Our History

Fred C. Koch, a native of Quanah, Texas, purchased three sections of the old Matador Land and Cattle Company in January 1953. Mr. Koch was an engineer and co-founder of what is now Koch Industries, Inc., a privately held, Kansas-based firm that owns companies engaged in refining and chemicals; process equipment and technologies; minerals; commodity and financial trading; fibers and polymers; and forest and consumer products. Koch companies employ about 80,000 and have a presence in nearly 60 countries. Fred C. Koch died in 1967; two of his sons are principal owners of Koch Industries, Inc.

The Matador Land and Cattle Company was formed in 1882 by a group of Scottish investors. In 1951, the company, which had grown to about 800,000 acres of land, was sold to Lazard Freres and Company of London. Upon its purchase from the Scots, Lazard Freres sub-divided the land and cattle into 15 corporations for sale.

Along with the land and brands, Mr. Koch acquired the ranch headquarters, just south of Matador, Texas. It is a stone house that lies east of a spring-fed lake, overlooking the corrals and barns. The house is 7,000-square-feet, under roof. The 24-inch-thick exterior walls are built from rock quarried on the ranch. The house was designed with two separate uses: the west end for the ranch manager and the east end for visiting Scottish investors. Today, the ranch manager lives in the west end, and the ranch’s business operations are conducted from the east end.

Current and former employees welcomed more than 700 former cowboys and other guests to Matador Ranch as part of its 50th anniversary celebration of company ownership. Visitors toured the original ranch house and other sites around the ranch.