Darius Gregg, born in 1804, came to Texas from Tennessee in 1827 and fought in the Texas War for Independence. A surveyor and Houston realtor, he accumulated about 20,000 acres in this area in the early 1850s and spent several summers here before his death. His son, William Bowen Gregg, born in 1849, moved from Houston and operated the ranch in the 1870s and early 1880s. Notorious outlaw Sam Bass worked on the ranch, and Robert Swift, of the well known meat packing family, was a frequent summer visitor. Of the original ranch, 750 acres are still owned by a Gregg heir.