The Armstrong Ranch

John Barclay Armstrong was born in McMinnville, Tennessee, in January 1850 and reached Texas in 1871. He joined Captain McNelly's Rangers on May 20, 1875, and later served as a United States marshal. His wife, Mollie Durst, came from the family that owned this land, and the couple moved here with their children in 1882; they had seven. In retirement he was called Major Armstrong. The Handbook puts the ranch at 50,000 acres. He died on May 1, 1913. This is private land, and nothing here is open to visitors.

What the plaque says

The Armstrong Ranch In 1852 James H. Durst, son of a leading Nacogdoches, Texas family, purchased 93,219 acres of land here, part of the "La Barreta" Spanish Land Grant. In 1878 Mary Helena "Mollie" Durst, married the noted Texas Ranger John Barkley Armstrong. Armstrong had served with Captain Leander McNelly and played a major role in bringing law and order to South Texas. He participated in the arrest of King Fisher and gained national fame for his capture of the notorious Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin. Armstrong moved his family to the ranch home he built here. Their close friends and neighbors were the families of Captain Richard King and Captain Mifflin Kenedy. The ranch was an important site in the area; General Zachary Taylor had camped here prior to the Mexican War and for many years the ranch served as a stop on the stage route between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Under Armstrong's guidance, the Armstrong Ranch became one of the legendary cattle ranches of Texas. His descendants have continued the tradition of family enterprise here through the twentieth century. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas — 20 mi
  A museum in the Kenedy Pasture Company's 1927 office in Sarita, telling how Mifflin Kenedy and three generations of his family shaped the Wild Horse Desert, with murals and an audio guide.
• Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine — 31 mi
  The grave and shrine of the folk healer of Los Olmos, a place of prayer where South Texans still leave candles and letters for the curandero who took no fee.
• Heritage Museum at Falfurrias — 31 mi
  A free town museum of ranch gear, a Texas Ranger room and 99,000 photo negatives, in the town Edward Lasater built around his railroad and his Jersey cows.

More markers nearby

• General Zachary Taylor — 14 mi
• Kenedy County — 20 mi
• El Encino del Poso (The Oak in the Hole) — 23 mi
• Falfurrias to Encino Road — 24 mi