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An
easy drive from Austin
and San Antonio,
a visit to Morris Ranch is about as comfortable a ghost town tour
as you're going to get.
Only 12 miles from Fredericksburg,
a trip to Morris Ranch can be extended to include a visit to Harper
with a quick return to Fredericksburg.
Morris Ranch is included in T. Lindsay Baker's Ghost Towns of Texas.
The Ranch is very much as it appeared in 1984 when the author's photos
were taken. The only difference seems to be the recent death of several
trees, perhaps due to the drought.
How Morris Ranch became a ghost town is rather simple. Francis
Morris bought the 23,000 as a place to raise horses, although not
much was done during his lifetime. His son oversaw the ranch during
its ascent into a community that could nearly provide for all its
needs. No economic factors influenced the town's demise, but rather
the laws in several states that cut back on legalized horseracing.
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On
the way to Morris Ranch
TE Photo,
2000 |
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The
Ranch Headquarters building
TE Photo,
2000 |
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"Ranch" today extends around the intersection of Morris-Tivydale Road
and an offshoot of Hwy 16. The easiest way to get there is to take
Hwy 16 out of Fredericksburg
(South) and at 2 miles start looking for the traffic light at FM 2093.
Turn right and go for about 7 miles until you come to Morris-Tivydale
Road. Turn left and continue for about 1.5 miles. A handsome small
stone building sits to your left, beyond a tall wire fence and beyond
that is the former two story "Jockey House." |
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L - Silo
R - Citizens
of Morris Ranch today
TE Photos,
2000
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Continue on
and at the next intersection you'll come to a handsome two-story
house that looks like it's been used recently. Across the road is
a silo with an observation deck and some horses that may be descended
from the racing stock of the Morris Ranch. To the right of the large
house is a small store overgrown with vegetation.
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The
barn for stallions
TE Photo,
2000 |
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The
1893 schoolhouse
TE Photo,
2000 |
Head
west from this intersection and you'll see a large stables that once
housed the ranch's breeding stock. Across the street is the former
manager's house and behind a fence (also on the north side of the
road) is the beautiful former schoolhouse, built in 1893.
Morris Ranch reached its zenith in the 1880s. The laws that broke
its back were passed in the early 1890s during an economic depression.
The ranch left the Morris family's hands in 1902, although the community
was strong enough to keep a post office until 1954.
© John
Troesser |
Loads of cotton
waiting to be ginned - Morris Ranch, TX
No Postmark or date.
Click on image to enlarge |
The Morris
Family
"Here are
two photos of my ancestors who are connected to Morris Ranch. I don't
believe they are the founders, but they're close. The pictures are
of my father's father's father, Gilbert Morris, and his wife,
Bertha Brockman Morris. Her ancestors settled the German-American
region around Fredericksburg,
TX. The proximity of that community to Morris Ranch is how she
came to meet my great-grandfather, who was associated with the operations
of Morris Ranch, as a partner/heir, until his untimely death at an
early age in the early 1900s. |
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"My
father's father's father, Gilbert Morris, and his wife, Bertha Brockman
Morris." - Ted Morris |
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Gilbert
Morris
Photo courtesy Ted Morris |
Bertha
came from the Saxony region of present-day Germany.
My father's father, Gilbert Elliott Morris, was born around 1900.
My grandfather grew up in the Fredericksburg/Morris
Ranch region, and he tells some amazing stories in his memoirs....
Stories include a place called the Buckhorn Saloon, which had 9-inch-circumference
rattlesnake skins on the wall up to the 1950s; the days of Texas independence
and how the federal government relied on the frontiersmen to hold
the line; Indian skirmishes; the days of the Pony Express, of which
my ancestors played a role because of their intricate knowledge of
the terrain and horse-riding; and more." - Ted Morris, June 09,
2003 |
Morris Ranch
Photos
"Morris Ranch
is a fascinating site, though now it seems far from abandoned. The
old schoolhouse appears to be a residence complete with imposing fence.
To the west of the school house is a well maintained cemetery. It
is not visible from the road, but you can easily drive the short dirt
path up to it. The building on the southwest corner of Alfred Petsch/Morris
Tivydale and Morris Ranch has a new pool in the rear. The most interesting
part of our visit was the silo which has a memorial plaque attached
facing southeast. Why I didn't photograph it, I'll never know. Also
interesting were the ruins east of the silo but barely visible from
the road. Perhaps this was the former "Jockey House", I'm not sure,
but there is very little left of the stone structure. Well worth the
drive if you are in the area. - Garry Taylor, Austin,
Texas, April 05, 2005 |
House & Store
Photo courtesy Garry Taylor, March 2005 |
Silo
Interior
Photo courtesy Garry Taylor, March 2005 |
The silo by the
house
Photo courtesy Garry Taylor, March 2005 |
Store
Photo courtesy Garry Taylor, March 2005 |
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Ruins
Photo
courtesy Garry Taylor, March 2005
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The 1893 Morris
Ranch Schoolhouse
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, June 2005 |
Morris Ranch
Related Stories:
Max Hirsch - Wizard of the Race Track ›
by Michael Barr
Max Hirsch, the dean of American horse trainers, sat in the clubhouse
at Belmont Park on Long Island, New York and reminisced about his
first race as a jockey..... Max Hirsch loved horses, and at age
12 he became an exercise boy at Morris Ranch..... At the time Morris
Ranch was one of the premier thoroughbred training facilities in
the country.
By age 14 Hirsch was a jockey. Over the next six years he rode 123
winners. At age 20, Hirsch switched to training horses. In his storied
career he trained three Kentucky Derby winners: Bold Venture (1936),
Assault (1946), and Middle-ground (1950). His horses also won the
Preakness once and the Belmont Stakes four times. Read
full article
The
Ghosts of Morris Ranch ›
by Michael Barr
What's left of Morris Ranch hides in plain sight near the intersection
of Morris Ranch Road and Alfred Petsch Road between Fredericksburg
and Kerrville. Scattered to the west from that intersection is the
ghostly skeleton of one of the most elaborate thoroughbred breeding
and training facilities ever built. Read
full article
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Old horse barn
at Morris Ranch
April 2016 photo © Michael
Barr |
Morris Ranch
Forum
Subject: Morris
Ranch & other places
My wife love going to old places......About 2 weeks ago we went to
the Austin, San Marcos area (Hill Country). We found Morris Ranch,
no problem with the excellent directions on your website....we were
kind of disappointed that it was all fenced off......the silo was
close enough to the fence to get some good pictures the large barn
was just like on the website but a No Tresspassing sign kept us from
getting closer.......the schoolhouse was incredible but a big gate
was in the way I would have love to look inside.......We went on to
San
Marcos, there we found an old hospital that had at one time been
converted into a college fraternity house, but now is abandonded with
a somewhat spooky history of a fraternity ritual that had gone wrong
,maybe true maybe not...( I read about it in a book called Weird Texas,
check it out sometime its a cool book)........Also we found an abandonded
saw mill outside of Luling it
was great, I think it was called Zedlers
Mill it was along side the River you can walk right up to it,
of course you wouldn't have wanted to go inside, the historical marker
said it had been abandonded since 1960......As usual I cant say enough
good about your website...who knows where we will go next..........
Thanks. - Rodney Stegall, November 08, 2005 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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