Ranch History
Joe and Connie Mitchell originally purchased the 10xXx Ranch for the company they founded, VarTec Telecom. The company was founded in 1989 and grew rapidly through the 1990’s, and when the Mitchell’s began to see the need for a place to hold offsite management meetings, training sessions, and other types of gatherings, they felt that a ranch type rural setting would be a good place for high-tech employees to get away and recharge from the intense workload of the fast growth telecom business.
In the fall of 1996, Joe was enjoying lunch with some friends who were discussing the beauty of the Texas Hill County when Bosque County was mentioned as a “hill country” alternative that was much closer to the DFW Metroplex than the typically thought of areas of Kerrville, Fredricksburg, or Boerne. The name of Bob Patton came up in the conversation as a broker of a beautiful ranch that recently came up for sale in Bosque County.
Joe was intrigued about this ranch which was only an hour away from VarTec’s DFW headquarters. Joe had considered the San Antonio area as a good ranch environment, but the SA area had the major drawback of being a four hour drive from DFW, making it too far away for a corporate retreat. Joe called Bob Patton that very afternoon and asked if he could see the ranch the next day. Bob politely said “no”, as it would take about a week for him to get all the details of the ranch. With some impatient prodding, the two men finally agreed to meet in two days.
The day that Joe and Connie first visited what would become the 10xXx Ranch, the weather was heavily overcast, but after several hours of pickup touring, site seeing, walking, and day dreaming, the Mitchell’s were convinced that this was the ranch that would fulfill their dreams. Initially the ranch included over 4,000 acres of heavily wooded ranch land with three big lakes and one old rundown ranch house near the ghost town of Eulogy, Texas. See history of Eulogy… As the months and years went by, the Mitchell’s added another 6,000 acres through about twenty acquisitions which included more lakes, houses, the old Eulogy Schoolhouse, major creeks, and picturesque vistas.
In 2004, the Mitchell’s relocated their residence from Dallas to the 10xXx Ranch. Since Joe and Connie had been raised in rural Oklahoma, they were entirely comfortable living a simple and solitude life on the ranch. The Mitchell’s immediately started designing their new ranch home and, in 2009 (in celebration of their 40th Anniversary) moved into their permanent residence on the North end of the 10xXx ranch. Joe and Connie’s dream home was designed by Greg Wyatt of Dallas, and the style was heavily influenced by the Andalucia area of Southern Spain (which includes Seville and Ronda).
