Rancho grew up around the country store of Paul Murray, on land he purchased in 1849. His store was located at the intersection of roads that led to the important settlements of San Antonio, Gonzales, Seguin, Cuero, Goliad and Indianola. Murray had come to Texas from Mississippi and was soon followed by many of his Mississippi neighbors. They came in search of farm land, but soon abandoned the plow to adopt the cowboy culture of the area, as unbranded range cattle were everywhere and free for the taking. The name “Rancho” was given to the settlement as a ranching culture developed. Some of the earliest open range branding codes in Texas originated here in 1866, as local stockmen were gathering cattle herds to be driven to northern markets by Rancho cowboys. These codes facilitated the system of marking and tracking the cattle that mingled together in open, unfenced ranges. A post office was officially established in 1855, and Rancho grew to have several businesses, as well as a school and two churches. Rancho began a rapid decline in population when the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad bypassed the town in 1906, and many residents relocated to the new railroad town of Nixon, two miles to the south. The post office closed in 1911, and by that time, many of Rancho’s buildings had been moved to Nixon and most of Rancho’s residents had relocated to the new town. Although virtually no visible evidence of the town of Rancho remains, the town’s short existence stands as a reminder of the hundreds of similar towns that fell prey to the railroads that crossed Texas during the late 19th century.
