The Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company laid out the town of Taft on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad line in 1900 as a model community intended to attract northern investors. By 1904, a post office and company commissary had opened near the rail line, and other businesses and homes soon followed. To promote the area's economic possibilities and make it easier for farmers and ranchers to market their products, the company planned a large agricultural industrial complex in the center of town. By 1909, it had built a slaughter and packing house, a cold storage facility and ice plant, and a cottonseed oil mill. By 1921, the complex also included two cotton gins, a feed mill, cotton compress, creamery and ice cream factory, and machine shop. As this plan came to fruition, settlement and land values increased, the company profited from selling off its holdings, and Taft changed from a company town into a more diversified community as the company presence gradually disappeared. Some of the complex facilities remained in operation under private ownership until the 1950's.