Just 25 minutes from downtown San Antonio, Rio Cibolo Ranch has a wide variety of facilities that can easily accommodate groups from 25 to 5,000!
(295)
1101 Ullrich Road
Marion, TX
78124
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rio Cibolo Ranch posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Rio Cibolo Ranch:
The Rio Cibolo Ranch is a working Longhorn cattle Ranch and Pecan Orchard located 25 minutes northeast of downtown San Antonio. The Ranch is situated about a mile south of Interstate 10 and along the route the Spanish Conquistadors took, as they made westward during the sixteenth century. This route was later designated The Old Spanish Trail and stretches from Florida to California. This Trail was also used by the early pioneers before the days of the Texas Revolution.
These same Spaniards had their first encounter with a strange-looking animal they gave the name Cibolo. Today, we call this animal the Buffalo. The river that runs through the Ranch was also named Cibolo, thus the name of the Ranch. Prior to the settlement of the area by the pioneers from Spain and Germany, the land was inhabited by Apache and Comanche Indians. The Indians mainstay was the buffalo that numbered in the thousands and was necessary for their survival, providing food, clothing and shelter.
The Spaniards made major contributions to the development of this new land. Two of the most important were the introduction of cattle and horses. The horses provided a new means of transportation for the Indians as well as the early settlers. The cattle were called Longhorns and were a very hardy breed. They multiplied so rapidly they became wild. The Longhorn were the mainstay of early Texas ranchers. Many of these ranchers were what we call cowboys. These Cowboys rounded up the cattle and drove them through the desert, across uncharted rivers and over mountains to the markets in Kansas and Nebraska. There are no more cattle drives but there are still plenty of Cowboys, just look around.
In 1864, Carl Christian Zuehl, an immigrant from Prussia (Germany) settled near the Ranch and established a community that bears his name. Before the turn of the century, Zuehl was a thriving cotton town with two cotton gins. The Main Street was called Gin Road with a gin at each end. This is the road to the Ranch and runs by the original plantation house which was built in the German (gingerbread) style. The house is still standing in good condition and can be seen on the south side of Gin Road as you approach the Ranch.
