V-8 Ranch

The 1,500-acre V-8 Ranch lies in a small, shallow valley formed by a bend in the north fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River and contains the headquarters of the vast Ioa Ranch, a 14 by 30-mile contiguous block of land that covered most of the southern half of Lubbock County. The Ioa was established in 1884-1886 as the free-range cattle industry collapsed because of drought and economic conditions, and beginning in 1893 its cattle were sold. Frank Wheelock, great nephew of principal stockholder Stillman Wheelock and later Lubbock's first mayor, also began selling the ranch's land, leading to lawsuits that ended in a sheriff's sale and acquisition by H.L. Kokernot in 1901. In 1914 George Boles bought 5,000 acres from the Kokernots and held the property until foreclosure in 1935. In 1939 Sam C. Arnett, Sr., and George Benson acquired a 3,400-acre portion of the Boles property and renamed it V-8 Ranch in honor of the Ford V-8 engine. As of 2017 the remaining acreage is owned by the Arnett family. Numerous buildings on the property, including the stucco residence, are among the oldest ranch structures in Lubbock County and may have been built by sheep herder Zach Williams in 1877, the Ioa Company in the 1880s, or George Boles between 1914 and 1935. Despite its closeness to the city of Lubbock, the ranch still reflects the South Plains' ranching history.

Texas · United States