HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

LS Alamosa Ranch Headquarters

Vega, Oldham County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Made of native sandstone hauled from a nearby creek, this house was built in 1886 for the manager of the LS Ranch owned by W. M. D. Lee and Lucien B. Scott. Stonemason Tom Nolan designed it, and the twin bunkhouse facing it, from a picture on the Arbuckle Coffee sack. Former Tascosa Sheriff Jim East was first ranch manager to live here. In 1939 Jack Mansfield bought the property and in 1950 enlarged the house, which is still owned by the family.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This sturdy sandstone house was built in 1886 for the manager of the sprawling LS Ranch, owned by W.M.D. Lee and Lucien B. Scott in the Texas Panhandle. Stonemason Tom Nolan reportedly modeled it and its twin bunkhouse on a picture from an Arbuckle Coffee sack. Its first resident manager was Jim East, a former Tascosa sheriff, and the home stayed in one family's hands for generations after 1939.

Why it matters

The headquarters is a tangible relic of the great open-range cattle empires that defined the Texas Panhandle in the 1880s, built by the hands and improvisation of the frontier.

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Related people

  • ยท W.M.D. Lee
  • ยท Lucien B. Scott
  • ยท Tom Nolan
  • ยท Jim East

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

The Historic LS

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