Anvil Park Ranch

Julius Caesar Studer was born in Switzerland in 1863, apprenticed to a carriage maker at thirteen in Tennessee and worked as a railroad blacksmith in Kansas before coming to Canadian in 1887. There he made gun parts, bits and spurs, and the Handbook of Texas says he was the first rancher to put registered bulls with his whole range herd. He also ran a meat market, lumberyard, ice plant and bakery; asked why so many businesses, he answered that he had so many different kinds of sons. He died in 1953 at ninety.

What the plaque says

Begun 1891 by blacksmith J. C. Studer who came from Kansas in 1886. His occupation inspired Anvil brand and name of ranch. Ran only purebred cattle after 1919. Drew top cattle buyers. Spread grew from two sections to 5,000 acres. Famous for annual professional rodeo 1918 to 1941. Attracted top cowboys from throughout nation. Many stars of rodeo world started here. As many as 8,000 visitors viewed 3-day performances. Ranch was sold 1951 to Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission for game breeding purposes. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 1.4 mi
  Five thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.
• Canadian River Wagon Bridge — 3.4 mi
  The longest pin-connected bridge in Texas, 3,255 feet of Parker trusses across the Canadian River at Canadian, built for wagons in 1916 and reopened as a footpath in 2000.
• The Citadelle Art Museum — 4.0 mi
  A 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.
• River Valley Pioneer Museum — 4.0 mi
  The Hemphill County museum in Canadian, a Santa Fe division town of 1887 on the river breaks that held one of the first commercial rodeos in Texas and voted itself dry in 1903.

More markers nearby

• Former Site of Hogtown — steps away
• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 1.4 mi
• Canadian River Trails — 3.5 mi
• Robert R. Young — 3.5 mi