80 John Wallace House

The old ranch house sat at the edge of a cultivated field and was surrounded by mesquite trees. The porches had been knocked down by cattle climbing up for a better view. Though weathered and gray, the wooden house was in remarkably good condition for a structure built more than 100 years ago.

With the exterior doors and windows gone, one could walk right in and see that the ranch house of 80 John Wallace of Mitchell County, Texas, had a good floor plan, allowing a nice flow of air through the uniquely shaped house. Built facing west, it is laid out like a cross with bedrooms on the north and south. The drawing room and kitchen are in between.

When this house was built, the land around it was grazing pasture owned by one of Texas’ most successful black ranchers, Daniel Webster Wallace. The name may not be as familiar as his nickname—80 John.

D.W., as his family still refers to him, was born in 1860 the son of slave parents in Victoria County, Texas. He went to work as a cowboy when he was 15, eventually working on cattle drives and roundups for C.C. Slaughter, Isaac Ellwod, John Nunn, Clay Mann and several other big operation owners.

D.W. got his nickname from the Mann Ranch brand – a large “80” used on both cattle and horses. Since he did the majority of the branding, D.W. became known as “80 John.” The name stuck with him for the rest of his life.

D.W. broke horses, drove cattle to Wyoming and Kansas, helped set up large cattle ranches in Wyoming and Mexico and survived hostile Indian attacks. He used his wages to buy cattle and land, eventually setting up his own ranch on 1,280 acres southeast of Loraine, Texas, in Mitchell County. His land holdings grew to include more than 12 sections of ranch land, a half-dozen farms and several herds of Durham and Hereford cattle. He built a house for his family in what is now Colorado City, so the children could attend school.

When oil was discovered on his land, D.W. built a more substantial ranch house. D.W. continued to work the ranch every day, even breaking horses until he was 74 years old. His heirs still operate the Wallace ranch, though most of the land is now under cultivation. He is buried in a family cemetery on his land, the graveyard marked by a Texas state historical marker.