Old Muleshoe Ranch Cookhouse
Muleshoe, Bailey County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Cookhouse built in Parmer County about 1897. Bought and moved here about 1902. Dodge City couple moving to Texas found shoe thrown by mule. Used it for good luck and as branding iron on ranch to which this old cookhouse belonged. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This ranch cookhouse was built in Parmer County around 1897 and hauled to the Muleshoe Ranch about 1902. Local lore holds that a Dodge City couple moving to Texas found a shoe thrown by a mule, kept it for luck, and used it as the ranch's branding iron—giving the outfit, and eventually the town, its name. The humble cookhouse survives as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Why it matters
The Muleshoe cookhouse preserves the day-to-day working world of the great Panhandle ranches, right down to the branding iron that named a town.
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Themes & tags
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