Stop by the Kyle Chamber, N 29° 59.331’, W 97° 52.716’, to pick up your GeoTour Passport. We are open M-F 8am-5pm. You can also download a copy of the passport and print it out yourself. The first 250 people who achieve 25 points are eligible to receive a trackable GeoCoin.
Thank you to razorbackgirl for your help with this GeoTour!
One of the most prominent ranches in the area quickly became known for raising the largest jacks in the world, but today Charalois cattle of the highest quality call this ranch home. In the early 1900’s Kyle was known as The Jackass Capital of the World, due to the quantity of jacks and jennets coming out of the Michaelis Ranch. In gratitude to the Kyle Fire Department for saving his home from a fire that claimed his enormous barn, he donated a building he owned across from city hall for a fire station. This building is known today as the Old DA Young Building.
The Michaelis Ranch was broken into several smaller sections, all with names of their own. The house you see was built in 1956 on the “Chuparrosa Ranch,” which means “hummingbird” in Spanish. Two sisters, Lillie Michaelis and Corinne Huettig, had the house built with brick and tiles imported from Mexico, and lived in the house until their deaths in the late 1960’s. The home stayed in the Michaelis family, and several generations of the family lived in the home. In the mid-1990’s, the Michaelis Family fought to keep a pipeline from running through the ranch, and as a result of mounting legal fees, had to sell off part of the ranch. The Chuparrosa Ranch was sold to developers, but 2.45 acres were retained with the house. This well house, water tower and barn are original to the ranch, although the well is no longer in operation.
Please be respectful of the private residence. Due to the primitive state of this area, snakes and other critters are common.
