HISTORY OF THE UP HOME RANCH

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The original homestead, located in the White Oak Community, was purchased November 11, 1918 - the same day of the end of World War I - by Edwin A. "Eddie" Pfister. The ranch then became known by friends and neighbors as simply "The Pfister Place".

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Eddie, his wife Pauline and their three children Ruby, Laura and Edwin Jr., moved to the property from their original home located in the nearby community of Morris Ranch. Eddie and Pauline's parents had settled in Morris Ranch after immigrating from Germany, but Eddie and his family chose to leave the community when an order was put into place disallowing German to be spoken. After the move, the children attended the White Oak School where German was allowed to be spoken. 

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Eddie passed away in 1945, followed by Edwin Jr. in 1956, leaving Pauline and her two daughters to manage the ranch for the next 15 years. When Pauline passed, her daughters officially changed the name of the property to R&L Ranch. Ruby passed in 1986 and, for twenty years, Laura, along with Ruby's daughter Peggy ran the ranch, maintaining the improvements as well as the livestock including cattle, sheep, and a large flock of commercial Angora goats.

 

When Laura passed in 2006, Peggy and her daughter Lindsey took over operations, and extended the property to include a connecting game-fenced portion purchased in 2009. In 2008, they painstakingly restored and extended the original two-story ranch house, and Peggy began living there full-time after retiring from a career in education. They gave the entire ranch the permanent name of the Up Home Ranch - a title derived from a simple and often reoccurring statement from Laura to her husband when she would go to the ranch on weekends - "I'm going up home".