Cinco Ranch is a planned community located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Houston within Fort Bend and Harris counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It lies approximately west of the Harris County seat of Houston and north of the Fort Bend County seat of Richmond. Cinco Ranch is considered to be part of the Greater Katy area and is roughly 10 miles southeast of the city of Katy. Cinco Ranch was defined as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census

History

The Blakelys, and Blakely Ranch (1824–1937)

Bassett "Papa" Blakely (sometimes misspelled Blakeley) (1873–1943) was born to Mary Foster Blakely and Thomas Blakely. Mary was Randolph Foster's daughter, and John Foster's grand-daughter; both of those men were part of the Old Three Hundred who were granted leagues of land when Texas was part of Mexico. Bassett Blakely inherited the land grant from his grandfather, and over time bought more land until he owned . This was Blakely Ranch, and today's Cinco Ranch is on a portion of that land, on these land grants:

  • Thomas Hobermaker survey: 4,605 acres granted to Hobermaker as a first class headright in the 1830s. He sold half of his land to George Cartwright who was one of the Old Three Hundred, and the Stephen Hobermaker survey also comes from this survey. Blakely bought the Thomas Hobermaker survey in 1918.
  • Henry Looney survey: 320 acres granted to Looney as a third class headright in 1839. Blakely bought this in the early 1900s.
  • E.M. McGinnis survey: Originally Mr. Symes's survey, which he bought from the state of Texas in 1876, and then sold to McGinnis in 1897. This was bought by the "five friends" later.
  • International & Great Northern Railroad
  • Houston & Texas Central Railroad
  • Ira H. Evans Survey: A Texas Speaker of the House who was involved in railroads and land development

The cowhands of Blakely Ranch annually drove 10,000 head of cattle to the railheads in Kansas. Because there were so many cattle on this working ranch and neighboring ranches, several movies were filmed here, including the 1924 North of 36 and the 1925 Womanhandled.

At some point, Bassett's wife Bonnie Dunlavy Blakely was sentenced to prison for selling narcotics, and in April 1931 she died. The next month, their son Bassett Blakely Jr. was charged with assault to murder and burglary by firearms and in 1935, he was sentenced to prison for the selling narcotics.

The five friends, and Cinco Ranch (1937–1984)

In 1937, five oil men of Houston bought about 4,880 acres of the Blakely Ranch from South Texas Commercial Bank for $50,000 cash (equivalent to $1.1 million in 2025), to use as a hunting preserve with country lodges and homes. They named it Cinco Ranch (cinco means "five" in Spanish) and incorporated themselves as Cinco Ranch Company:

  • H.G. "Chad" Nelms, president of Cinco Ranch Company and independent oil operator, he had attended a range convention with Bassett Blakely in 1925
  • William Meade "Fishback" Wheless, Sr, secretary-treasurer of Cinco Ranch Company, oil scout at the time and later vice president of land and leasing for Gulf Oil until retiring in 1955
  • James Smither Abercrombie, inventor of the blowout preventor and later president of Cameron Iron Works
  • Walter B. Pyron, Brigadier General and vice president of Gulf Oil
  • Lenoir M. Josey, a successful wildcatter

The ranch was a profitable working ranch used for cattle, rice, and peanut farming. Only the Wheless family lived on the ranch, but all of the families visited on many holidays and weekends, making use of a huge clubhouse complete with two-bedroom wings.

Cinco Ranch Venture (1984–1997)

In 1970, Robert Mosbacher bought Wheless's share of Cinco Ranch. Josephine Abercrombie inherited her father's share upon his death in 1975. Walter Mischer Sr. offered to buy the land. Mischer, Mosbacher, and Abercrombie requested the state highway department to build a 31-mile stretch of highway along the route defined in long-term plans for what is now Texas State Highway 99, the Grand Parkway, an engineering firm asked people to donate rights-of-way property, and Vinson & Elkins law firm drafted a bill to allow the donated land to be used. On June 27, 1984, State Representative Ed Emmett filed the drafted bill and that day Mosbacher and Abercrombie sold Cinco Ranch to Cinco Ranch Venture for $84 million—the largest raw land transaction in Houston's history. Cinco Ranch Venture consisted of:

