The Coleman, Mathis, Fulton cattle company was formed in 1871 in Rockport by George Ware Fulton, Youngs Coleman, Tom Coleman, Thomas Henry Mathis, and J.M. Mathis. After the Mathis cousins left the partnership, the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company was organized in 1879 with 167,000 acres of land. Fulton pioneered fencing on the open south Texas range and shipping cattle by boat from company wharves, but continuing financial problems led him to borrow money from David Sinton of Ohio. Sinton eventually gained control of the company and, at his death, left his interest to his daughter Anna, the wife of Charles P. Taft, and the company became known locally as the Taft Ranch. In 1900 Joseph F. Green became manager and developed the ranch into one of the largest and most innovative in Texas by introducing new crops and cattle breeds. The city of Taft was created in 1904 as a company town and was sold at auction in 1921. A building constructed in 1923 became the last headquarters of the Taft Ranch, and by 1928 all ranch enterprises had been sold. The company's charter expired in 1930, leaving the town of Taft as its legacy.