Swenson Land and Cattle Company

The Swenson Land and Cattle Company (originally Swenson Brothers), which controls the SMS Ranches of Texas, was founded by Svante Magnus Swenson (1816-1896), a Swedish immigrant. The Swenson ranches are located in northwest Texas. He and his sons formed the S. M. Swenson & Sons banking corporation in New York. The company's headquarters, which are based in New York, and the various ranches, are run by Swenson family members. Swenson also founded the town of Stamford, Texas in Jones County through the Stamford and Northwestern Townsite Company.

The Swenson Land and Cattle Company, formerly SMS Ranches, occupies considerable portions of twelve counties in the lower plains area of West Texas and comprises more than 300,000 acres. The name SMS comes from the initials of the founder, Svante M. Swenson who moved to Texas from Sweden in the 1830s. Swenson began shipments of Texas pecans to the North and East and in 1850 established himself in the general merchandise and banking business at Austin. However, his greatest interest lay in the accumulation of land.

After the Civil War Swenson moved his family to New York City, where he founded a private banking house known as S. M. Swenson and Sons, a precursor to the present First National City Bank of New York, but continued an active interest in Texas. In the 1880s S. M. Swenson leased his holdings to his sons, Eric Pierson Swenson and Swen Albin Swenson, who operated them under the name of Swenson Brothers Cattle Company. The SMS brand, consisting of an extended M sandwiched between two reversed S's, was registered by the Swensons in the spring of 1882.

In 1899 the Swensons enticed the Texas Central Railroad to build through their land and laid out the town of Stamford, which became the nucleus of their West Texas interests. In 1902 the brothers hired Frank S. Hastings as manager of their far-flung ranches. Under Hastings’ direction the SMS was among the first to engage in the "mail order" calf business. In 1926 the Swensons were running 28,000 cattle on 390,000 acres and the business was reorganized as the Swenson Land and Cattle Company. By 1989, an average of 8,500 cattle, mostly Hereford and Angus stock, were sold annually. In addition, hundreds of acres of SMS ranch land were cultivated in hay, oats, and milo, and there were also some oil interests.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "SMS Ranches," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/aps1.html (accessed October 13, 2009).