  • U.S. Home Corporation, a builder
  • Mischer Corporation, headed by banker-developer Walter Mischer, Sr.
  • American General Corporation, an insurance company

The bill passed in only a few weeks, and Governor Mark White signed it into law as The Texas Transportation Corporation Act, which privatized the land acquisition needed for roads. Weeks later, a private corporation was formed to build a proposed 150-mile loop around Houston, starting with a segment adjacent to Cinco Ranch. It was later discovered that Mischer's son, a director at Mosbacher Energy Corporation, and a real estate advisor for Abercrombie were on the new corporation's board; Mosbacher and Abercrombie held back land to sell later at a higher price; and Representative Ed Emmett also stood to gain. Mosbacher and Abercrombie sold 800 acres of the held-back land for commercial use, and sold a parcel closest to the edge of the parkway in 1985 for $12.9 million. American General eventually bought out the other partners and in 1991, the Cinco Ranch planned community opened with 35 homes sold, another 110 under construction. Central to the community was the Cinco Ranch Beach Club, a manmade beach and swimming pool surrounded by a lake. In 1994, they added the Golf Club at Cinco Ranch, an 18-hole championship course designed by architect Carlton Gipson, with an 11,000 square foot clubhouse.

Cinco Ranch, a Terrabrook community (1997–2003)

In 1997, Terrabrook (a subsidiary of Westbrook Partners) bought Cinco Ranch and other American General land development assets. In 2002, this trail was extended another 1.5 miles. That year, they also added more pools with water park elements, and one full-scale water park.

In 2002, Cinco Ranch also acquired another 1,828 acres to its west and southwest borders, increasing the size of the community to about 7,228 acres to add another 4,000 homes and 180 acres of commercial development. Terrabrook only developed the area to the west (west of TX-99).

Cinco Ranch I and II, Newland communities (2003–2020)

In late 2003, Newland bought most of Terrabrook's communities, including Cinco Ranch. In 2005, Newland passed control of the homeowners association to the residential property owners. With development completed, this part of the community is now called Cinco Ranch I, and development began with Cinco Ranch II.

Cinco Ranch I and Cinco Ranch II have separate homeowners associations, but have a reciprocal use agreement to share amenities. Cinco Ranch II comprises Cinco Ranch Southwest and Cinco Ranch Northwest.

In 2007, Newland began developing the land acquired by Terrabrook southwest of Cinco Ranch I; this is Cinco Ranch Southwest. In 2010, Newland bought another 492 acres for expansion, as part of a joint venture with Sekisui House. This is Cinco Ranch Northwest; it is not contiguous with the rest of Cinco Ranch.

In 2020, Newland Real Estate (Newland Communities) completed building and selling homes in Cinco Ranch, having been a best-selling community for many years and having won multiple awards for its design.

Amenities

Cinco Ranch (Cinco Ranch I and II) has:

  • 15,098 homes (8,740 in Cinco Ranch I and 6,358 in Cinco Ranch II) on 8,092 acres
  • Miles of paved and unpaved trails
  • 91 parks, pocket parks, playgrounds, picnic areas with barbecue grills, gazebos, and greenway spaces
  • 17 tennis and pickleball courts
  • 11 pools and water parks
  • 7 lake areas, some stocked for catch-and-release fishing and some with paddle boats and kayaks
  • 6 fields for league athletics (soccer, baseball, football)
  • 3 sand volleyball courts
  • 2 full-size basketball courts and 1 half-court
  • 1 Beach Club
  • 1 golf club and 18-hole, par-71 golf course
  • 1 wetlands nature preserve and trail with viewing and fishing platforms
  • 1 cricket pitch field
  • 1 lakeside Exer-Trail
  • 34 acre commercial "town center" with shopping, dining, and entertainment (LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch) plus other businesses throughout the community

Geography

[[File:Cinco Ranch.png|thumb|Map of the Cinco Ranch planned community in Katy, Texas USA However, the Cinco Ranch community has expanded beyond the area defined by the census to 8,092 acres (12.64 square miles) and 15,098 homes. The area to the far west of Houston continues to grow and diversify.

Demographics