, the town of Wentz briefly boomed to about 200 residents, complete with a hired limousine to fetch mail from the train at Three Rivers. A severe drought in 1917 drove most citizens away, the post office closed in 1921, and the last school shut in 1948.
Site of Old Crowther Ranch
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Platted across 1,600 acres by 1902 and named for landowner Samuel Crowther, this townsite was heavily promoted as a future oil-and-farming center despite early oil discoveries nearby. The boosterism never paid off, and by 1921 the place was a ghost town. It later passed through further owners in the 1930s.
Calliham
Calliham, TX
This McMullen County community started as Guffeyola, a 1918 post office in H. H. McGuffey's store, then exploded after oil and gas strikes between 1917 and 1922 — first a tent city, then a town of shotgun houses. It piped the first natural gas to San Antonio and was renamed in 1923 to honor rancher and townsite owner J. T. Calliham. It still produces oil and ships fine rocks and petrified wood.