Abandoned Towns
The stone Morris Ranch Schoolhouse, with a metal roof and a small belfry, behind bare brush

Farm and ranch town

Morris Ranch

A town built around a big thoroughbred operation. The horses left in 1902, the post office in 1954, and the stone schoolhouse now stands on a private ranch that hosts weddings and events.

30°13′02″N 99°00′44″W · ≈1,740 ft

Photo: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Private

Morris Ranch is private. Its owners run it as a working ranch, event center and guest lodging, open to booked weddings, events and stays. The 1893 schoolhouse is not open to the public. Don't go past gates or fences.

Overview

A town built for racehorses

The 1893 Morris Ranch Schoolhouse
The 1893 Morris Ranch Schoolhouse · Photo: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Morris Ranch is 8½ miles southwest of Fredericksburg. Its story starts in 1856, when the horse breeder Francis Morris bought 23,000 acres here (the ranch's own history says 24,000). In the 1880s the family turned the place into a center for raising and training thoroughbreds, and a company town grew around the headquarters, with a hotel, a cotton gin, a roller mill for flour and feed, a racetrack and housing for young men training as jockeys.

It depended on racing. In the 1890s several states passed laws against it, the market for thoroughbreds fell, and in 1902 the Morris family closed the Texas operation and split the land into farms. A farming village hung on for decades. The post office closed in 1954, the store soon after, and by 1968 the Texas Almanac listed no population.

The best survivor is the 1893 limestone schoolhouse, designed by Alfred Giles. It is on the National Register, but it is privately owned. Today the ranch is a working ranch, event center and winery with guest lodging.

Timeline

Horses, then farms

Morris Ranch on the 1964 USGS sheet, with Hill Crest Cemetery to the northwest and the Pedernales River to the south
Morris Ranch on the 1964 USGS sheet, with Hill Crest Cemetery to the northwest and the Pedernales River to the south · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. Horse breeder Francis Morris buys 23,000 acres in southern Gillespie County. The ranch's own history gives 24,000.
  2. Morris sends his nephew to set up a center for raising and training thoroughbreds.
  3. John A. Morris inherits the ranch from his father and carries on.
  4. The headquarters grows into a town with a hotel, a cotton gin, a roller mill, a racetrack and quarters for young jockeys in training.
  5. The Morris Ranch post office opens. The stone schoolhouse, designed by San Antonio architect Alfred Giles, is built the same year and doubles as a church.
  6. With racing curbed by state laws, the Morris family closes the Texas operation, sells the horses and breaks the ranch into farms.
  7. About 75 people live here.
  8. The town still has a gin, a general store, a drugstore, a flour mill, a church and a school.
  9. The post office closes. The store shuts soon after.
  10. The Texas Almanac lists no population.
  11. The schoolhouse goes on the National Register of Historic Places.

What's left

The schoolhouse and the ranch

The schoolhouse is built of native limestone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Handbook of Texas says a number of the original buildings were still standing in the 1980s. The ranch's own site now calls the schoolhouse one of the few buildings left of the old ranch, restored in 1980. The property is private and hosts weddings, corporate events and overnight guests.

  • Stone schoolhouse (1893)
  • A few other ranch-era buildings
USGS topographic map of the Morris Ranch area
USGS The National Map, topo. Morris Ranch Road runs past the old headquarters.
Aerial view of fields and buildings at Morris Ranch
Aerial imagery, same area. Fields and scattered buildings of the old ranch.

Historic maps

Morris Ranch on USGS maps, 1894–1985

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Morris Ranch, 1894
Kerrville sheet, 1894, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Fredericksburg is 20 minutes away on TX 16 and Morris Ranch Road. From San Antonio, take I-10 west to Kerrville's exit 508 and come in on TX 16 and Alfred Petsch Road. The roads are paved.

USGS topographic map between Fredericksburg and Morris Ranch with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Fredericksburg11.2 miabout 20 min
  1. From downtown Fredericksburg, head south on North Adams Street, which becomes TX 16.0.9 mi
  2. Continue south on TX 16.8.1 mi
  3. Turn right on Morris Ranch Road.2.3 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Paved all the way. Morris Ranch Road is a narrow county road.
  • The schoolhouse stands on Morris Ranch Road. The grounds are private and booked for events, so stay on the public road and don't block driveways.

Photos

Morris Ranch in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Morris Ranch?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Farm and ranch

More farm and ranch ghost towns

The nearest in Texas.

The weathered general store and post office at Luckenbach, a tin-roofed wooden building under a spreading live oak, with visitors in the gravel yardGuide

Luckenbach

30.18, -98.76

Gillespie County, Texas

A German farm hamlet of 492 people in 1904 that had nearly emptied by the 1960s. Hondo Crouch bought it in 1971, and a hit song made it famous.…

Open dailyFarm and ranch
The gable end of the Albert Dance Hall: rough board siding, a corrugated-tin door, string lights and picnic tables on the gravel in frontGuide

Albert

30.19, -98.60

Gillespie County, Texas

A stage stop renamed for the storekeeper who moved here from Luckenbach. The town was put up for sale on eBay in 2007, and its icehouse and dance…

Icehouse open Wed–SunFarm and ranch

All 114 farm and ranch ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Morris Ranch

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Texas index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Handbook of Texas Online, "Morris Ranch, TX" (Martin Donell Kohout, rev. 1995), accessed October 19, 2026: ranch history, town facilities, 1902 closure, post office dates, population, 1980s remains.
  2. Wikipedia, "Morris Ranch Schoolhouse", retrieved October 2026: 1893 date, Alfred Giles, limestone, NRHP 1983, private and not in public use.
  3. Morris Ranch, official site, and its Events page, as of October 2026: working ranch, event center, winery and lodging; 24,000 acres in 1856; schoolhouse restored in 1980 and one of the few buildings left.
  4. Texas Historical Commission Atlas: Morris Ranch Schoolhouse record.
  5. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits