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Office building of once-famousPanhandle ranch headed to Lubbock CHANNING, Texas (AP)--The century-old office building of a once-famous Texas Panhandle ranch will soon have a new home in Lubbock. The XIT Ranch office, completed in 1899, was the site of financial transactions for what was the world's largest range under fence. Two Chicago developers were given the 3 million-acre ranch when they agreed in the 1880s to build a new Capitol building in Austin for $3 million. The building will be dismantled brick-by-brick and reconstructed at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, a process that will take up to eight months and could start by the end of April, said the building's owner, Lenny Sadler of Amarillo. The Lubbock center, dedicated to preserving the history of ranching and pioneer life, displays about 45 exhibits, including houses, a barn, windmills and an old train with Santa Fe Railway cars and a depot. "The XIT was important to Texas history, so the building has strong ties not only to ranching but to Texas history in general," said Jim Pfluger, the center's executive director. XIT used the office to liquidate assets and manage lands during the ranch's heyday around the turn of the 20th century. The building was occupied until 1912, when the ranch sold the last of its cattle. At its peak, the ranch had about 150,000 head of cattle. The building was in disrepair in 1982 when Bill and Patricia Kirkeminde bought it and started restoring it. They were sticklers for accuracy. Not content with simply replacing hardware such as door hinges and knobs, they searched for companies that could make replicas, Patricia Kirkeminde said. She said they worked on the building off and on until they sold it to Sadler in 2005. "We wanted a restoration, not a remodel," she said. "No wonder it took us so long." Sadler said he decided to move the building out of Channing so more people could see it. Most travelers, he said, are headed to and from vacations in New Mexico and Colorado and don't stop in the tiny town about 55 miles northwest of Amarillo. "It was a terribly hard decision for my wife (Linda) and I to make," Sadler said. "We hope the Channing people will not hold a grudge against us for doing what was right." In its day, the ranch was 30 miles wide and stretched across parts of 10 counties from the Oklahoma border to near Lubbock. The last parcel of XIT land was sold in 1963, and the ranch's last living cowboy, Ira Taylor, died in 1999.
Date: 5/8/08 Advertisement
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