National Ranching Heritage Center

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The National Ranching Heritage Center, a museum of ranching history, is located in Lubbock on the campus of Texas Tech University. It features a number of authentic early Texas ranch buildings as well as a railroad depot, homesteads, and other historic structures.

One views the exhibits through a self-guided walking tour. It is free to the public.

The center is a part of the Museum of Texas Tech University. It was begun by the first director of the museum, the historian and archaeologist William Curry Holden.

From 1977-1980, Jim Humphreys, who managed the Pitchfork Ranch in Dickens and King counties from 1965-1986, was the board chairman of the center. He is considered one of the major modern figures in Texas ranching and agriculture.^[1]

The heritage center has also received donations from Montie Ritchie, the manager of the JA Ranch southeast of Amarillo from 1935 until his retirement in 1993.^[2]

[edit] Pending exhibit

The restored office of the former XIT Ranch in Channing in Hartley County is being dismantled brick by brick and will be relocated to the Ranching Heritage Center in the coming months, according to the owner of the structure, Lenny Sadler of Amarillo. "It was a terribly hard decision for my wife (Linda) and me to make. We knew...in our hearts it was the right decision. I want that building to be seen and I want that story to be told, and that's the only way it can be done. We know it's going to be seen by thousands and thousands of people," said Sadler, the president of Ditch Witch of West Texas, Inc., and a member of the Ranching Heritage Center board of directors.^[3]

[edit] Gallery

Front entrance of the Ranching Center	Restored Texan Pioneer House	An antique functioning windmill and a cart for transporting water	Windmill
A warning before entering