McIntire Ranch

 ranch, adobe structure, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic ruins

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Historic ruins of a cattle ranch listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Built: c. 1880
Architectural style: Territorial Adobe
Areas of significance: Archeology; Architecture; Agriculture; Social History
Area: 14.2 acres
Also known as: Los Ojos
Date added to NRHP: 3/26/2008
Other designations: listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties

In addition to its architectural and agricultural significance as an early cattle ranch in a somewhat unusual architectural style, this ranch headquarters site is also potentially important in the study of turn-of-the-century gender roles. Albert and Florence McIntire came to Colorado from Connecticut and founded the ranch in 1880. Though Albert's initial business in Colorado was in the mining and cattle ranching industries, his interests soon turned to politics. After successful stints in several judicial positions (including as Conejos County Judge), he was elected governor of Colorado in 1895. Albert's wife Florence was never comfortable with her husband's choice of such a public career, much preferring the management of their 4,000+ acre cattle ranch as a career, which she continued to do quite independently while Albert worked elsewhere. She was so averse to the public life of politics that she did not move to Denver with her husband while he was governor. Due apparently to this difference in lifestyle preference, Florence divorced Albert as soon as he left the governorship in 1897. Florence continued to successfully manage the McIntire ranch until her death in 1911. Studies of the ruins of the ranch headquarters site have revealed that it has the potential to yield important information about the management of agricultural operations by women. In an era where women were expected to play a secondary role to their husbands, the McIntire Ranch site could hold valuable evidence of the possible differences in the methods and activities between female-run agricultural enterprises and those of their male-run counterparts.