Muleshoe Heritage Foundation
Heritage Center
The Muleshoe Heritage Center is the crown jewel of Muleshoe. It was established over 35 years ago to preserve our heritage and provide a venue for community activities and events. Our history and success are a testament to the wonderful support we have received from community volunteers, our local government, and from organizations and individuals both inside and outside of Muleshoe. Scroll down to see our historic buildings along with background information about the buildings.
The Santa Fe Depot
The Depot was relocated in 1985 and dedicated in 1987. The freight room is a meeting room used by local civic clubs and groups. The passenger room is decorated with memorabilia and period furniture.
The Santa Fe Depot is complete with a full kitchen and guest bathroom, which can be rented for small events.
Janes Ranch House
This house was built in the early 1900's, earlier than most of the late-developing Muleshoe area. The home became a center of social activity in the sparsely populated area. The stately foursquare house is an Aladdin Mail Order Home. The house, which has a full basement and two complete stories, was built for Janes’ bride, Anna, whom he met in Kansas City, Missouri. The house had steam heat, electricity, the previously unknown luxury of two bathrooms, and running water provided by a windmill. On the second floor is a ballroom, presumably to permit Anna to hold grand parties for distant ranch families. The basement housed Janes’ office, a game room, steam boiler, coal bin, fireplace, and even a laundry chute. On September 8, 1914, Anna gave birth to a daughter named “John Ann”. One of the upstairs bedrooms was made into a nursery. In October 1918, Anna died of influenza, which struck much of the post-World War I world at that time. In 1919, Janes sold his cattle and leased his 52,000 acres (210 km2). For a time, he kept the ranch house for use in the summers.
Figure 4 Ranch House
Less elaborate than the Janes house but more typical of ranch life is the former Figure 4 Ranch House originally located in south Bailey County but now situated at the entrance to the Muleshoe Heritage Center. H.M. McCelvey of Temple in Central Texas purchased the Figure 4 in 1906 as an investment and hired Henry Hanover, also of Temple, as manager. Hanover moved with his wife and three daughters to the Figure 4 soon after World War I. He found the West Texas towns to be much further apart than were the Central Texas communities.
Virginia City Hotel
Also found in south Bailey County was the Virginia City Hotel, a two-story boardinghouse. The top floor consists of a large room with space for eight cots. The lower floor has a kitchen and office, where mail was dispatched. After three years of drought, Virginia City became a ghost town in 1913. Maple Wilson bought the hotel and moved it two miles (3 km) west for his ranch headquarters. Later it served as a residence. Though most of the land barons built boardinghouses, the Virginia City Hotel is the only one in the Muleshoe area still in existence.
Cooks House
The city of Muleshoe is named for the former Muleshoe Ranch. The Muleshoe Ranch cookhouse with a one-room bunkhouse is another feature of the Heritage Center. It was derived from the ranch of Edward K. Warren and his son, Charles, originally manufacturers of buggy whips from Michigan. They purchased 80,000 acres (320 km2) between 1903 and 1907 for their Muleshoe Ranch, possibly named for a small muleshoe found between Amarillo and Bailey County. With the arrival of the railroad, Warren sold and gave away land from his ranch. The city is located on a part of the former Warren ranch.
Cowboys came from miles around to eat in the cookhouse what were delicious meals. In time, the ranch hands, while eating in the cookhouse, endured and discussed blizzards, droughts, sandstorms, prairie fires, wolves, poor market prices, and the arrival of settlers. During branding season, the cook had breakfast ready before daylight. There were also noon and evening meals.
Fried Log Cabin
There is a small log cabin at the Heritage Center. It was built about 1870 on the North Canadian River near Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was abandoned since 1937 after having sustained damage in a hail storm. John Fried donated and moved the structure to Muleshoe. It consists of eleven thousand pounds of oak. It was disassembled and rebuilt at the Heritage Center site. Fried was told that at one time a family of two adults and thirteen children lived in the one-room structure. The Heritage Foundation restored the cabin to its original likeness, raised the roof, and added a sleeping loft.
Stegall School House
The one-room school house relocated from the Stegall community, southwest of Muleshoe. The little school is outfitted with the old-fashioned wooden desks, wood burning stove, black board and several books from that era.
The Dugout
The dugout came from Goodland in southern Bailey County and was reportedly lived in during the 30s by the Gentry family and later some of the Bundrants during the 40s. This unique underground structure is very popular among our younger visitors.
The Yellow Jacket Inn
If you went to school in Muleshoe from 1946 to 1999, chances are you ate a few lunches at the Yellow Jacket Inn. The Muleshoe mascot in those days was the yellow jacket, the school colors were gold and purple, and all grade levels were housed in two buildings in the area where DeShazo Elementary now sits. After much planning and fund-raising, the building was moved in April of 2011, which was followed by much hard work and restoring. Businesses and individuals who graciously donated the more than $40,000 needed to move and renovate the building are recognized with plaques inside the building.
Largest Muleshoe in Texas
A large muleshoe is located at the entrance of the Heritage Center, an Eagle Scout project for Muleshoe High School student, Kermit Price. The muleshoe was requested by R.A. Bradley, past president of the Heritage Center Foundation. It is twenty-two feet high and seventeen feet wide at its widest point. It was built in two parts and welded together upright because it weighs some fifteen thousand pounds. The muleshoe was dedicated in 1994.
Largest Muleshoe (Continued)
The large mule shoe was financed by Kermit selling sets of mule shoes which are now embedded in two concrete mule shoes. Each shoe has the donors names engraved into it.
Office, Visiting Center, & Chamber of Commerce
The office is shared with the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture. Inside you will find a visitors center with brochures, merchandise and any information you may need about the Muleshoe Heritage Center and the community of Muleshoe. You will also see antiquities and art which are local to this area. We are proud of our town and can't wait to share our heritage with you.