R.L. White Ranch

Ryall Luther White (1878-1962) was born in Jasper, Texas to John Luther Calvin

White and Texanna Priscilla Ryall White. He married his wife, Ethel Gertrude

Smyth, in 1907 and began working for his father-in-law as the manager of the

Uvalde Rock Asphalt Company. In 1920, he resigned to open his own paving

company, the Alamo Paving Company, in San Antonio paving exclusively with rock

asphalt. White bought his own rock asphalt mine to have his own supply of the

material and joined forces with his brother, Tom White. By 1928, Whites Mine

Corporation had developed a new process to manufacture onsite a cold-mix paving

material and the company began to market the product during the Great

Depression.

In 1926, White began to build the ranch which was to become one of the largest

ranches in northwest Bexar county. The ranch reflects Whites desire to impress

his guests with Texas rustic-style architecture on a grand scale. The best

example of this style is the Lake Pavilion. It is a two-story rectangular,

symmetrical stone structure designed in this architectural style.

The building uses the locally available gray and cream-colored limestone to

face the walls, inside and out. The Main House, also called Gerties House

after Whites wife, is a rectangular, single-story, end-gabled stone house also

designed in the rustic style with gray, asphalt shingles. The Red Cottage, a

square, one-story, front end gabled, wood frame house with red-painted siding

and a standing seam metal roof, was built in 1926. It was one of the first

buildings and used to keep horses which were sold to the U.S. Army. Today, the

ranchs 3500 acres and historic buildings reflect the tradition of Texas grand

homesteads.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012.